Catfish

Not a big push in drilling here. Sometime ago the land was covered in ribbons and markers, but not much since. Most of the drilling is in the northern parts of the state.

The easiest means to get a quick read on what conveyance documents, including O&G leases, have been recorded with the Clerk of Court is to flip through the "Day Book". In most offices the Day Book is a binder with a listing of the documents that were recorded each day. Since leases are normally recorded in batches, you may have to review the last 30 days to see how many are being recorded, by what company and hopefully the S-T-R. If no S-T-R is included, just write down some of the instrument numbers. I usually do first, last and one or more in between depending on the approximate total number. The staff in Clerk's offices are normally quite helpful especially if you are a resident or land owner within the parish. Walk right in and ask if they maintain a day book. Be sure to take a note pad and pen. If the S-T-R is not listed for each lease, ask the staff to show you how to use a computer terminal to access copies of the leases by instrument number. If you do look at the actual leases you will not see specific bonus payments but you will see the royalty and lease term. If stock lease forms are being used, there will be a name andnumber for that particular lease form usually found in the upper left corner of the first page. The Exhibit "A" page contains lease terms that are in addition to the standard form. This is where clauses that protect the land/mineral owner are normally found. No cost royalty, horizontal and vertical Pugh, no surface ops, etc. The leases are public record so you may make a copy of one if you wish. Let me know if you need any further assistance. I don't get to Arcadia often and it's nice to know activity is picking up in Bienville.

hey catfish, did you see the video for this 130lb catfish?
http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2010/07/21/sotvo.mo.giant.catfi...
thought you might like it.
kj