The issuance of DO's & first royalty payment varies by company & even by unit within the same company.  You can file a claim for statutory interest if royalty payments are delayed more than 120 days beyond the end of the month when production commences per Texas Resource Code 91.402 but that won't necessarily compel payment any quicker.  They can pay royalties before DO's are issued but seems some would prefer to pay the interest, or hope there isn't an interest claim filed.  We just received DO's & first royalty payments in September from XTO on Scorpions which started production in January.  I still haven't received DO's on Butler-Rooney (also XTO unit) but have been getting monthly royalty payments since June and it went into production almost a year ago.  In both cases I've had several company reps tell me how complicated it is...

hey,

 o and g companies are naturally going to hold and make money using your royalty so long as the can get away with it in keeping with the free market economy we have so we're all going to have to learn to be proactive and learn to game the system as much as they do.

the following is La. law, such as it is, which leaves companies in the drivers seat forcing lessee to hire a lawyer to send a "demand letter" giving them 30 days to produce some excuse for further delaying payment.

i can find no definition for "timely fashion". the companies hold the cards under La. law.

then they must decide whether the bad press and further legal expense costs more than they can make holding your gas money. it's nothing personal, just simple bean counting, PR and regulations.

we have been waiting about 6 months for a royalty payment and just sent a "demand letter".

texas law sets a certain limit in days for them to pay up.

but i wonder if our biggest issue may not be getting scammed on how much our land actually produces and what the actually sell the gas for.

Sonris lite and DO's produce figures but i see no way to  confirm these numbers and suspect we are being taken for a big ride. someone in the industry knows but how we could ever find out  is a mystery.

good luck!

 

§137.  Nonpayment of royalties; notice prerequisite to judicial demand

If a mineral lessor seeks relief for the failure of his lessee to make timely or proper payment of royalties, he must give his lessee written notice of such failure as a prerequisite to a judicial demand for damages or dissolution of the lease.  

Acts 1974, No. 50, §137, eff. Jan. 1, 1975.  

 

 

Any royalties they fail to pay you within 90 days you are entitled to interest on. The company is not required to tell you you are entitled to interest payments so you need to send them a letter telling them you expect interest paid. Even after I sent a letter to Devon demanding my interest they still tried to sneak it by without the interest payments. So don't expect them to be honest read your statements and stay on top of them. Devon has failed to pay me royalties for five months and they think they are getting over on me. I'm just letting them get in default on the lease so that I can re-lease for better terms.