Has any mineral owners experienced the “Temporary plug abandonment” order for 5 years to produce well during Covid? Allowing oil lease company to not produce a well after drilling for 5 years and not have to pay after original lease terms of 3 years is past due. This is in Oklahoma.
I have wells on shut in for about 30 years. Very annoying. At least they pay shut in fees every year.
There was never an order for “Temporary plug abandonment order for 5 years to produce well during Covid” Your acreage is either open or held by a marginally producing well but as long as they make the shut in payments, $1.00 per acre, they can hold it for decades. It sucks and is horrible for the mineral owner
It would be more helpful if you listed the well that you are asking about. We can look up the situation. You cannot produce if the well is temporarily abandoned. The two phrases are incompatible. Are they paying shut in fees? Maybe the wording was NOT to produce.
A surface owner (Oklahoma) told me the other day that if all wells on (his) property have been abandoned more than a certain period of time (I think he said 15 years) and have not been capped, then state law requires that the mineral rights for that property automatically transfer to the surface owner. Is this true?
Your exhibit “A” should list 1 year and $10.00/acre/year
Oklahoma has a Marketable Record Title Act. Mineral rights that are unclaimed or unused for 30 years MAY revert to surface owners if proper claims or filings are not made. So, no, 15 years is not the correct time frame and proper claims must be made, so not automatic. As always consult an attorney to get a clear reading of the MRTA.