I have noticed that a lot of people where signing leases in Sept and Oct by various companies, can anyone tell me if they received their lease bonus money and if so about how long did it take?
We had a family member deposit their Bank Draft (30 banking days) on 10/3/08 which has now expired and was not paid. They signed with Devon and worked personally with the local landman in Center, Texas. Has anyone been paid by Devon recently? I have only heard great things about Devon so I am kind of sad that our relationship has ended empty handed.
was that in shelby county?..... mind if i ask, do you own the land or do you just have mineral rights? what is a fair price for bonus for leases signing as of this month?
-thanks
i own around 5 mineral acres and have been offered 500/ac
Devon secured almost 80% of our Shelby properties from family members in early November with the majority of bonus payment drafts being paid by December 12th. These leases were for S.Snider (A649), J.Bradley (A45), and O.Hailey (A333).
However, the other 20% of the family may not have gotten the deeds signed in time and as of yet have heard nothing of payments or drafts, nor are they getting any replys from Devon.
I think you can definitely push 1/4 on the royalty. 3 years no option? That is good. Better make sure you check the fine print to see if there is option language.
$1000 -- that's so-so. You could maybe get a little more, but I don't know if I'd let it hold me up. It's a buyers market for leases -- just my opinion -- everyone here will tell you how hard it is to time these things. I am bearish on gas into the summer; all NG equities except for a couple are dead money right now even though market pushes higher.
Ask for a horizontal Pugh Clause and also a vertical Pugh (depth clause). If you get it they will probably stick a "one year after expiration of primary term" onto the depth clause -- you don't want that; also the clause will say "deepest depth drilled" you want it to say "deepest depth produced". Those are a few things to haggle over; they will give some/balk on some.
Bottom line: If it were me, I'd work toward getting my money and letting my clock tick.
I do not know what the going rate is near your survey, but I believe I can accurately say 25% royalty is generally considered standard for deep rights now for many Texas areas with decent shale potential. Other parts of Shelby with nearby producing shale wells are getting substantially higher bonus offers. There is a recent shale well permit very near you, Devon's Adams #1H . Its results, when drilled, may have an effect on any subsequent lease offers in your area. What is common is for initial offers from E&P co.s to not be their best offer. You can leverage your counter offers with knowledge of going rates and/or any interest you can drum up from another E&P outfil. There are other participants on GHS who can probably provide better information on how to do this. There may also very well be existing discussion threads that can be helpful. Look around.
another thig that can dramaticly increase the value of a lease is if someone is trying to build a bigger unit. for example, if i leased a block of 500 acres and there were a couple of 50 acre tracs right next door, as the operator, i would have an increased desire for those two tracs ,because i could drill more wells. it goes without saying, do your homework and be aware whats going on around you. there is no better source of information than FIRST HAND knowledge. also NEVER accept a draft. demand a check... its the only way to do business.
kj