I have been struggling to get paid, and the Statoil Division Order Team, says via email that it will take 8 weeks to process a division order! Does anyone have a division order point of contact at Statoil, that is more responsive than the generic GM INT USA DivisionOrders [mailto:DIVOR@statoil.com] at Statoil?
Anyone else having problems getting paid?
I never sign division orders in North Dakota. It’s not required to my understanding. I feel more safe not agreeing to a decimal interest that they have determined. I feel if sign it, I’m locked into agreeing their calculation is correct. I do send them my tax ID and current address and contact information for tax withholding.
That's good advice. However, I hate to think how slow Statoil would be to pay without a division order.
I have had good luck with getting answers from that email address for Statoil. BUT...after we received a division order here comes this big envelope with several requirements that we have to prove before we get paid. One big requirement is where the state of ND is trying to take mineral rights from us due to the "high water mark" Who knows when that will be settled. Sure isn't like it used to be anymore.
Suzanne is correct. Donald, if you have good title to your minerals, the gold standard being a deed recorded in your name at the relevent county courthouse, the operator has 150 days after first sales to pay royalty or they owe interest of 18% per year past due, 1.5% per month. If you do not have good title, it is extremely unlikely that you will be paid whether you return the division order or not. Most operators use the entire 150 days, "free loan", period anyway. The interest is the only spur to get them to pay royalty at all.
Donald Skotty said:
That's good advice. However, I hate to think how slow Statoil would be to pay without a division order.
Thank you for the advice. Clear title is not an issue here.
Does anyone have a Statoil point of contact?
Bonnie I caution you about the ordinary high water mark claims from the state and the oil companies. I do not agree with the determination regarding my mineral rights and the OHWM. If the water moved away from the land you may have gained mineral acres. I encourage everyone affected by the OHWM to take a good look at their mineral acres and how it has been determined what they now own ,if they are adjacent to a N.D. waterway. Do not just “roll over” and take anyone’s word for it. This involves your mineral acres and your future royalties. The court has already determined the state takes up to the OHWM. Where is an established, open to the public, published indication of where the high water mark for North Dakota’s waterways that is current and accepted. There were two studies done. Which one are they using? They’re using the one that benefits them. Also, as far as the state Of N.D. goes, I think they are content thinking it has been settled. Although I am so thankful for the mineral acres I have, I am outraged at the state and the tricky oil companies doing everything they can to separate me from what 4 generations of my family have owned. It seems if the division order doesn’t agree with what you believe you own, and you sign it, you may have a problem also. I urge everyone to refuse to sign them. I didn’t sign mine. The other little trick is the oil companies find title problems. I would love to explain an actual instance but I can’t jeopardize a current battle I am engaged in. I urge you to probate all your mineral acres in the event they haven’t yet been probated. I erroneously thought since mine were passed to me in a trust that probate wasn’t required. It was required. So, Bonnie, and all fellow mineral owners, please proceed with extreme caution. I have learned in a very real way there are real oil companies and even the beloved state of N.D. looking for every opportunity to separate you from what is yours be it mineral acres or royalties.
A division order will not speed things up, they have completed title or you would not have received the division order. I have heard of companies combining the division order along with the confirmation of the mineral owners tax information and they threaten to withhold federal backup withholding of 28%-30% if it is not returned, but by law you do not have to return a division order in ND. They can't legally do federal backup withholding if you give your tax ID information, that's only for those who refuse to give tax ID information.
Personally, if I were not dying, I would let them hold my money for awhile at 18% interest, where else is your money going to make that? Congratulations on getting a well but it's not as easy as it seems. They may tell you execute the lease, cash the bonus check (usually 1% or less what they expect to make off your acres) and wait for royalty to appear in your mailbox. They left out all the little things they do in the interim to try to not pay royalty. Some operators have sent first checks before sending out division orders, the division order does not make your ownership any more legitimate. Good luck and congratulations again.
Donald Skotty said:
Thank you for the advice. Clear title is not an issue here.
Does anyone have a Statoil point of contact?
We did receive division orders and then they changed their minds and sent us all these inquires on the mineral interests involved.
r w kennedy said:
A division order will not speed things up, they have completed title or you would not have received the division order. I have heard of companies combining the division order along with the confirmation of the mineral owners tax information and they threaten to withhold federal backup withholding of 28%-30% if it is not returned, but by law you do not have to return a division order in ND. They can't legally do federal backup withholding if you give your tax ID information, that's only for those who refuse to give tax ID information.
Personally, if I were not dying, I would let them hold my money for awhile at 18% interest, where else is your money going to make that? Congratulations on getting a well but it's not as easy as it seems. They may tell you execute the lease, cash the bonus check (usually 1% or less what they expect to make off your acres) and wait for royalty to appear in your mailbox. They left out all the little things they do in the interim to try to not pay royalty. Some operators have sent first checks before sending out division orders, the division order does not make your ownership any more legitimate. Good luck and congratulations again.
Donald Skotty said:
Thank you for the advice. Clear title is not an issue here.
Does anyone have a Statoil point of contact?
Thank you so much Suzanne for taking time to caution us. Where do you inquire about the determination of your mineral rights regarding the OHWM? Sounds like it has already been settled?? There are several of us cousins involved in this. We have never had trouble like this before. Even when our parents and their parents had these mineral rights. Very frustrating!!!
Suzanne Vohs said:
Bonnie I caution you about the ordinary high water mark claims from the state and the oil companies. I do not agree with the determination regarding my mineral rights and the OHWM. If the water moved away from the land you may have gained mineral acres. I encourage everyone affected by the OHWM to take a good look at their mineral acres and how it has been determined what they now own ,if they are adjacent to a N.D. waterway. Do not just "roll over" and take anyone's word for it. This involves your mineral acres and your future royalties. The court has already determined the state takes up to the OHWM. Where is an established, open to the public, published indication of where the high water mark for North Dakota's waterways that is current and accepted. There were two studies done. Which one are they using? They're using the one that benefits them. Also, as far as the state Of N.D. goes, I think they are content thinking it has been settled. Although I am so thankful for the mineral acres I have, I am outraged at the state and the tricky oil companies doing everything they can to separate me from what 4 generations of my family have owned. It seems if the division order doesn't agree with what you believe you own, and you sign it, you may have a problem also. I urge everyone to refuse to sign them. I didn't sign mine. The other little trick is the oil companies find title problems. I would love to explain an actual instance but I can't jeopardize a current battle I am engaged in. I urge you to probate all your mineral acres in the event they haven't yet been probated. I erroneously thought since mine were passed to me in a trust that probate wasn't required. It was required. So, Bonnie, and all fellow mineral owners, please proceed with extreme caution. I have learned in a very real way there are real oil companies and even the beloved state of N.D. looking for every opportunity to separate you from what is yours be it mineral acres or royalties.
Bonnie, of course they reserve the right to change their minds at any time. There are people who were paid for years and then the royalty they had been paid stopped because of some problem with title. In my case personally my royalty was being paid for a few years to a distant family member with a similar name who did own an interest, just not my interest and not as much as the operator formerly thought they owned. I hope he didn't buy anything TOO nice with persistent payments because I believe they have cut off his royalty until the excess payment has been recovered.
Back to the main point, you don't have to return a division order in ND and it does not speed up royalty payment. A stipulation of interest might but not a division order, in my opinion. If you are willing to stipulate that you do not own anything which is in dispute, I believe you can speed up payment, of a lesser amount, you can kiss anything in dispute goodbye though.
Bonnie Simons said:
We did receive division orders and then they changed their minds and sent us all these inquires on the mineral interests involved.
r w kennedy said:
Mr. Kennedy speaks the truth and has given me and many others on this forum an education. When I began this mineral rights journey I was so excited and looking forward, with great exuberance, to a whole new life. Little did I know the new life would be fighting, on an almost daily basis, for what is mine. Bonnie, that is a good question. The state has made a decision on all these mineral rights they have determined are now theirs because of the OHWM. I have yet to find, in black and white, how they determined what to take from us in their great land grab. I’m wondering that very question myself. Does anyone have an answer to Bonnie’s question? It would sure answer a lot of people’s questions. If people aren’t questioning it, my suggestion is they should be… Donald - if you go to Statoil’s web site and go to the area with contacts in the USA you will find telephone numbers. I would skip calling the number for division orders and try the one for royalties to inquire if they can indicate when you might expect yours. The only concern with the division order for me would be if the decimal interest they have written on it is correct. I would have no interest whatsoever in signing and returning it.
What an elegant answer. Thanks much! Don
Our family has hired an attorney to deal with Statoil. Apparently, Statoil did not respond to the first demand letter regarding royalties from a well that had been producing since Nov 2011.
Another question about Statoil. Statoil has offered me an oil and gas lease for township 153 North, Range 98 West, Section 24. $800 per acre, 3/16 royalty, but BACKDATED to Nov 11, 2011, when the well they dug (or their predecessors dug) started producing. Well Jay 24-13 # 1-H. Mr. Kennedy has found out for me that the well has had problems, with 0 production since Nov 2013 (I think), production to date approximately 23,000 barrels.
The reason I received an offer last month was because another relative hired the attorney, who wanted our leases, and she told the Statoil agent that my brother and I own a greater interest than anyone else in the family (all owners having already signed last year or the year before).
So I can't figure out why backdate the lease, and why sign at all, and why they send a letter with a somewhat low bonus offer. What would the royalties amount to? Also, since production has ceased, and if they plug the well, what happens to the 3-year term (which would end Nov 11, 2014). What would they have to do to extend the lease, since they have applied to plug it? What rights am I giving up by signing? Since they never offered me a lease before?
Thanks in advance.
I don't know what the law is in North Dakota, but in Texas, without a lease, you would be an "unleased royalty owner" which is a real nice place to be when the well has been drilled in a prolific area (like the McKenzie County Bakken). I strongly suggest you discuss your situation with a good ND oil and gas attorney. A 100% royalty is much better than any royalty % they would put in a back-dated lease.
Mr. Rosoff, I believe Statoil is either going to come back and drill another well or they are making an error.
I would pay careful attention to the continuing operations clause. A pretty standard continuing operations clause would be "If no more than 180 days pass between the abandonement of a well and the beginning of a new well, this lease will be held in full force and effect". The time period does not have to be 180 days, I have seen one year. The operator with the 180 days clause could have until April 2015 if they began plugging your well in November, October 2015 if they adjust the continuing operations to read one year. The don't have to get a rig capable of drilling and completing the entire well either, they can get a less capable rig out there to drill to 2,200 feet and have 90 days after that to get the rig that will finish the job on site. There are so many things that will extend a lease that really, nothing save production should save a lease because there is too much room for abuse. After all, if the operator needs more time, he should have bought more at the outset.
I believe that 3/16 is way lite and would not accept less than 20% royalty if I decided to lease, which I probably would not. It may not look like much right now but one day when there are 4 to 8 wells on it, those acres are going to look very good.
