Can anyone explain what a DPU report is. Our land man said it was the next piece of information relative to potential drilling on a pad adjacent to our land parcels in Marshall, Co,WV.
The only “DPU” I have seen related to oil and gas leasing is the DPU that stands for “Designation of Pooled Unit”. It’s not a report, it’s a legal document filed of record into the county records where the land is located that is being pooled by it. It is the Designation of Pooled Unit that acts as the automatic extension for every lease listed in it, to carry them past their primary term and into the secondary term created by the language in the lease that says “and as long thereafter as oil or gas is produced”.
My guess is that your landman was trying to tell you that you will know that drilling of a new well is about to begin when the DPU is filed of record in Marshall County. In reality, the DPU usually isn’t filed until drilling has been completed–not before it starts, and there are several good reasons for this.
The best way to find out if drilling of a new well is about to be drilled on that pad would be to access the West Virginia drilling permit records through https://dep.wv.gov/OIL-AND-GAS/Pages/default.aspx since no well can be drilled before a drilling permit is approved and issued.
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Thank you so much for your reply. I am aware of the WV DEP site and the wells are permitted. My brother in law, who has identical leases, made the actual contact with our SWN land man and he could not remember what DPU stood for. Your explanation fits perfectly as the land man said it was similar to a division order which would come a little later in the process. When I examine the two of four permits that concern our leases, they have listed the mineral rights owners affected by the proposed well paths along with the surveys of the well drill path and parcels that underlie. They also list adjoining parcels. Is that because they may frack into adjoining properties?
Again thank you for your professional response. We all live far out west and cannot just drive by to checkout any activity.
It’s possible that those adjoining parcels are listed because they might be planning to include them in the pooled unit when it’s established by the DPU, depending on whether or not drilling operations go as planned and the proposed terminus depth is reached. If drilling conditions inhibit the wellbore lateral from reaching the planned length, the well might stop short of its objective and not all of those parcels would be included in the DPU.
Thank you again Marsha. I assumed that was the case. We will await the DPU.
Ms Breazeale, Our DPU has been filed and I was wondering with the info below if a rough estimation of an eventual Division Order could be calculated. As a refresher our leases are in Liberty District, Marshall Co, WV. Our total gross deeded acreage is 141 ac in the lease and a resultant 33.29 net ac. In the DPU our gross deeded acres in the unit are 89.452 of the total 141 and the total unit acreage is 1275.403. Our royalty is 18%. The well for this unit has been drilled and should be fracked in the near future. Thank you for your opinion. Just trying to get an idea of what a DO might look like in future.
I wouldn’t count on any fracking in the near future, but your DO should be something close to 33.29/1275.403 x .18= .00469828. Provided all your acreage is in the unit. Hope this helps.
Thanks Todd. Our net acres will be reduced since not all are included in the unit. I can figure that number. Marshall Co is pretty active now even under our current circumstances. SWN is currently fracking on a pad not too distant from our parcels. Will wait and see. Appreciate your response.
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