A question was posted regarding an ancient lease causing a section to be HBP by a well in another section. It got lost in infighting and bickering and very little if any helpful posting was done. I was asked to repost my response as I am also impacted by this lease, so that some helpful input would hopefully come along.
To get back to the origin of Jason's post:
1. In 1955 2 families owned large portions of S25, T15N, R115W, S30, T15N, R14W, S28, T15N, R14W, S19, T15N, R14W.
2. These families leased all of the acreage in one lease to Carter Oil Company in April of 1955.
3. Carter oil spud in a well, which began producing in June of 1955 in S18, T15N, R14W.
4. This oil is still producing today and has only shut down for 2 months 3 times and 1 month 4 times.
5. Section 28 was unitized in 1972.
6. The lands in S25T15NR15W and S30T15NR14W have changed hands multiple times over the years. Thus far I have found no reservation of minerals in any of those transactions.
7. The well started by Carter Oil and the leases attached thereto have changed hands multiple times and are now in the hands of Zadeck Energy.
8. There have been severeal releases filed over the years. We plan to look them up @ the court house tomorrow.
9. The people in S25T15NR15W and S30T15NR14W were informed last Wed. that we may be HBP by this 1955 lease that was discovered while title searches were being conducted for S28T15NR14W. To my understanding. If this is true and the minerals were never reserved with land transactions the people impacted may be able to receive royalties based on the 1955 lease (1/8 or 12.5%) however our hope is there has been a release filed at some poin due to the fact that there was never any development or production in S25T15NR15W or S30T15NR14W.
Those in the group who are not impacted by this have signed their letters of intent and are moving forward. Those of us who are impacted hope to resolve it but feel blessed by the possitive change in our community and the friendships made during this whole process.
Any professional input would be welcome but can we please leave the infighting to another post?