Stephens County, OK - Oil & Gas Discussion archives

Anyone aware of any leasing activity in section 2 1N-7W? If so, amount received per NMA? Thanks.

Joe, No leases in 2 recently, but there were some in 10-1N-7W in mid 2017 by Needham Energy. They are not public and no recent pooling to go by. That area is mostly out of the Woodford play.

Hello everyone! Has anyone received their 1099 from Chevron yet?

Thank you,

Kimberly

What lease offers are being received for 24 and 25 1N-4W? I have a few companies calling, but want to make sure I get the best deal! Thank you all!

John, there is not current activity in 25-2S-5W . There are some old wells there.

You can go onto okcountyrecords.com and search for names that you might recognize and then go from there. You can search the OK Treasurer’s office for unclaimed funds with names (and misspellings) you might know.

M Barnes, thank you for the information. Much appreciated

We just found out that several of our family members have minerals in Section 25 Township 2 S Range 5W

what link can I use to find out who has minerals in this area to find any family members.

Jason, 24,25-1N-4W Cheyenne has a horizontal well pending. There are a couple of pending poolings so those will give some indication of offers, but nothing recently. A few years ago, the nearby offers were in the $450 3/16 range.

Thank you Mr Barnes will work on this. This is my wife’s family and found a will showing a division on the minerals amount the family. This goes back to 1993. I have all the family names and wanted to make sure if this was still good and who’s names show.

thanks again

Has anybody received any lease offers from ECHO Energy for Sec26 2S 4W in Stephens County. My lease expired and Echo is interested in leasing.

Thank you

Does anyone know if there are any activity in the area I just posted.

What is a general rule of thumb by which a company must send funds in arrears to the OK State Treasury; a time duration, i.e. annually or, up to or over a certain balance of funds?

I have heard seven years before they turn it over.

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Stephen,

It depends on the source reason of the fund. If they are the result of forced pooling of an un-located mineral owner, the funds are supposed to be turned over to the OCC during the required payment period. It is then retained in the Mineral Owners Escrow Account (MOEA) for 5 years, before being transferred to the State Treasury Unclaimed property fund. These funds should show up under both a MOEA search and the unclaimed property fund search.

Payments due from an operator or purchaser from production is considered abandoned after 5 years. Then is is submitted on there payer’s anniversary date. So 5-6 Years, although I have seen cases where that is not followed.

Also the payments are supposed to go to the state of the payee’s last known address. If that address is unknown, it is supposed to go to the state in which the payer is located. However, that payer’s “location” is usually the state of incorporation. This is why many end up in Delaware.

Thank you Rick Howell. That is a very thorough explanation.

I am no attorney, but if no consideration has changed hands, in my opinion, the contract is not complete. You should ask for a release of lease immediately to get it recorded at the courthouse so that other landmen will note that you are open. Release%20of%20lease%20oklahoma686.pdf

No, we haven’t received our countersigned leases, so no lease contracts yet exist, but our leases were recorded, and our land encumbered, as if they were. I’m no lawyer either, but it seems to me that WE performed by agreeing to the terms of the offer returning the documents per instructions, and by recording our leases at the Courthouse the Company has defrauded us of our bonus money. This sucks. Thank you for the reply Martha.

I suppose you can weigh the bonus and the hope that you received the best price against the time involved to record, filing fees, etc. To each his/ her own on that one. Having a 3rd party involved to me is like divorcing 2 spouses.

Stephen,


Say Linda leased her 10 acres in 2016 for $500,3/16,3yr. Then in 2018 the property is force pooled for $850,3/16 while she was leased. Did she loose? She received $5000 in 2016 instead of $8500 she would have received on the force pooling in 2018. But she also leased it in 2010 and 2013 and collected a check for $5000 each time.
So she received $15,000 instead of $8500.

The above falls into the often quoted “only 30-35% of leases get drilled before they expire”. In our case our average of far less, I think we are in the 10% range over the last 20 years.

There is far more to a lease than bonus and royalty interest that impacts the bottom dollar on production compared to a forced pooling, formations encumbered, term, post production deductions, etc. But based on Bonus/RI only, it can come out either way.

In the last 5 or so years, property we own has been pooled several times. In the most recent pooled one we received an 85% higher bonus along with a 10% higher royalty interest in our lease than what was offered in the pooling order. In a couple of cases we receive a higher royalty interest than was offered in the pooling.

While it is intended to pay the highest bonus paid (in that area and surround areas) when a pooling order is issued, often that is not the case in reality. Many times much higher 3rd party bonuses are not submitted to the commission, or they have been deemed hostile or erroneous. 3rd parties often tell the company landman the bonus paid is proprietary information for various reasons. Many times deals are excluded because they involve multiple sections (this is a method I often use to gain higher bonuses on a lease).

In my experience some of the best prices paid are from non-operating 3rd parties funded by outside investment groups. But there are different types of 3rd parties out there leasing. It is rare for most (and more so for larger) operators to have any direct contact with the mineral owner. Therefore a contracted landman will be utilized. In some cases they will be publicly representing the operator, but in many cases the operator will require anonymity during early part of the leasing cycle. There are also 3rd parties that speculate and take leases independently of any operators with the intent to sell these leases to other entities. The are taking greater risk and that may reflect lower prices paid. In some cases the prices may exceed what the operator is offering. Generally leases are worth more as a package when they assign them to an operator. Although they make that profit during that assignment, that does not “always” mean you would be paid less by leasing to them than leasing to the operator or under a pooling order.

Too often I see absolutes posted. Examples; It is always best to be pooled. Never lease to a 3rd party. Never allow a lease term longer than 3 years. Never allow a term option. Never sell you interest. Always take the highest royalty. These may not always be the best answer in all cases.

Every opportunity should be judged on its own individual and sometimes unique characteristics. In many cases two different individuals owning property will have different needs for which the best choice will be different. It may be because of financial needs, the age of the individuals, the individual’s tolerance for risk, what the person intends to do with the property after their life, etc. What is best for me might not be best for someone else.

My sister and I both leased our mineral rights in 15 1N6W to Anniston Energy, LLC in January, and our leases have been recorded at the Stephens County Courthouse. Along with our leases we each received an “Order of Payment” for $1850 per acre, due 30 banking days from receipt (which in my case would have been 2/28/18). Yesterday I got an email from the Landman telling me that the offer has been rescinded, and apologizing for “any inconvenience”. My question is; doesn’t the Offer and the Order of Payment, along with the signed and recorded Leases constitute a contract? And wouldn’t it be possible to sue them for our bonuses in Stephens County for breach of contract?