Chesapeake Claims My Lease is Invalid and Won't Pay Royalties

Hello,

My name is Maggie Bryant I am a landowner with 20.335 net mineral acres in Shelbyville, Texas (Shelby County) . The well is Jackson SLB 1H Property No. 639428, this well consists of 382.47 acres. Chesapeake signed a P-12 stating My brother and I had 19 acres pooled in the Jackson SLB 1H well however, they have lied to me on several occasions. I sent them certified letter  however, they informed me I did not have a lease by telephone nothing in writing, the people at Chesapeake would not respond to me in writing only by telephone. I hired an attorney to send a letter to Chesapeake on my behalf, they did respond in writing to the attorney however, they informed the attorney my lease was invalid and that my brother and I had conveyed our acrerage to our relatives which is a bunch of crock and bull. The attorney wrote a second letter to Chesapeake on 9-17-13 requesting they put me in a pay status due to the documentation he provided to them, as of today they have not replied. There was no reply by date on the 2nd letter. I have been going back and forth with Chesapeake since 3/13.  Any person who can read can look at property ID R27663  on the tax records or appraisal districts records and see who is being assessed the taxes and obtain a copy of the plat. The deed is also on file in the Shelby County Courthouse. Can anyone recommend an attorney who is willing to demand immediate payment within 30 days or  take these people to court, all they seem to do is stall and lie for more time. I believe they have paid landowners who were not entitled to payments. Any referrals are appreciated.

Views: 4387

▶ Reply to This

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Maggie Bryant on October 25, 2013 at 8:14

adubu,

I do not expect anything from Chesapeake other than being treated fairly. All of a sudden each of my relatives Chesapeake claimed my brother and I signed our land and mineral rights over to received letters this week stating their payments were being suspended for overpayment yet, they send a letter to my attorney with another stupid excuse that does not make any sense. If you will check the unit declaration on page 21, in Shelby County Texas .They omitted me and several relatives on pages 1 thru 20. From here forward I will let my attorney deal with this idoits.  

Permalink Reply by Joe Aldridge on October 25, 2013 at 11:50

Maggie,

Patience, patience. Just calm down a bit. You have stated your case and there is plenty of time before prescription. CHK needs to go back to their Title people and get the problem straightened out. As much as you want it to happen it will not happen over night. I don't think you or they want to make another mistake in this matter. If what you say is correct then you'll get your money and the relatives may have other worries.

Permalink Reply by Larry G Smith P.E. on October 26, 2013 at 2:09

Mr Aldridge, CHK does not give a damn about the Royaltiy owners, giving them time for what, to do nothing to correct a problem. I know because we have a problem that was brought to CHK's attention, they blamed it on XTO the well operators, I contacted XTO. They admitted a mistake and sent a correction with payment to CHK and notified me when it was sent. That has been over a year now and we have not been paid for this mistake. CHK are operated by Crooks and you have to believe that.

Permalink Reply by Joe Aldridge on October 26, 2013 at 5:38

Larry,

I like you have had bad experiences but it looks like they are working on trying to figure out who really owns the minerals. I would give it a little more time. They have already told the relatives that they are holding their payments. So it looks to me like they are looking at trying to work out something as far as who has true ownership. Title work is not going to happen over night no matter what one wants or expects. I'm surprised that there are not more mistakes made in establishing title to property. That is NOT a job I would want to work at.

Permalink Reply by Larry G Smith P.E. on October 26, 2013 at 9:33

Joe, in my case there is no question about the ownership of our property. It has been in my Dad's family for over 100 years. we have sold timber and it was leased back in the 1960's by an oil company. No, CHK will use any and every excuse they can to stall and/or not pay the Royalty owners. I have been in the Oil Business all of my life and I am 80 years old, I have never seen a company like CHK before. But  I own a service company since 1968, a friend also in the oil service business warned me not to do work for CHK because they were a nickle and dime operation and I would have problems getting paid. I do wish I had listened  to his advice in leasing the property.

Permalink Reply by Andrew on October 24, 2013 at 7:10
Maggie,

If you sent CHK the certified letter on September 19, you may wait a bit longer for a response before filing suit. Right or wrong, my experience with huge companies such as CHK is that sometimes it takes a few weeks to get things handled (particularly at CHK, who is laying off land staff in droves). If you don't get a response by mid-November, I think it would be then be safe to assume that you won't get one.
Permalink Reply by Larry G Smith P.E. on October 24, 2013 at 7:26

Big company or not they have had over a month to reply, why wait any longer? I contacted XTO about a problem with production and got a reply in about 2 days.

Permalink Reply by Maggie Bryant on October 24, 2013 at 16:23

Hi Andrew,

I received a copy of  a  letter dated 10-17-13 from my attorney , Chesapeake  replied with an answer that does not make sense however, I  obtained information from my relatives I felt Chesapeake was paying my royalties to. Chesapeake sent each of  them notificatiom their checks were being suspended due to over payments. I wonder what caused this? Chesapeake may be laying off people, that is their problem being crooks can cause a lot of lawsuits. I have been trying to get this taken care of for the last 8 months. All I get is lies and stalling tactics. They have made profits from my minerals and will not admit they have made a big mistake.         

Permalink Reply by Gale on October 29, 2013 at 19:44
Maggie,

Over payment and under payment is common with all companies. I deal with about 7 different oil companies, some large ones and some small ones. Through the 25+ yrs since I inherited these mineral rights I had it both ways, they will correct it and resume payments. Once we discovered Chevron had underpaid our family from 2000-2005, I fought them daily for over 6 months and eventually the payment was made with interest. And let me just tell you it's was not small chump change, it was 6 figures hedging 7 figures. That was when prices were extremely high $10-$16 and 150 acres, we got all due us and eventually you will get yours too. I do understand your frustration but just know it will all work out hopefully sooner than later.
Permalink Reply by Gale on October 29, 2013 at 19:48
Btw, I also felt I was getting the run around, but age and experience has taught me nothing moves fast in the oil business.
Permalink Reply by Maggie Bryant on October 30, 2013 at 7:47

Hi Gale,

Thanks for your encouragement.

Permalink Reply by Ken on October 31, 2013 at 10:17

I reviewed the Oil and Gas Proration Schedule Listed by Field, RRC District 6 for October 2013.

There is no oil or gas sales listed for your well for the month of October 2013.  No oil and gas sales equals no revenue, no money and no royalty payments.

You are listed as "Maggie Bryant, et al"  on tract 15 of over 27 tracts in the Pooling Authority of 382.47-acres.   Remember, the latin word 'et alii' means "and others."  

Information submitted on 10/16/2012 have the well type listed as "Shut-In Producer" and a letter dated October 08, 2013, indicated the well test report had not been filed.

Well Reference:  API Well Number 42-419-31717 

 

 

 

RSS

Support GoHaynesvilleShale.com

Top Content 

1 $5000 + per net mineral acres offers to purchase already leased interests in Leon County, south of Oakwood?

$5000 + per net mineral acres offers to purchase already leased interests in Leon County, south of Oakwood?
2 Leasing

Leasing
3 $5000 + per net mineral acres offers to purchase already leased interests in Leon County, south of Oakwood

$5000 + per net mineral acres offers to purchase already leased interests in Leon County, south of Oakwood
4 Diversified Energy Reports Solid First Quarter and Benefits from Expansion of NGL Processing Capabilities

Diversified Energy Reports Solid First Quarter and Benefits from Expansion of NGL Processing Capabilities

Not a member? Get our email.

Groups



© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service