Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 1, 2016 at 12:45

That information is not a public record and is considered confidential by the operating companies that pay the royalty.  If there is a lease in the name of a family member recorded in the public records of a county or parish and the mineral tract covered in the lease is in a producing unit or part of a lease well, the chances are good they are receiving royalty payments.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 1, 2016 at 13:44

Good point, Kathy.  I assumed that iwanna was referring to Louisiana as she lives in Benton, LA.

Permalink Reply by iwana nipper on August 1, 2016 at 14:21

I have wells in Arkansas. Wonder if I could check with the operating company on this??

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 1, 2016 at 14:26

I can't think of any reason why an operator would provide information on ownership interests other than your own.  You could check with the property tax district in the appropriate county and see if they tax producing minerals.  If so you could look at their records to see who might be paying the taxes on that parcel.

Permalink Reply by Gale on August 1, 2016 at 15:29

I recently have pulled some very old documents relative to our wells. I have stuff dating back as far as 1920 and some division orders came with a list of who was in the unit along with the amount of their interest. Some of those I have were dated in mid 1990. I also have copies of wills and the probate papers and they also list names in the division there as well.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 1, 2016 at 15:33

In Texas unit designations filed in country public records also list ownership interests.  I'm unsure when they became standard practice.

Permalink Reply by iwana nipper on August 2, 2016 at 2:26

Thanks for your help, I have gotten some info online thru Columbia County Appraisal District.

Permalink Reply by Mark on August 2, 2016 at 4:36

Skip, Texas UD's list leases and tracts included in the unit. They do not list owners and definitely not ownership interest amounts. Listing the leases will included the lessors most of the time but this does not necessarily mean all of the owners are listed, i.e. curative, etc.

Also, as to Texas counties (CAD) listing mineral interest, some do not, and with gas wells, most do not. The operator is billed by the county and pays the ad vo and nets it out of the royalty and working interest revenue. 

Just an FYI.

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on August 2, 2016 at 4:49

Thanks, Mark.  I performed research last year on ~1000 acres of E TX minerals much of which was included in producing units.  The unit designations filed in the subject counties for a good many of those units listed all the ownership interests by lessor name and the number of acres each owned within the unit boundary.  The majority of these were gas units.  I did not look beyond those unit designations as they contained all the information I required.