Today, I was notified of delinquent taxes in my name in Goliad County, Texas, on what I believe to be a producing well.
Until 2011, I received small royalty payments from Apache Corp. for my small share of this lease. When they ceased, I assumed production had, too.
The Goliad County tax records list the name of the current operator of this well, as well as two other lease interests in my name that also appear to be in the name of this operator. No taxes are owed on those, which I assume indicates they are out of production.
I have emailed the operator to request information on how long their company has been producing oil from this well (and the other leases in my name, which they appear to control), and to request an accounting of and payment for any royalties owed.
The current operator appears to be a small, local, family-owned workover oil rig company.
I’d appreciate any advice about anything else I should do to pursue this.
Look up the wells on RRC website to see their status and production history, using RRC lease number or API number. Post the information about the wells or the legal description of your minerals if you need help. Apache assigned operations to some company (may or may not be the current operator). As production slows, the wells become uneconomic to larger companies and they are frequently assigned to smaller companies.
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I have the legal description of my wells from Goliad County tax records, but I don’t know how to obtain a RRC lease number or API number from that. -Advice?
Legal description would be from your deed. Most counties include the RRC lease number on the tax statement. 5 digits for oil id and 6 digits for lease id. You can search on the RRC website under Wellbore Query using the well name to find the RRC ID and then review production and other information. Review the county tax records to see which years of taxes have not been paid, as they may not be current.
UPDATE: Tax records confirm that Apache unloaded the well to this operator in 2011 (after not mailing me a royalty payment, despite having my mailing/physical address) and reported my royalty payment to the state as “unclaimed property,” which I am attempting to recover.
The new operator paid taxes in my name due to Goliad County listing me as (royalty owner) c/o the operator. He died recently, and missed paying taxes in my name, which was how I learned they have controlled this well since 2011, but have not paid me any royalties.
His sons now control his company, which I have contacted by email, and will likely soon follow up with a demand letter via certified mail.