[ejheverest]

Interested to see what happens with the land. I work for a drilling company, mostly focused on ultra deep water drilling so we don't have land rigs. Ticker symbol R I G.
Every once in a while, you'll hear a story on the rig of someone who has mineral rights and is getting a monthly FAT check from the oil company who struck it big on their land.
We broke the world record on deepest well drilled and deepest water depth.

[Quick6EF]

[ABQ325i]

I'm pretty sure a Title Company could answer all your questions

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by ABQ325i

I'm pretty sure a Title Company could answer all your questions

I'm not looking for glorified opinions from a company....I'm looking for what bolin and arggg45 have offered and given, real world insight.

[arggg45]

Shoot me a PM with the address of the property, and I can be more useful. Either through looking up a few things on my end or passing you off to someone I work with who can.

[arggg45]

Originally Posted by ejheverest

Interested to see what happens with the land. I work for a drilling company, mostly focused on ultra deep water drilling so we don't have land rigs. Ticker symbol R I G.
Every once in a while, you'll hear a story on the rig of someone who has mineral rights and is getting a monthly FAT check from the oil company who struck it big on their land.
We broke the world record on deepest well drilled and deepest water depth.

Not trying to be an asshole, but in the modern era of the O/G industry, they could be getting a fat check for a ton of reasons, but if you own 20 sections, which isn't entirely uncommon in West Texas, they could be getting a fat check because of the amount of land they have, not necessarily production.

For anyone that's interested, the world's longest borehole was drilled in 2011 and is the 40,502 ft long (Measured Depth) with a 37,648 ft lateral (Horizontal Kick) Sakhalin-I Odoptu OP-11 Well.

The world's deepest producing oil well is off the coast of Houston some 250 miles, and is 35,000 feet deep.

[ideliver]

I own land with all mineral rights, land with no rights (someone else is getting a check every month, but I get free gas), and I own the mineral rights to land that I do not own.

You need a LOCAL title lawyer to explain all of the nuances. And he can review the leases. Most leases don't pay unless something is found.

[bolinp78]

Originally Posted by ideliver

I own land with all mineral rights, land with no rights (someone else is getting a check every month, but I get free gas), and I own the mineral rights to land that I do not own.

You need a LOCAL title lawyer to explain all of the nuances. And he can review the leases. Most leases don't pay unless something is found.

Is the natural gas routed directly to your house without being treated? If so, if you have a leak and it's not treated, you won't be able to smell it and your house will blow up. My company does not grant people these rights anymore because of the liability.

You don't need a title attorney as a mineral owner, all you need is a landman that has access to the county courthouse that you minerals are located in. Title attorneys primarily deal with title opinions, which are professionally rendered opinions based off of the title that a landman has run, which is needed by the oil and gas company at various stages of the leasing/drilling process.

What do you mean most leases don't pay unless there is something found? Virtually every leasing transaction grants the mineral owner, or Lessor lease bonus consideration on a per acre basis, and they receive this regardless if there is production or not.

As I'm sure people can see, this is not a very well understood industry to put it mildly. Be very careful which advice you choose to listen to.

[lauer87]

Originally Posted by bolinp78

What do you mean most leases don't pay unless there is something found? Virtually every leasing transaction grants the mineral owner, or Lessor lease bonus consideration on a per acre basis, and they receive this regardless if there is production or not.

+1, here in Western PA people are getting very nice sums/acre before any spudding takes place.

OP, I would try to locate a local (or as local as you can find in Wyoming) attorney who specializes in O/G leases and consult them before executing any documents with anyone.

[Freakazoid]

Originally Posted by bolinp78

You don't need a title attorney as a mineral owner, all you need is a landman that has access to the county courthouse that you minerals are located in. Title attorneys primarily deal with title opinions, which are professionally rendered opinions based off of the title that a landman has run, which is needed by the oil and gas company at various stages of the leasing/drilling process.

What do you mean most leases don't pay unless there is something found? Virtually every leasing transaction grants the mineral owner, or Lessor lease bonus consideration on a per acre basis, and they receive this regardless if there is production or not.

As I'm sure people can see, this is not a very well understood industry to put it mildly. Be very careful which advice you choose to listen to.

bolin, I'm greatly appreciating your insight here, and this is exactly why I posted it. As evidenced by the people who are speaking from only conjecture, it's good to hear from actual experience not guesses. (and I'm still working on getting all that detailed information that you recommended).

And likewise with the paying even if they don't find anything, as my wife's family has already been approached with a starting number (as I mentioned in the OP), small yes...but still money

[Maestro]

Originally Posted by lauer87

+1, here in Western PA people are getting very nice sums/acre before any spudding takes place.

OP, I would try to locate a local (or as local as you can find in Wyoming) attorney who specializes in O/G leases and consult them before executing any documents with anyone.

I use to live in Western PA and my earlier comment was about Western PA back in the 90's there was lots of activities back then of people trying to regain or buy up old sold off mineral rights. The people who were successful are definitely making some good money.

The problem with Western PA and many eastern states is the fact that the mineral rights were originally sold off over a 100 years ago. Under normal circumstance the title office should have record of the mineral rights ownership. However, many of the rights were sold or acquired as companies were bought and sold the paper work was never done, so the title office may only know about who was the last register owner not the actual owner.

I would image this problem could exists elsewhere. As bolinp78 has suggested you need to find a person who know this stuff to help out. Once you know the actually ownership and and prove it then you have a better chance of negotiating the best deal.

[bolinp78]

Originally Posted by Maestro

I use to live in Western PA and my earlier comment was about Western PA back in the 90's there was lots of activities back then of people trying to regain or buy up old sold off mineral rights. The people who were successful are definitely making some good money.

The problem with Western PA and many eastern states is the fact that the mineral rights were originally sold off over a 100 years ago. Under normal circumstance the title office should have record of the mineral rights ownership. However, many of the rights were sold or acquired as companies were bought and sold the paper work was never done, so the title office may only know about who was the last register owner not the actual owner.

I would image this problem could exists elsewhere. As bolinp78 has suggested you need to find a person who know this stuff to help out. Once you know the actually ownership and and prove it then you have a better chance of negotiating the best deal.

You've got it backwards. Most of the time if you approach a company with potential acreage in an area of interest for them, they will send a landman out to run the interest. You don't necessarily need to have your title figured out and documented to have a better chance of being leased, you just need to know who to talk to.

And the 'title office' doesn't "know" anything. They keep records in the courthouse and a landman must go through the records backwards and forwards to determine the interest himself. There is no magic book that declares ownership of different tracts.