My aunt has inherited a large ranch in Texas with several oil and gas leases held by different operators on her land. She is confused about the rights of the operators. She knows the rule that the land interest is subservient to the mineral interest. Her concern is what law/rule governs her land that is not under lease. The operators are scattered around on the ranch, with maybe 1/3 of the land HBP and the remainder is unleased.
Laura:
Not really understanding your question but the acreage which is not under lease is subject to be leased by the legal mineral owner(s). If your aunt has inherited the minerals or a portion, she would be able to lease the minerals on this unleased acreage. If she does not own these minerals and the acreage is leased, this portion would be subject to drilling activity and she would have to deal with the oil company on a surface agreement for access to this acreage. Hope this helps but as I stated, I'm not totally sure what you are asking.
I would suggest you hire a local O&G land man or attorney to go through the records and do a study to tell you what she actually has. If this is an active production area she needs to know what her rights are on the property, where she owns what and are the current leases in compliance etc. without having a land man do a title search and find the current leases/participating and non participating rights etc etc over the whole property you are going to be working in the dark. I know lots of people might balk at spending a few thousand $'s on something like this but your aunt has basically inherited a business, and given there are multiple current leases the mineral picture on the ranch is most likely not simple. i think thats how one should approach. Depending on where you are and size of holdings this could be a pretty substantial asset. What part of Texas?
To clarify my question: She is concerned about her rights for the surface of the land that is NOT under lease or HPB. Say she owns 40 acres and 10 acres are under mineral lease. The oil company has the right to do whatever to produce the minerals on that 10 acres, but when they step OFF that 10 acres, onto her land that is not under lease, what rights do they have and what rights does she have? I assume they have the right of ingress and egress, but does that include the right to build pipelines or perform other activities on the Surface Owners property that is not on their leased premises?
cmoss said:
I would suggest you hire a local O&G land man or attorney to go through the records and do a study to tell you what she actually has. If this is an active production area she needs to know what her rights are on the property, where she owns what and are the current leases in compliance etc. without having a land man do a title search and find the current leases/participating and non participating rights etc etc over the whole property you are going to be working in the dark. I know lots of people might balk at spending a few thousand $'s on something like this but your aunt has basically inherited a business, and given there are multiple current leases the mineral picture on the ranch is most likely not simple. i think thats how one should approach. Depending on where you are and size of holdings this could be a pretty substantial asset. What part of Texas?
i'm a land owner not an attorney, i would still suggest finding the HBP leases through the courthouse. A modern lease should address these issues and provide guidance on whether lease holders are in compliance on and off their HBP lease or not. I don't think there is a simple answer to your question without delving into the details of the leases. There are still lots of places with depression era leases which are vastly looser than modern leases.
Laura:
In regards to your question about pipeline construction, use of the unleased property would require a surface agreement between the oil company and the surface owner. This is a common practice when this occurs. Further, besides building a road to access the mineral leases, which should be addressed in a surface agreement, I can't think of anything else that an operator would perform on the surface not under lease.
Laura Reagan said:
To clarify my question: She is concerned about her rights for the surface of the land that is NOT under lease or HPB. Say she owns 40 acres and 10 acres are under mineral lease. The oil company has the right to do whatever to produce the minerals on that 10 acres, but when they step OFF that 10 acres, onto her land that is not under lease, what rights do they have and what rights does she have? I assume they have the right of ingress and egress, but does that include the right to build pipelines or perform other activities on the Surface Owners property that is not on their leased premises?
cmoss said:I would suggest you hire a local O&G land man or attorney to go through the records and do a study to tell you what she actually has. If this is an active production area she needs to know what her rights are on the property, where she owns what and are the current leases in compliance etc. without having a land man do a title search and find the current leases/participating and non participating rights etc etc over the whole property you are going to be working in the dark. I know lots of people might balk at spending a few thousand $'s on something like this but your aunt has basically inherited a business, and given there are multiple current leases the mineral picture on the ranch is most likely not simple. i think thats how one should approach. Depending on where you are and size of holdings this could be a pretty substantial asset. What part of Texas?
Laura,
In short, the oil company has no right to use the surface of the unleased minerals, subject to some right of ingress or egress, but even that is dependent upon the deeds and contracts in the chain of title. Any use is a trespass. They must get permission from your aunt, the surface owner. The doctrine that the mineral estate is dominant over the surface applies only to the oil company's leased acreage. Of course, if the owners of the minerals under the unelased portion lease them, then that would be different.