Of course, if they decide to lease (and it may turn out to be warranted to participate in all unit well production) they can made payment of all royalties to inception part of the negotiations. … all to say … it depends.
The people involved have been approached by the Operator to either lease or sell because they protested a Rule 37 Application. Their unleased 2 acre tract is too close to two proposed horizontal wellbores and they wanted to slow things down until they knew more.
I reviewed the entire situation with them and they want to lease. I just couldn’t find the previous discussion about the options.
Appreciate the info!
Ownership depends on the date of the original patent - I would surmise that your property was patented after August 21, 1931 when the State would have reserved 1/16th of the minerals. If so, you should have the right to lease (if there has been no other severance of the minerals to a third party since then). Original patents can be searched at the GLO website: http://www.glo.texas.gov/history/archives/land-grants/index.cfm
Per John McFarland’s Article which I recommend everyone read:
"Some landowners were not happy with this result, so they got the Legislature to pass a new law, known as the Relinquishment Act of 1931, which undertook to vest title in the landowners as to 15/16ths of all minerals under their lands. The constitutionality of this new act was quickly challenged, and in 1932, in Empire Gas & Fuel Co. v. State, the Texas Supreme Court wasted no time in declaring the new act unconstitutional.
Finally, in 1931 the Legislature also passed a new sales act providing that, for sales thereafter of State lands, the State would retain only a 1/16th royalty.
So, for sales of mineral-classified public free school land in Texas after September 1, 1895, but before August 21, 1931, the State owns the minerals under those lands, but the surface owner has the right to lease those lands and receives one-half of the bonus, royalty and other consideration payable by the lessee. The lease must be on a form approved by the General Land Office of the State and must be filed with and approved by the General Land Office."
Howard, the total acreage I mentioned on that proposed Diamondback unit should have been 658 acres,
Here is the link for RRC’s website for other online information
http://www.rrc.state.tx.us/about-us/resource-center/research/online…
I am looking for someone that can give me an appraisal for minerals I own in Reeves County,TX.
I would appreciate any contact information.
Robert
Question, a company ask to do seismic on my land with other owners. We signed in 2017 about April or may. Signed and waited for check to arrive. Never did, so I called to ask about it. Man said it would be sent out about November. Waited some more, never heard or received check. I called again about a month ago and was told that the higher up company didn’t buy the seismic products so they were not able to sell it and we would not be able to collect the money were promised. Is there a remedy for this. Never heard of this happening. Anyone have any suggestion? It would be appreciated. Thanks in advance. Louise
ACTIVITY FOR/ NEAR SECTION 4, A-552
Hello, I am new to the forum. Does anyone have news of activity for this section?
I have a lease that will expire soon. I was told the company applied for a permit to start drilling. Where do I go to find if permit has been issued???
Howard, Railroad Commission’s website shows last December Diamondback E&P got a permit to drill from a well site at the very north end of A-552 but the horizontal leg of that well, including the first take point for production, is suppose to start further north in Ward County.
This link should take you to the plat of the 161 acre unit Diamondback formed for that well that doesn’t appear to include any acreage in A-552. http://webapps.rrc.state.tx.us/dpimages/img/3700000-3799999//PR0003…
Below is RRC’s map with A-552 outlined in red. Other activity around it includes a well Diamondback completed in 2014 and two more they have permits to drill in Section 6 less than a mile east of you.
Robert Montgomery,
For Professional Mineral Appraisal done in Texas call:858-7672%20or%20David%20Shetler%20210)736-9992)
Louis Posgate 512)858-7672858-7672%20or%20David%20Shetler%20210)736-9992)
or858-7672%20or%20David%20Shetler%20210)736-9992)
David Shetler 210)736-9992858-7672%20or%20David%20Shetler%20210)736-9992)
Clint Liles
Louise, if by “remedy” you mean a way to force the company who acquired the permit to pay the agreed bonus, you’d need to ask an attorney, but I don’t think typical seismic permits are enforceable contracts. It’s similar to what can happen if you give someone a signed/notarized oil lease before you receive the bonus payment.
On future permits I’d insist on including specific time limits by which work has to be completed or the permit terminates, and if they won’t agree to exchange payment for the signed permit at least require the payment has to be received before they can enter the property.
PLT…Produced Liquids Treatment/Transfer…any condensate for gas wells
or crude oil for producing wells.
The news reports of the Concho acquisition of acreage stated the cost per acre acquired worked out to $75,000 an acre.
Anyone have any idea of what acreage valuations actually are in Reeves County? Are there trends, are there zones of estimated value?
Thank you. Happy and Joyous Easter!
Dusty and TennisDaze, thank you so much for your valuable information. This is always a learning curve in the oil and gas business. I really appreciate your help.
Louise
Thank you so much, Lawrence!
Liz
Liz…in answer to your second question, it depends on the producer. Some will send the royalty holder an accounting every month with their check…others may opt to pay you quarterly and have an accounting page
included with the check. At the end of the year you’ll likely get a 1099
listing your royalty income for the year from them.
Lawrence, our lease requires them to pay monthly, at least after a certain period right at the beginning. So this is our first monthly check. From our readings on this site, we had assumed it would likely cover the first two or three months of production. However, the form says it is for January production and lists no other months. So then we wondered if it is common for the first two or three months of production to be rolled into one month for the purposes of this form and initial payment. IOW, the other months wouldn’t be listed separately for this first payment.
I’ve done all the checking I can do and haven’t been able to find production info online yet for these two wells. So I can’t find out the answer that way. I guess we’ll know more when the second check comes. Happy Easter to you!
Liz
We actually get the payment through a trust which holds the mineral interests. The oil company pays the bank that manages the trust. When the bank called us, they mentioned looking at a check they had in hand so I think we’re OK on that front. Thanks for the heads-up though! We will definitely make sure the oil company cannot access our account there. This is great advice for everyone.
Liz
Louise, First, take a look at the exact terms of your seismic permit. Generally, you are to be paid if seismic testing is performed and the data is gathered. The data is then entered into a seismic information bank and sold repeatedly to third parties. The landowner is not being paid if and when the seismic data is purchased and then receiving additional payments every time the data is “sold” - which is really meaning licensed for specific use. Second, find out if any of the other landowners were paid.
Third, send a certified demand letter for payment of the funds due. Best to send a joint letter. Point out that your agreement to the seismic was conditional upon payment and therefore the unauthorized incursion onto your land was both a physical trespass and a subsurface trespass to the minerals and subject to damages. Demand that 100% of the related data be sent to you as the mineral owners and deleted permanently from their records and seismic library. Ask specifically who has had access to the data and where all it is stored and any other questions you can think of. Send the letter to every company associated with the seismic survey, from the land agent to the company physically conducting the seismic to the listed company wanting the data.
In the future, do not sign any seismic permit without making changes, such as that no one can enter the property unless payment is made in advance. Limit the time of the survey to specific number of months from date of signing. Limit to a single seismic survey during that time. Do not allow the permit to be assignable to any other parties. Require that the seismic company or an authorized agent sign and return the permit before seismic is conducted. Do not let anyone tell you that your lessee has said the seismic is fine and you have to agree. If your lessee is conducting seismic solely for its own purposes and related to the lease, that is acceptable. Otherwise it is up to you to approve or not.In a transaction that Investor’s Business Daily called “the biggest ever in the Permian Basin,” Midland-based Concho Resources said this week it will acquire Dallas-based RSP Permian in a $9.5 billion all-stock transaction. The deal will create the Permian Basin’s largest crude oil and natural gas producer from unconventional shale. Tim Leach, Concho CEO, told reporters in a conference call Wednesday, “As companies get to this point and look at their assets and their activity, the efficiency you can gain by a bigger balance sheet and a bigger program is really what’s driving this.”
The Wall Street Journal said the deal “could herald the start of a consolidation push in America’s most active shale-drilling region.”
The deal will add 92,000 net acres to Concho’s existing acreage in the Permian to bring its total net acres to 640,000. The combined company will run the largest drilling program in the Permian Basin with 27 rigs. In 2017Q4 production on RSP assets totaled about 55,500 boed on a two-stream basis (80 percent oil, 20 percent natural gas) and 62,400 boed on a three-stream basis (71 percent oil, 17 percent NGLs, 12 percent natural gas). The transaction adds 2.2 billion boe of resource potential (two-thirds in premium resource, Concho said). The deal includes RSP debt and is expected to close in 2018Q3.
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Expect Concho to buy up some other exploration companies in Reeves
and Culberson counties…they would like to eclipse Apache, Noble-Permian, Primexx, and Oxy in these counties.
And don’t forget Clayton Williams landmen buying everything they can in
Culberson county. Drilling is about to go crazy in these two counties.
We just got our first royalty check and an explanatory form to go with it. We are trying to understand the form and have a couple of questions I hope someone can answer.
First, there is something called PLT listed in the same column as gas and oil. My researches indicate PLT is Production Logging Tool - but that doesn’t make much sense since there is actual production and dollars listed for it. That wouldn’t seem to indicate a tool.
Second, we always understood the first check would probably be for several months. But the column for Production Month and Year indicate only one month - January 2018. Do they roll several months into one month for the first check? TIA.
Liz