leasor options regarding joining the Ozark highlands unit

As leasors of mineral rights in Pope and Van Buren counties in Ar. we (myself and fellow heirs) are being asked by seeco to sigh joinders to participate in the ozark highlands unit. The BLM has approved seeco as sole contractor in this 186,00+ acre unit including our lands. The new agreement took effect june 1 09 and ends june 1 14. Our current lease ends in 2011. Discussions with seeco have revealed that our lease will be extended to 2014 when and if we sigh the joinders. Should we sign? If we don't sign can our current leasee join the unit anyway? Do we have options for renegotiations?

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If you do not receive an answer, there is an Arkansas Group that you may want to post your question in. If you go to the top of the main page, toward the right-hand side, there is a "Groups" tab. Click on that and go through the pages until you see the "Arkansas Group" icon.

I wish I could be of more help to you and I hope that you and your family receive the information you need.
I am not familiar with Arkansas law, but there is normally room for negotiation. Are they giving you additional bonus for extending your lease? I would start there and consult with an AR attorney.
I have had no discussion with the current leasee. I believe they could lose their initial investment if both parties don't join the unit. At this time I don't believe they have joined their interests to seeco, but are in negotiations with them. I have only recently become a player in this game and have only recently gotten a copy of the original lease. I have not consulted a lawyer but I think that may be my next move.
Seeco plans to drill all of 11 wells in the 186,000 ac. unit. They want to hold as many leases, including the BLM acreage, as they can with as little drilling as they can. What Township & Range are you in? How many acres?
pope co. T10N- R18W van buren co. T10N-R17W 2 separate tracts w/ combined acreage 225 acres. I agree with your assessment of seeco's plans but I'm unclear about my options. Our current 5 year lease ends ,in leiu of producing well. in approx. 2 years. The unit plan would extend our lease 3 years and increase drilling section by a factor of 6(?).
The entire unitization matter will have to be presented to the AOGC at one of their regularly scheduled meetings, soon. There will be alot of press, questions, answers, etc.
If you don't join the Ozark Unit, I believe there will be very little chance that SEECO will drill anywhere close to you. (I've had discussion with them and they say they will drill test wells in the center of the new Ozark unit in the beginning.) Why would they drill on non-Ozark land? SEECO will develop the huge new unit first. If you do join, I believe your royalties will be small and grow over time at a slow pace.

How quick will the new unit be developed? My guess is that it will depend on how soon SEECO drilling units finish the sections East of Pope County. SEECO will want to finish there drilling in the old area before having to pay additional contract extensions, which is good business.

SEECO will want to hold the new Ozark unit with minimum drilling until it finishes the old sections to the East. That's not anything bad, just good business. At 62 years of age, I don't like the speed of development of my Pope County property area because fast development would be good for my retirement, but I see SEECO's actions to be of sound business practice. I'm guessing I'll get small royalty checks starting in about three years and those checks will grow over the next 25 years, benefiting me but greatly benefiting my two sons.

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