Proposed leasing of land for Mineral Rights, Jefferson County Ohio

Shales Utica Shale
1

We were approached by a Land Manager, Ben Huffman, on behalf of American Energy-Utica, LLC based out of Oklahoma. I have been non-stop reading everything I can to ensure we make the right decision, either to lease or not. I know that several people who live in our tiny community of Piney Fork, Ohio have had drilling done on their lands. I’m not sure who was drilling but the name Marcellus Shale comes to mind. We only own 1 acre of land. The proposed lease sent to us had the following:

Introductory letter from Land Manager, Ben Huffman

A Paid-Up Oil & Gas Lease

Memorandum of Oil & Gas Lease

Order of Payment

The lease that they want us to sign states:

  • $6,000.00 after a 120 day period in which they will need to do title/document searches

  • 18% Royalties

I’ve been trying to read everything I can on Mineral Rights. Has anyone else heard anything about this company? Or have any insight into the above requirements stated by the lease?

3

Hello John,

Thanks for the enlightening information. We contacted the Land Manager about 2 things:

  1. Getting partial payment of bonus ($6000) up front (rather than have to wait 120 days) and

  2. Having the clause of 120 days to research and do title pay per work done sooner.

He assured us it wouldn’t take 120 days that it would only take about 30 days, in fact, he went so far as to say he would guarantee us it wouldn’t take more than a month to do the title search. I pressed him on both issues and he then stated he was the middle man that he couldn’t change anything in the contract. I stated to him that he should contact whomever makes the paperwork and let them know of the above two issues. He said he would. About 30 minutes later he called back and left a message on our answering machine to say Utica would not change the paperwork on the 120 day search, it’s across the board as a standard clause and he didn’t address the bonus money upfront at all.