Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 5, 2010 at 16:15

You assume too much instead of asking the right questions of Karen. If her family land in the sections she mentions is contiguous then the tract is included in both the Buckner RA SUC and SUB. Yet you say,

Since her land does not appear to be in the unit of the Bruckner RA SU B well in S1-T22N-R6W

I am simply pointing out that there are questions of HBP beyond those obvious to laymen members of GHS. Do you have any idea of the size and location of those two units?

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on October 6, 2010 at 9:26

The Field Order that I posted earlier has a map with Bruckner RA SU A, B, & C.

Why do you say, "If her family land in the sections she mentions is contiguous then the tract is included in both the Buckner RA SUC and SUB"? It appears that all her land is in S6-T22N-R5W, and Bruckner RA SUB is entirely in S1-T22N-R6W. Her land does not appear to be contiguous. The SW 1/4 of SW 1/4 tract is probably in Bruckner RA SUC. It looks like Bruckner RA SUC only had one dry hole drilled and plugged and abandoned in 1982.

She asked for free advice from anonymous people on the internet. Nothing wrong with that. Maybe she has learned something. If she hires someone to do some more detailed research, hopefully she has a lot better idea of the questions to ask, the information to gather, and what issues to check on.

Most importantly, maybe she now has a better idea of whether she should pay someone to investigate this for her. Some people think everyone in the state should pay someone to search mineral records for them. I wouldn't discourage anyone who wants to from doing so. I wouldn't make a blanket statement that every landowner should do this.

Karen, given that you have 90+ acres, aren't sure about what's what, don't have all your documentation together, don't live here, etc., here's what I would suggest.

1) Gather info and learn everything you can. Ask some more questions, try to understand it.

2) If there are other heirs, gather what information you can from them, find out what they know, etc.

3) After doing as much homework yourself as you can, if you're not 100% sure you understand everything, it might not be a bad idea to pay a local attorney or other expert to figure out exactly what you have. It might be a good idea to do this jointly with any other heirs. The more of the info you gather yourself, the cheaper and better it will be to get the info from a "professional."

I would not expect to get any money from existing oil/gas wells, leases, etc. based on what you've told us, but it's possible. Heck, you might find out you have a share of something you didn't know about. It would be good to know your situation in case leasing/drilling picks up in the area later.

You should probably also be sure to learn enough to manage your timber. It looks like you do have trees. It might be time to harvest them before the value goes down. Or there might be some things you should do to make it produce more timber later. Also, you wouldn't be the first absentee landowner to have their trees "accidentally" harvested by someone else.

90 acres is probably valuable enough to warrant spending some time and money to actively manage.

Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on October 5, 2010 at 15:07

Section 6, Township 22 North, Range 5 West is an area roughly 1 mile square. 640 acres

This is commonly divided into quarters. (NE 1/4, NW 1/4, SW 1/4, SE 1/4). Each quarter is 160 acres and 1/2 mile on a side.

Each quarter is commonly further divided in to quarters. Find the NE 1/4 of the section, then take the SW 1/4 of that and you have "SW1/4 of NE1/4" of the section.

Does the following picture help any?

By the way, Karen, do you live nearby, are you familiar with the property, etc. or did you just inherit the land and aren't familiar with where the land is, where the boundaries are, etc.?

From looking at Google Earth, I'd say you have trees on the property.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 5, 2010 at 16:09

Hi,

We don't live in the area and have never seen the property. This is the most confusing property. Thank you all for the information you have provided. We appreciate your time and interest. Sounds like we might have to take a trip to Clairborne Parish!

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 5, 2010 at 16:34

I am trying to find more paperwork from other family members. Thank you again.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 5, 2010 at 18:57

Got it, I see now, I understand. Thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 14, 2010 at 21:11

First of all I would like to thank you and other members for educating an anonymous person asking for advice from other anonymous people on the internet. I'm gratefull for all the advise and opinions and time it took to advise me. I know more then I did a month ago about our land in LA and will pass on what I've learned to other family members.

One thing I'm still confused about, you posted a Field order from the office of conservation-11/80-345-B. I also found a letter in our files from law offices in Shreveport-August 18, 1980, the same information that Order #345-B states. All of our family, as stated, interested owners and represented parties were sent this information. The letter was from an attorney from Triton Oil. Why would our family recieve this information if the well wasn't on our property?

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on October 15, 2010 at 0:30

Karen, pre-application notice letters for the formation of drilling units are sent to an Interested Party list that includes all land and mineral interests within the proposed unit boundaries (where the well is located within the unit does not matter as all would share in the production/royalties) AND the immediately adjoining land owners outside the unit to a distance of 1000'.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 15, 2010 at 2:31

Does that mean, if oil was found, our family would shar in production/royalties?

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Permalink Reply by FXEF on October 15, 2010 at 3:36

Karen,

You would receive royalties only if your land was inside the production unit. Just because you receive a pre-application notice does not always mean your land is inside the production unit.

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Permalink Reply by Mac Davis on October 15, 2010 at 8:21

IANAL (I Am Not A Lawyer), treat this as info from some anonymous guy on the internet and use it to guide you in your own research.

Karen, this is how I read it:

Order 345B created 3 Units, called Bruckner RA SU A, Bruckner RA SU B, and Bruckner RA SU C.

Order #345-B did affect you directly because some of your land is in Bruckner RA SU C. Some of your mineral rights are now subject to the terms of this order. No well has been drilled in Bruckner RA SU C, but if one is drilled later, you should get your "fair" share of the proceeds.

A well was drilled in Bruckner RA SU B, which was created by Order Order #345-B. Your land is not in the area of the Bruckner RA SU B unit, so you get no revenue from the Bruckner RA SU B well. In legal theory, this well doesn't draw any minerals from under your land.

You got the notice because you have some land in Bruckner RA SU C, which was covered by Order #345-B, which created 3 units. Order #345 could have been done as three separate orders, but they did 3 units in one order.

You also got a copy of the notice because one parcel of your land is near but not in the units being created but not in it. Nearby landowners get notices so that they can evaluate the plans to see if someone is "stealing" their minerals by drilling a well near their property and pumping out minerals from a underground reservoir that includes your land.

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Permalink Reply by Karen Jones on October 15, 2010 at 8:49

Thank you so much. We are really just trying to figure out what has been going on and what to do in the future. We didn't start this inquiry thinking there was a big pot of money that we were entitled too, (although it would have been nice) we just felt we should be responsible for land pasted down to our family.
Thank for taking the time to pass on your knowledge.

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