Hello, i am inquiring for friend, who received a letter from from the Ohio department of natural resources. He supposedly own a tiny percentage of surface and mineral rights, BELMONT COUNTY. A company ASCENT RESOURCES ’ UTICA LLC, WHOM I guess want permission from a 110 people to drill for oil or gas. I know he needs a lawyer, anyone on this site,know anything ABOUT this and point him in the right direction. I myself own land in Texas, that’s why i am on this site and helping him Thank William
If they’re unitizing, they’re going to drill and are grouping any lands that will be drained from the well; everyone gets paid on their proportion of the unit. They do the same thing in texas, no action is required if there is already a lease in place. May just want to verify how much land is spacing into the unit so you can calculate the decimal on the division order or paystub.
Thank you for responding. There isn’t a lease yet, it seems the purpose of the letter he received,was getting his permission too join the group of other owners. The letter was from a land man. It said he should get a lawyer,if he feels the need. Any idea, of how he could find one? The land is in the town of Wheeling, co. Of Belmont, state of Ohio. My lawyer in Texas does do anything in Ohio
Ok, need to get on top of it so there isn’t a risk of forced pooling that would be very detrimental to the value. Try googling Belmont County, Ohio, oil and gas attorneys
Thank you very much, i appreciate it. William
NAROOhio.org has a list of attorneys that work with royalty owners. Sponsors are listed on the website.
Thank you Dan, i researched that site and was able to find a lawyer to talk with my friend. I appreciate it. William
I encourage you/your friend to join NARO at (https://join-naro.org/). There are a a lot of resources available to you that helps to educate and then communicate with like minded mineral owners. Be sure to look for our convention in September in Cambridge Ohio. (NARO - National Association of Royalty Owners - 2023 NARO Ohio and Appalachia Convention- Virtual & In Person).
I attended the National NARO convention in Columbus a few years ago and the speakers were excellent. The OHIO chapter has some great directors and are on top of things. Encourage you to join!
Thank you both for the information. I will
I have a small interest in Belmont County. I would make sure the surface owners can not take it away by securing your ownership percentage on the lease. I did not know I had to do that, lost 50% of my interest to the surface owner thru the muddy waters of mineral rights legislation. Ascent Resources was decent to work with. If you look for an attorney, find one that represents mineral interest owners, not surface owners. That was impossible for me as I couldn’t get representation as my interest was so small. It might be worth having all the interest owners to group together to get an attorney. Before an attorney will represent you, what I found is, they need to know how much money your royalties will be, the smaller the amount, the less likely you will get representation. Also, joining the Ohio Chapter of the National Royalty Owners Association was a great place to get information and talk to folks that have the latest on what’s going on in Ohio. Good luck!
I found a mineral rights lawyer, my friend sent all his paperwork to them. They said his minerals were too small for them to handle, it wouldn’t have been worth the money spent on a lawyer. Don’t know what he’s going to do. Thank you very much.
This topic was automatically closed after 90 days. New replies are no longer allowed.