Hi all! I’m new here and know nothing about this stuff except for what my limited research has discovered in the last several months. I have reached a dead end and was hoping for some guidance.
I’m an heir to mineral interests in Caddo County, OK and have been researching my family’s lease history.
I have a 1971 lease that covers both the W½ SW¼ of Section 21 and the N½ NW¼ of Section 28, Township 11 North, Range 11 West. A 1993 mineral deed also covers both tracts.
Here’s where I’m confused.
A landman told me Section 21 is held by production, but the only producing well I’ve been able to connect to my family’s interest is Loula 1 in Section 28.
Can production from Loula 1 hold both sections, or should I be looking for a pooling order, spacing order, another historical well, or some other OCC document? Since I’m in NC and Caddo county does not digitize records, it’s difficult to research.
I’m trying to understand the history of these minerals and would appreciate any suggestions on what records I should be researching next.
Thank you in advance!
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An oil and gas lease recites that the lease will be held by production by drilling and subsequent oil and gas production from the leased premises (or a spacing unit in which the lease is located).So any well drilled, generally, in Section 21 and 28 will hold the entirety of the 1971 lease.
Now, there are some exceptions. Leases drilled after May 1977 in a spacing unit, may expire outside the spacing unit. Also, sometimes a clause can be inserted a lease (called a Pugh clause) which would allow the lease outside the drilled unit to terminate.
But, I strongly expect the landman is correct.
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Thank you so much. Since I feel like I’m reading Chinese in your response (not your fault, I’m just learning about all this), I’ll have to run it through AI to see if I can translate it. LOL. I appreciate your response! The confusion came in when one company offers a lease for section 21 before running a title search, and came back after we sent in all our W-9’s with personal identifiable information (social security numbers), they said ‘oops sorry it’s HBP’. They told us who to contact for the current lease. I called them, and they said they haven’t held it since 2020, gave me another company, and that company said it was for section 28. Hence the search all the way back to the original 1971 lease. That’s why I’m trying to determine what happened to section 21, when the new company says section 28- the lease I have from 1993 that shows both sections is a dead end. I am so confused!!!
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Are you being paid on the Loula well? If not, you should contact the operator and ask why. Its possible, the interest was separated between ownership in 21 and the ownership in 28.
Its also possible it is still in your ancestor’s name.
The 1971 lease was for minerals in 2 sections. The lease continues as long as there is production. Read the terms carefully. Does the lease provide that production will hold ONLY the Section where the well is or that it will hold ALL minerals in the lease? This is an important distinction. First case, if the well is only on Section 28, then the lease on Section 21 will have expired. In the second case, a well on Section 28 will hold both sections. A second question is depths - Is there a clause that provides that the depths below the producing interval or deepest depth drilled will expire or is the lease silent so that any well holds all depths? Have you discussed all this with your family to see what they know?
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We are not being paid yet because my uncle passed away with no will, no wife, and no kids. It has been an absolute nightmare trying to get all the heirship papers together so we can file them with Caddo County. I’m putting them in the mail tomorrow. The current lease holder for section 28 says once that paperwork if filed it will take 2-3 months for all the paperwork to go through. But I’m so confused as to what happened to section 21, which is what the first leasing company offered us a contract for, before she ran the title. When she advised of what the title search said, she told us who to contact regarding the current lease holder. I contacted them, and they said they sold the rights to this third company in 2020. When I contacts this third company, they advised they do show my uncle had an interest in Section 28, not section 21 as the first company told us. So with my total ignorance when it comes to all this oil/gas stuff I am so lost. What happened to Section 21? The first company mentioned it, the second company said they sold it, the third company said it holds Section 28. Supposedly it’s a “Loula well”, but there are a few of those, Loula 1, 2, 3 for example. I’m just simply trying to find out what happened to Section 21, as the first company offered us a lease amount based on the acreage, which said 80 acres, but the 1971 and 1993 lease show 160 acres. What am I doing wrong?
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I have read the terms carefully, but it’s like reading Chinese to me. I have no idea what I am looking at, and I thought this was the place to come for answers. I am so sorry to bother all of you with my ridiculous questions…. 
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It takes a very long time to understand the complexities that can arise in oil and gas world. You are at the very beginning of this adventure. Consider joining NARO (National Association of Royalty Owners) as another place to learn. First, is the 1993 document a deed (dealing with assigning title from A to B) or an oil and gas lease (mineral owner to an oil company)? Your posts call it both types which cannot be accurate. If there was a 1971 lease for both sections and it has been continually producing to the present, then the 1993 deed would simply minerals subject to the 1971 lease to a new owner. Second, assuming a 640 acre section, the SW/4 or NW/4 is a part of the section containing 160 acres (640/4 = 160). The W/2 of SW/4 contains 80 acres (160/2 = 80). N/2 of NW/4 also contains 80 acres. Both leases and deeds will include language about the gross mineral acres, which is the 80 acres + 80 acres = 160 acres. Third, to determine your net mineral acres, you have to trace the deed history recorded in the county records. Meaning A owns 160 acres and give 1/2 to Child A and to Child B. They each own 80 net acres (1/2 of 160 acres). Child A gives to his 4 children. They each own 20 net acres (1/4 of 1/2 of 160 acres). So over time, a lot of people can own a partial interest in the 160 acres. Fourth, back to 1971 lease to Oil Company (OC). Over time, OC may have assigned the leasehold interest to one or more companies. For example, OC could assign Section 21 to Company X and Section 28 to Company Y. If you call Company Y, its records will only reflect Section 28 and will not know anything about the leasehold owner of Section 21. Alternatively, Company Y may have been assigned both Section 21 and Section 28. It keeps track of mineral owners in Section 28 where the well is located. It will only trace the mineral owners in Section 21 at the time it decides to drill a well in that section.
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If a 1971 lease originally covered both Section 21 and Section 28, and I know the lease remained HBP, what is the most efficient way to identify every company that received an assignment of that lease over the years? Is there a single Oklahoma record or database that tracks lease assignments, or is a county record search the only reliable method?
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