In 1956 my mother had an aunt who died and left my mother and my aunt equal shares of mineral rights in mckenzie county, north dakota… An oil lease that I declined described the property as 80 gross acres with 0.58 mineral acres. Combined my mother and aunt would have 1.16 mineral acres. I read somewhere that you need 1.0 mineral acres to drill a well. Please advise me if this is true. I also have 3 cousins who also own 0.58 mineral acres; bringing the total mineral acres owned by the family to 2.90 mineral acres. Also, if we sign a lease, how are royalties paid in relationship to the other mineral owners on the the property? If this is what you owned, what would you do with it ? My area of expertise is cardiology.
It sounds to me that if your entire family was in lockstep you wouldn’y have enough acres for significant leverage. Royalties from this small amount of acres will not make you wealthy. That’s the bad news. The good news is you are entitled to paid something for what you own underground. I like to get competetive bids, to get the offer up. You could also all hold out to the bitter end hoping for a nuisance offer. O&G companies don’t like unleased acres in their drill spacing, the added paperwork alone would probably promt a better offer. I think your best bet would be to solicit offers from other co’s leasing in your area, let everyone know you are seeking the best offer, and ask whoever tried to lease you to cut to the chase, your time has value, get what they say is their best offer see if anyone will beat it, then go with the best offer. Do not give anyone an executed lease that they can record until you are paid, whether that being a draft was honored or the check cleared. I trusted and gave an executed lease on the basis of a draft which was not honored, my lawyer says my case will be filed in court week after next. Learn from my mistake. Get paid, hopefully they drill a well, cash royalty checks, smile when you get them. Have a great life!