My deed says grantor reserves all oil, gas, petrochemicals and Sulphur. However there is no mention of “other minerals”. I take that to mean all “other minerals” belong to grantee. Is this a reasonable assumption?
John- you need to look at the statutes for the state the property is in as they have different definitions of what are classified as “minerals”. If you will provide the state, someone on the forum may be able to help you further.
Franklin county , Texas. Big concern is saline brine. I think I’m past the groundwater - mineral debate. That one is going to persist for some time
Brine is definitely not a petrochemical so I’m thinking it is not reserved by grantor.
You need to review all deeds in title history to determine what you own. There may be multiple reservations over time.
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I went back and my grantor received all minerals. His grantor received all minerals and grantor before that was granted all minerals. Oddly on deeds before that no minerals rights were even mentioned. When I bought property I asked for all minerals but he wouldn’t sell oil and gas, sulphur or petrochemicals and he specifically reserved those items but said I could have anything else. That’s all that was being produced around here 30+ years ago. Obviously I’m trying to claim the brine but some(not all) of the landmen that have contacted me are balking saying I don’t own brine. I’m not opposed to a lease, I just want to be sure I own them. The folks that now own oil and gas rights have been hesitant to sell them back to me. I’m thinking, but don’t know, that there is a landman telling them they own the brine too. This business is pretty confusing/complicated, huh.
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An oil and gas attorney can give you the best answer based on the entire language in the deeds. I am assuming that you own the surface plus whatever is not included in the specific reservation in light of case law and statutes. Here is an article which discusses some of these issues. There can be complications. Mine: All Mine? Texas Ownership of Produced Water and Its Constituent Parts (Lithium) – Jackson Walker
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Yes I’m the surface owner. I have read that article already and it made me feel better and worse. What seems black and white to me doesn’t seem to be that way for attorneys. Landman that’s been helping with this is 99% sure that only petrochemicals have been reserved and brine saline is mine. He doesn’t have any skin in the game so I’d like to believe him. I don’t have an oil and gas attorney near me so I’m talking to the attorney that wrote deed then I’ll probably have to go to Dallas or Tyler. I’m trying to be careful that they just don’t tell me what I want to hear but saying that I do try to present my position. Not sure who makes a final decision on something like this. Thank you for your input.
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You can use any oil and gas attorney in Texas. There are some listed above. Is the attorney who wrote the deed an oil and gas attorney or only a real estate attorney? Was he representing you as the buyer or was he representing the seller, in which case he could have a conflict of interest.
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Checked with two oil and gas attorneys. Both agree I have 100% of “other minerals” and grantor kept 100% of oil and gas. They also said they had never seen a deed written that way. Confused how this is going to work. Lots of questions. If producer drills for brine, he’s probably going to get some oil and gas too as a byproduct. Who is going to determine ingress and egress? The brine holder or the oil and gas holder. Simple solution is for me as surface owner is to buy oil and gas as executive right holder and convey oil and gas royalties back to grantor. They don’t want to sell right now and I’m wondering how this will work when landmen try to get a lease. I see a hot mess coming.
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The law is fluid and evolves over time as issues arise. Such as extraction of lithium from produced water or brine water. Same in other fields such as cellular bandwidths and evolution of definition of crimes to address internet fraud. That is what makes it interesting. I have seen deeds reserving only oil and only gas and also solar rights. It is what buyers and sellers do. Did you get legal advice on the crafting of your deed and how it might affect your rights?
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I was pretty naive when I bought property. Man said he would convey minerals but he sort of did and sort of didn’t. I made the mistake of taking him at his word. Know better now. 35 years ago and he’s passed on.
Dealing with the heirs of heir that live 1000 miles away that didn’t even know about minerals. Haven’t been able to convince them to sell yet. I guess time will tell. I’m working with an oil and gas attorney to help write a new deal but you can’t buy what’s not for sale. Right now I’m more concerned with ingress and egress rights and who gets to claim that. We both seem to have it.
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Is Texas trying to charge a tax on brine or lithium yet?
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Talked to landman writing leases all around me and his company is afraid to lease my lithium because their attorney says I don’t own it but my attorney says I do. Not quite sure how to proceed. Plan to talk to my attorney Monday and see what my options are. Who really makes this decision?
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Generally, the person writing the checks decides who gets paid. Remember that receiving a check does not determine ownership.
This seems to keep getting more complicated. The heirs that inherited oil and gas also leased my “ other minerals “. Talked to three attorneys now and all agree I own “other minerals “. I’m sure lessors had no idea what they did, they just took landman’s word. Unfortunately the other company writing leases in this area doesn’t want to lease because of the existing flawed lease. It has been suggested that I lease “other minerals “ to myself. I didn’t know that was even a thing. Sounds like I have an attorney visit in my future.
The last oil and gas attorney I talked to practices in Arkansas and Texas. He’s telling me in Arkansas lithium saline brine will be part of the mineral estate but in Texas it going to be groundwater and part of the surface estate. He also said lithium in Texas is going to be a huge mess before it’s settled.
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