Thanks Phil. I did call and was told that the division order opinion was received by Brigham this morning and I should receive the letter in a couple of weeks. The first check will be sent out in January. Woohoo! My dad is smiling from heaven!
Philip Mollner said:
Your best bet is to call Brigham’s Division Order office and inquire about it. It is very common for the checks to be late past the 150 days in which you will receive interest on any oil and gas that was sold and is over 150 days
Great news Gail!! Who did you talk to at Brigham? I seem to only get voice mail.
I guess I just got lucky Victoria. I called early in the day and asked for someone who could give me info on when I would receive the division order on a well completed 5 months ago. She put me through to Sharley (?) who gave me the info. My brother never had any luck getting through to a live person either.
Victoria Reed said:
Great news Gail!! Who did you talk to at Brigham? I seem to only get voice mail.
Mike: My family and I have mineral rights in Divide County North Dakota. We were contacted, they had said a lease would be sent to us in the mail. It has now been more than a couple weeks. Im wondering what we should do next? like if we should contact companies? or if you knew the best ones to contact? or just in general what we should do to get things rolling.
Brigham is now over 9 months behind and counting, or at least on one of mine. The well started full production the first of December 2010 so nine and a half months and they haven’t sent out division orders yet.
I have yet to receive payment on a well that began full production in September of 2010. A full 5 months in excess of the 150 day limit. I am wondering if anyone has taken any action towards the late interests due or if the litigation creates too much of a headache. From what I have gathered, any resources sold after 150 days are subject to 18% interest.
Mineral Joe said:
Brigham is now over 9 months behind and counting, or at least on one of mine. The well started full production the first of December 2010 so nine and a half months and they haven’t sent out division orders yet.
Is it Brigham? Have you called whomever? I spoke with Brigham a month ago and said it was up next so it sounds like a couple more months.
Mr. Berhow, if you have any slightest cloud or title defect on your title, they do not have to pay the interest. I would contact your operator immediately by certified letter and by e-mail if possible demanding payment, or to know why payment has not been made. If you don’t know what is (possibly) wrong, you can’t fix it.
I think sending a demand is a little much to begin with. A friendly telephone call can be a quick way to find out if there is any problem, chances are they are just understaffed like most and they are running behind. Then again I like the personal friendly touch rather than an impersonal, demanding or threatening sounding method. It’s easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar and sometimes they can help you if there are problems.
It is a Brigham well, they did finally send the division order, but it had been sitting on a desk until I was able to talk with Shirley and she pushed it through directly. She was a bit astonished herself. The first payment is due to arrive this week, I assume, as I sent the signed and notarized order back on the 7th of July. Guess I am just a little frustrated. There were no title issues, but they were having some trouble tracking down the lease info, which I was able to confirm with a few afternoon phone calls. I sure appreciate the input and advice!
Mineral Joe said:
I think sending a demand is a little much to begin with. A friendly telephone call can be a quick way to find out if there is any problem, chances are they are just understaffed like most and they are running behind. Then again I like the personal friendly touch rather than an impersonal, demanding or threatening sounding method. It’s easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar and sometimes they can help you if there are problems.
Yeah, it sounds like I have another 2 months which will make it 10 months. Did they pay any interest? I doubt most would pay any interest, at least without being asked to pay.
Joe, I consider any asking of someone who is selling your property and owes you money, when payment will be made, to be a demand for payment. You may couch the wording any way you like. When I was in the military often an order or command was phrased as a request, but if it weren’t carried out with alacrity, you wouldn’t be in doubt after, that it was meant to be an order. By law in North Dakota they have 150 days to pay after first sales or they owe interest, unless there is a problem with your title. I believe that a law was also recently passed that they have to pay you the interest whether you request it or not, if of course there was no blemish on your title, and I have heard of astonishingly small things holding up payment. I myself, just last week was speaking to my lawyer about a title problem that an oil company created. I may start a thread about it because I find it shocking.
Mineral Joe said:
I think sending a demand is a little much to begin with. A friendly telephone call can be a quick way to find out if there is any problem, chances are they are just understaffed like most and they are running behind. Then again I like the personal friendly touch rather than an impersonal, demanding or threatening sounding method. It’s easier to attract bees with honey than vinegar and sometimes they can help you if there are problems.
Check the state statutes and administrative codes. Wyoming has a limit on when they must start paying. One of the games is to “escrow” the money until you can make them begin payments. Hold their feet to the fire.
I read your post and completely understood what you wrote, just not what you meant obviously. It sounds like the phone call and being nice to Shirley helped, I might have to give her a call. Once leased I doubt any operator will agree that it is your property in any way, even the fraction you get in the lease. I’d certainly like to hear about what title issues were created by an oil company you referred to.
Brigham would owe me thousands in interest and I bet they don’t offer to.
Robert, did they pay you any accrued interest?
Joe,
I haven’t received the first payment yet… as they send payment on the 15th of each month, so I likely will find out this week. The interest would be in the thousands in my case as well. The only issues were regarding some standard lease agreements, the mineral title has been clear of complication from the start. I have a call in to an attorney friend for some clarification.. hope to get some answers soon.
Mineral Joe said:
I read your post and completely understood what you wrote, just not what you meant obviously. It sounds like the phone call and being nice to Shirley helped, I might have to give her a call. Once leased I doubt any operator will agree that it is your property in any way, even the fraction you get in the lease. I’d certainly like to hear about what title issues were created by an oil company you referred to.
Brigham would owe me thousands in interest and I bet they don’t offer to.
Robert, did they pay you any accrued interest?
Thanks Robert, I’d also be curious to hear if you get interest or if anything else comes up.
Joe, I actually haven’t ever been paid anything to date, not signing bonuses (KOG released my lease they never paid for, but they sure didn’t want to and I have filed suit against Altair Corp for the same reason), a contract binder, royalty or interest. I tried being nice at first and it didn’t get me anywhere, but I would encourage anyone to be nice, at first. Failing that, that’s what lawyers are for.
The funny / shocking story of why Conoco doesn’t like my title. Being nice, I asked Conoco to pay me my share from the 5 wells that they are operating on land pooled with my minerals in McKenzie County, North Dakota. At first they refused to admit I exist. I had the title opinion lawyer blow me off, I think they may not have known I exist. I had to talk to someone, and I finally started calling numbers other than owner relations. A very nice and helpful lady in unclaimed property got my phone calls returned by a title opinion lawyer.
I’m having a nice chat with the title lawyer, giving legal descriptions, pointing him to my great grandfather’s probate, grandfather’s probate, father’s probate and mine and my brother’s mineral deed. The title lawyer tells me that they have my brother’s interest in 1 well determined (Kermit) and have him tentatively down for 1 well (Rink). They have me down for neither, hence I think they didn’t realize I existed until that moment, as my brother and I have identical mineral interests and there is another Robert Kennedy (distant relative) that has minerals in the same locations. Simple errors can explain to this point.
Next the title lawyer explains to me that they (meaning Conoco) think that my aunt may own my father’s interests because of a landman’s memo stating that since my aunt is in possession of my deceased uncle’s interests and she may possess my father’s as well. My uncle died, divorced, no children and my grandmother was his heir, grandmother died and my aunt was her heir. Dad died intestate, divorced with two strapping sons to inherit. Grandmother being deceased, could not have inherited Dad’s estate and will it to my aunt.
After pointing out the facts, probates and deeds, to the title lawyer and asking if Conoco had a single shred of paper that would indicate that my aunt owned my father’s minerals, the title lawyer said “well, there is the memo”. So, there it is. A memo trumps all those probates and recorded deeds and stuff. My lawyer says we will get it all sorted out.
Beyond that, I still want to know two things. What does that landman drink? What kind of meds is that title lawyer on? I want some of both but I will not drive or operate heavy equipment if I get them.
Oil has been flowing from our first well since March of 2008. I’ve tried being nice Joe, but in hindsight, it looks like it was a big waste of time. KOG, that released my lease, had the release sitting on a desk for 64 days (I know this because they lined through the original date and wrote the date they actually executed it). I finally called them and told them that I had been on the back burner with my lawyer for 4 months but he’s ready now and I have to say go or no go to filing suit against KOG. I received the release in 4 days.
Joe, my situation may be highly atypical; I certainly hope it is. KOG will also soon be drilling 2 more wells on a small parcel in that same lease. The area is very good. I bet someone got a royal butt chewing for letting it get away and at the same time ensuring that my brother would not lease with them, not that I think 20 acres in northern Dunn County, practically due south of Parshall is going to break an oil company.
It does make me curious why they didn’t pay the pitiful $100 per acre I signed for back in 2007 when I thought I was too busy to pay attention to all this mineral business. I don’t get it, Joe. Why can’t they pay when they say they will, take their large profit and go on?
All of my mineral acres are in eastern McKenzie County and far northern Dunn County. Great areas, every well to date has shown every sign of being profitable (I take it when you drill a well on one pad that it wasn’t a dry hole when you then drill 3 more, although I haven’t seen the production from these latest wells).
If I were an oil company, I would pay, it’s the right thing to do. When it involves acres that there is no way I wouldn’t want them, cheaply leased, it would also be the profitable thing to do. Close the deal so the mineral owner can’t get the lease canceled.
I apologize for being off topic on the parts of this that are, and for writing a book.
I received a division order from Conoco last Friday the 26th of August for one well. The effective date of the division order is 10-1-2008. This is the first concrete proof I have that Conoco knows I exist now. Of course, the division order is wrong, based on a lease signed with a fraudulent trust set up by Diamond Resources claiming they could not find us (Diamond had been dealing with us for 8 months prior to setting up the trust) because my brother and I wouldn’t agree to a lease for $75 per acre and 1/6th in a very hot area of McKenzie County, North Dakota when oil was over $100 a barrel and climbing! Bonuses were in the $750 to $1000 range per acre from my research.
I take it you signed a lease? What royalty are you to get and did they pay you a bonus?
I did not sign a lease with Diamond Resources which this division order must be based on. The decimal interest they have on it looks about 1/6.