I had been receiving royalties from 7 wells in Hughes County OK, but back a couple years ago those wells were shut in. Is there any movement in reopening the wells in Section 3 in the County?
Any information would be appreciated.
Welcome to the forum. Please give the complete section, township and range as there are many section 3s in Hughes County. Need to know the particular one.
Have they been paying you $1 an acre each year? Im old and dont know if they are still drilling Hughes County, but could be a case where you are open to lease now if anyone contacts you
Sorry for delay, the wells are as follows:
Jana 1-3/10H - Hughes County
Letty 2-3/34H - Hughes County
Letty 3-3/34H - Hughes County
Jana 4-3/10H - Hughes County
Jana 5-3/10/15H - Hughes County
Letty 4-3/34H - Hughes County
Letty 5-3/34H - Hughes County
Any information would be appreciated.
Nelson
No, no payments for the last couple years. I think since COVID hit hard.
Nelson
Hughes Surface most locations are in 3 & 10-6N-10E for Letty going north, bottom hole in 34 & 27 7N-10E. Jana wells go south into 10 and 22. Must be a story here. The wells say they are inactive, but the production shows they were doing as predicted and healthy until mid 2024.
You are right, I believe there is a story here. Not too long after the Gov’t stopped exporting natural gas and the prices fell, ALL of these wells were shut in (~ May 2024) and have not produced since then.
My question stems around whether there is ANY effort or even rumors of Trinity Operating starting to re-open any of the wells in this area?
What would be the expectation since Oklahoma passed the legislation for well owners to either open these shut-in wells or cap the wells in this decade?
Any information you might have or maybe another source that I could tap to get some information would be helpful. I have asked Trinity several times, but no response.
Thanks in advance.
Have no idea about their plans. Check your lease to see what your shut in time is. Have they paid you the fees to keep the lease active according to the lease? If not, then you can request a release of lease.
I have asked Trinity a few times about these wells as they were good producers and then they just went dark. The last time I asked in December, I got this response, “We do not have any details on the reasoning why they aren’t producing at this time.” They have been paying shut in fees to hold them. They should sell them.
I got the same response from Trinity.
The state legislature passed that law that these wells have to be capped or opened back up within 10 years I believe. I am hoping for a good report. I thought thos forum would give me more insight.
Still hoping.
Oklahoma law requires that inactive or shut-in oil and gas wells be either plugged or returned to production.
Oklahoma Statutes §17-53 (2025) and Senate Bill 132) mandates that operators plug or reactivate idle gas wells, with specific timelines established (by July 1, 2035, for many, notes Oklahoma Energy Today). The Oklahoma Corporation Commission (OCC) oversees these regulations, requiring proper capping to prevent safety hazards.
Time will tell to see if operators comply.
I’ve got several Trinity wells also, in 9 and 33 of 7N-11E. I had gone without a check from them since February of 2025 and only recently got a check in early March of this year (after writing them to ask why I had stopped receiving checks). No explanation when this recent check arrived, other than to tell me that ONE of the wells had been shut in and that’s why no payments from it were included on this check. I’ve since written them back and am waiting for them to explain the lack of checks for the past 12 months. I’ve had issues with Trinity before, and I’m sure I’m not alone. Maybe they should change their name to “maybe”?
You might find the Hogg vs Trinity lawsuit in OK interesting. Was for Hughes county.
That sucks putty balls Mick.
Yeah that’s rough, especially going that long without any checks and no real explanation.
I’ve seen situations where wells get shut in or payments get delayed, but they should still be communicating better than that.
If you want, I can take a quick look at the wells and see what might be going on. Feel free to shoot me a message.
I would look into Letty (1-5), Kim (1-5), Bertha (1-5), Jana (1-5) and Crystal (1-5) wells in Hughes County.
Martha, yes, an interesting case. I did get paid a rather unusually large ~$6000 or so from that class action. “Unusual” because my interests are not that large in these sections, but I guess they were the “hot” wells or something? Most of my class action checks over the years have been for less than $20.
The lead plaintiff in the Hoog-Trinity case got nearly $500,000 for his part. I’ve volunteered to be a class representative before (was asked by the plaintiff attorney actually) but didn’t receive nearly that much! Still felt good arguing on behalf of my fellow royalty owners for the best result. Most of them never make it to trial, which is unfortunate. If attorneys would pick “winnable” (at trial) cases instead of “I can settle this quickly for pennies on the dollar” cases, mineral owners would probably be better off in the long run.
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Ha ha, yes, it does. I will let everyone know if I hear back from Trinity with anything useful. Not holding my breath at this point.
Terrel and Mick, Thank you for all the long hours you have put in over the years through NARO on behalf of mineral owners. We stand on your shoulders!
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I took a quick look at those wells. “Something” happened between March 2024 and April of 2024 when they all shut down. They were all normally declining until boom. I wonder if a processing plant went down or something else happened. Are they paying shut in fees to keep the leases active? Would merit a hard look.