My wife’s uncle was a landman. Tragically, he died nearly 10 years ago and my wife’s aunt inherited mineral rights on many producing wells in McKenzie County (and other counties in ND). My wife’s aunt then passed and my wife inherited a portion of the mineral rights. Recently, using the GIS viewer, we found that new wells are permitted and some are actually being drilled nearby - some in the same section, township, range (32-150-96). The distance of these new wells are within roughly 500 feet from the current wells we receive royalties from and they are also in the same STR. We also think they may be on the same legal lot. Slightly further away (maybe another 300 to 500 feet) are additional new wells permitted in 5-149-96. We believe that we may be entitled to royalties from these wells also as they are on or near other wells where we are receiving royalties, but we are not sure in this case if the wells are on the same legal lot. So, here are some questions:
We have asked the operator / rights holder for clarification on title and have been told to wait as they have not finished. But, in the meantime, since we don’t have copies of the lease / ownership agreements, are they any good ways to get a hold of old copies of the leases? We have searched online and found some transfers, but believe there may be more. Should we hire a landman to track down the rights?
If it turns out we do not have direct rights, would we possibly eligible to pooling rights as the new wells are close to existing wells where we already have rights? How do you determine if these new wells would apply to us in any way?
Each unit is comprised of two sections, see map. If you own in 32-150-96 then you will space with section 29. The land records for McKenzie county are located in the McKenzie County Virtual Vault, it requires a subscription but it will have all pertinent documents. If you post your family name, I’ll be happy to help. Sorry for the loss of your aunt-in-law and uncle-in-law…
Following up on this, I did see where you own a mineral interest; however, there were a couple of NPRIs reserved so your royalty is slightly reduced. I didn’t see any other lands in McKenzie. Usually they update the title before they drill additional wells which they’re going to do, but they should be able to tell you how much you own based on prior title opinions. There were some documents in Williams County under Continental among others; title appears clean. I’ll mail you your lease if you’d like.
So the NPRI comes out of the royalty in the lease. If the lease has a 20% royalty and there was a 5% NPRI reserved then the mineral owner gets paid 15%. The NPRI owners do not get leased and thus receive no bonus payment. It is the equivalent of an ORRI, but for the mineral estate not the leasehold estate. Either a prior mineral owner reserved a royalty when they conveyed the minerals or conveyed a royalty while they still owned the minerals, and those stay in effect. You too can convey any percentage of your royalty as a current owner up to your lease royalty percent less royalties already in effect. Hope I don’t sound convoluted.