Production Values

General Mineral Rights Discussion
1

Hello,

I'm new. Have a question...

My wife is a member of a trust that ownes mineral rights in North Dakota and Montana. The oil company pays the trust for the crude pumped. Over the years, the Tustees have just taken the word of the oil company as to how much the wells were producing. Is there a way to confirm the validity of the production values?

Thanks.

2

JJF:

The North Dakota Industrial Commision publishes production figures, etc. for all wells but you must subscribe and pay an annual fee for this publication. I don't subscribe to this but several on this board does and possibly one of them might be more specific about what is contained in this publication. I believe that the Montana Oil and Gas website contains information on production figures but this website is not the easiest to utilize.

3

JJF, if you need a well or two looked up in ND, I can help, just need the legal description or API #.

4

Thank you for the reply. I checked the NDIC website, and I see I can get data there. But is the source of this data again just the values claimed by the oil company? Is it common practice for the owners of mineral rights to simply accept what they are told by the oil companies? What is to prevent dishonesty? Seems we are vulnerable to inaccurate reporting.

charles s mallory said:

JJF:

The North Dakota Industrial Commision publishes production figures, etc. for all wells but you must subscribe and pay an annual fee for this publication. I don't subscribe to this but several on this board does and possibly one of them might be more specific about what is contained in this publication. I believe that the Montana Oil and Gas website contains information on production figures but this website is not the easiest to utilize.

5

JJF, I think you don't have to worry unless the operator is selling to himself through a subsidiary. If the sale is to another company they are going to report how much they bought and the seller reports how much they sold. The state regulates the checking of the meters. A $50 yearly subscription to the NDIC O&G Div. and you can track sales from your wells, this information is free on the Montana state site. Trust but verify is probably a good idea.

6

Thanks, R W Kennedy. So you're saying that all producing wells ARE metered and monitored by the state for proper operation and accuracy?

r w kennedy said:

JJF, I think you don't have to worry unless the operator is selling to himself through a subsidiary. If the sale is to another company they are going to report how much they bought and the seller reports how much they sold. The state regulates the checking of the meters. A $50 yearly subscription to the NDIC O&G Div. and you can track sales from your wells, this information is free on the Montana state site. Trust but verify is probably a good idea.