I wonder what was reserved in this 1960 deed? This is in Texas:
"There is excepted herefrom and reserved unto the Grantor herein an undivided one-half (1/2) royalty interest in and to all of the oil, gas and other minerals in or under or that may be produced from the hereinabove described property with the right of ingress and egress thereto.
It being the intention of the Grantor herein to convey all of the minerals in place in the hereinabove described property with the Grantee receiving an undivided one-half (1/2) royalty interest in and to all of the oil, gas and other minerals in or under the above described property."
That reads to me as if it reserves a 1/2 non-participating royalty interest for the lands/tract.
But if there’s one thing I’ve learned from a career in land, it’s that royalty reservations aren’t always as clear as they seem. It’s to the point I don’t feel comfortable making any assumption about royalty reservations; I just wanna let the lawyers fight it out and court and tell me the final verdict.
If it does reserve 1/2 of the total royalty, I’m pretty sure no operator would want to drill it. So I feel like the operator would push to say it reserves 1/2 of the lease royalty, not 1/2 of the whole royalty.