Should I lease with a third party or Continental?

My siblings and I have some mineral rights in Carter County, OK…we’ve been getting royalties directly from Continental for the Bowery well. Courbet will be coming up soon and we have to elect our bonus and royalty choices soon. We’ve been contacted by a few third party energy companies who will pay higher bonuses per acre and still pay the same royalty percentages. Is there a downside I need to consider before opting to go through a third party? What’s their motivation for paying more than Continental/Turner?

Thanks in advance…there are some super helpful members here!

Chip

My preference is to get the best lease terms possible for the best bonus highest royalty pair. Many third party offers will accept more mineral-friendly leases and give better bonus amounts because they want a piece of a good well. You can either lease or wait for pooling. The operator is still responsible for paying the royalties.

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Thanks, Martha. Is it common to have one or two person operations reaching out for leasing? I was contacted by a gentleman who is offering 125% higher bonuses than Continental but besides a LinkedIn profile I can’t find anything about his company. I have a phone call set up with him shortly…any pointed questions I should ask? You’re the best!

Chip

I routinely get multiple offers to lease when a good operator is working an area. Ask who he is working for and if he is flipping or wanting to be a working interest owner (just for information). Ask for a copy of his lease draft and get it to an attorney asap for edits. Never hand over a signed lease without getting paid at the same time. No drafts that can drag on for months and months (or never get paid if he is trying to flip and doesn’t get it done in time). If I cannot get a better lease with no post production charges among many other items, then I have no problem with pooling.

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More confusion…We’re currently getting royalties from Continental for Bowery production. An oil and gas company wants to lease our rights in Carter county which also will entitle us to Courbet bonus and royalties. I was sent a draft lease and it’s back dated to Sept 1, 2022. Is that normal? Will signing a new lease affect our current payments from Continental? So much info…lol.

Please add the section township and range for each of those wells so we don’t have to look them up.

I do not like back dated leases. There is usually a reason for that and it doesn’t always bode well for the mineral owner.

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Carter County, State of Oklahoma Section 21, Township 1 South, Range 3 West

Bowery 1-16-21HM was drilled in 2021, completed Nov 15, 2021. Perforations in the Sycamore fro 8391 to 18608. Horizontal well. The well is in sections 16 & 21. Were you leased or force pooled for that horizon? The answer is important.

Courbet - Continental has filed for seven more Courbet wells plus the #2. The Courbet 2-21-27XHW was spud 11/16/22. (That is why your lease is back dated…) Courbet 3-27-21XHW, 4, 5 will have portions in section 21.

If you were pooled on the Bowery, it is a shallower reservoir than the Woodford. You can either lease or get pooled on the deeper horizon. Continental was supposed to have a pooling hearing on Jan 23, 2023. The case is 2022-005169. Did you get a pooling notice? You can look it up and see if you are on the list of respondents. At this point in time, I would not bother with leasing and just take the highest royalty offered at the pooling. Just don’t miss the pooling order deadline.

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Thanks…yeah I think the wise choice is to do the pooling. Continental has already verified title and deed claims and we have a couple contacts in owner relations who have been helpful. I’ve tried to find the deadline for pooling elections but there doesn’t seem to be one yet?

I do not see an order yet. You can track it through the electronic case filing at the OCC.

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This is one of those odd ones where they spudded before they were fully leased. Must have had a rig ready. Make sure your name is on that pooling order or find out why not!

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We’re listed. Thanks again.

Congrats on the new wells. Hope they do well for you.

If you have agreed to terms, but not signed yet, is it legally binding?

Contract is not legally binding if not signed according to my understanding. (I am not an attorney). So an attorney would be the one to speak further.

My Families trust also has interest in section 21 but in the form of an override instead of royalty. We have been receiving payment all year on the Bowery. As section 21 and 16 were spaced together for wells in the woodford, sycamore and mississipian formations, I believe we will receive overriding income on any of the Courbet wells drilled that go across section 21 or the area in 16 spaced with section 21, is this correct?

We know there have been 10 or 11 Courbet Wells drilled already but only the first Courbet drilled a couple of years is actually producing, none of these new wells appear to be online. Do you have information on when these wells might begin selling production??

Welcome to the forum. See the map above for where the Courbet wells are going.

You can look up the "Courbet"wells on the OCC well records site. Form 1000 is the permit. 1001A is the spud notice. 1002A is the completion report.

In general, it takes about four-five months to drill and complete a multi-section well. However, since there are so many in this drilling program, that could stretch a bit. They may wait until they are all drilled to frac them to save money. You can expect division orders about five months after the completion and then royalties are supposed to be send within 180 days of first sales.

You can watch for the “active” date on the OTC (Oklahoma Tax Commission) website. https://oktap.tax.ok.gov/oktap/web/_/

You do not have to log in. Look for the HELP section and choose thePublic PUN option. Type in “Courbet” in the LeaseName option. Only the first well is on line at this time.

https://imaging.occ.ok.gov/imaging/OGWellRecords.aspx

Some of the new Courbet wells have been drilled. I believe 1 is in the completion phase. None are yet producing so you most likely won’t see any revenue until 6-8 months from now.

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