You say you are finished with this discussion but I hope you are still reading it because someone has just posted a link that explains your possible liabilities if you do not sign a lease. The paper that is linked is written by one of THE most respected people on this forum, Buddy Cotton. He is respected because he is honest, he is kind and he knows his stuff in and out. In case you do not open that link and read the paper, his final words are these:
"Also, in theory and in law, the non-consenting co-tenant will incur his share of the liability of plugging and abandoning the well at the end of its life.
"This type of non-consenting interest is sometimes referred to as carried interest. One of the larger dangers in being an unleased co-tenant is that you open yourself up to unlimited liability related to the actions of the operator, with no protection in the form of being under the umbrella of the operating parties insurance."
In other words, you yourself may never suffer anything from not signing a lease, but your daughter and granddaughters might. The liabilities may come down the road. Leases are not just for the benefit of operators; a good lease protects mineral owners too.
You know how sometimes you have something swirling around in the back of your head and it takes you a while to figure out what it is? Well, I finally figured out what it was I had in the back of my head.
On the subject at hand, whether your are an Unleased Co-Tenant or a company with a minority leasehold interest in a given Unit, I witnessed a company years ago do two things to the minority owners.
In one instance, they never paid the minority party a single dime. Never communicated with them at all after negotiations came to an end. Once the well was completely drained and plugged and abandoned, the minority owners had to sue just to get an accounting.
But they couldn't do that until they had paid for Landmen, Attorneys and Engineers to prepare everything they went to court with. If the minority party had had a minority leasehold, they had to pay the royalties to the penny each month or their leases would have expired under their own terms.
In another instance, they produced a well down to a certain point, then pulled all the casing, plugged the well, removed all their equipment and told the minority owners that their oil and gas was still there, in the ground: Go Get It.
Rumor had it that they even "Junked" the hole before they plugged it, so the minority owners couldn't even re-open the borehole.
I don't think 4P would ever do either of those things, but things like these do happen.