Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by king john on June 8, 2010 at 0:44

bill, i have never heard of atoka. if it were me there are a couple of things i would consider doing...
1) contact a lawyer, most will have a cost free intial consultation
2) send the company some certified mail, make it where someone has to sign for it
3) i would just go to their offices in person
this lease, based on what you have disclosed about it, sounds very ambigious. this could work for you, just as it could work against you. imho.
kj

Permalink Reply by Bill R on June 8, 2010 at 9:17

Already in process... no return yet on the certified mail I sent to the Addison address. As for the legal Beagle side of it - It was hard to find anyone versed in Texas mineral and oil rights out here, however I have now located one who will look over the lease agreement at a minimal charge to me. After that, we will have to sit back and see what shakes out in the long run.

Hindsight being 20/20, we should have stuck with the ones like Cabot, Southwestern, Devon, Common Resources, and EOG. They all seem to have been dealing with us fairly well to date... communicate well... and have proven track records.

As for the 'drop by the office'... too far to go for what by all accounts could possibly be a minimal well -
Thank you for your input however... I hate this 'flying blind' that I do out here on the Oregon Coast. You and the rest of the Shalers are a Godsend for information and bouncing thoughts off of! >< (((( { *>

Permalink Reply by MARG on June 18, 2010 at 15:32

If you have a Shut-in Clause, you might get more than a dollar an acre. This depends upon the lease and it is smart to have a shut-in clause where you could state that you wanted fifty or seventy-five dollars per acre. If you asked and it is approved in the lease then you shall get more; other than that, I think a dollar an acre is standard. A lease is a very important thing and one should not take it lightly as whatever that paper says is what it shall always be. That is why it is good for a lot of people who have new leases as many things have transpired since many were leased "in the olden days".

Permalink Reply by MARG on June 18, 2010 at 15:55

Perhaps you could look the company up on the internet, choose some officials at the top level, or call the engineering department or one who might have authority,explain your situation and problem, state how many times you have tried to get in touch along with the manner you used (phone, fax, letter, etc. I believe that they are supposed to answer the certified letter. They will start trying to tell you that they will call the landman for your county, etc. as they will want to pass the work down and will be trying to get rid of you LOL. When the landman gets a message from the "Big Boys" at the headquarters, they most likely will call you the same day. It is wise to keep a log of phone numbers, persons with whom you speak, dates, issues discussed, etc. I would suggest that one use an old-fashioned composition book with the wire and use it from year to year on the mineral/royalty business. I tape items in those, staple, write, etc. and it has served me well in my profession and mineral/royalty management. Records should include name of company, address, phone numbers, fax numbers and possibly e-mails as well as name of wells, lease numbers, lease names and addresses, TRRC Numbers (or whatever the state has) and Owner number and name of survey of wells. Also, it would be helpful to have any info you have on the landmen or operator in these records. It is wise to always check a division order and be certain that you decimal interest is correct too.

Permalink Reply by Bill R on June 18, 2010 at 20:11

MARG - Nothing on the internet about them... Post Office returned the certified letter as "undeliverable" to addressee. The Law firm I have been in contact with thinks we may be able to file an 'default injunction' to disallow or nullify the lease contract with them. Even if we cannot do that, they have a lot of 'legalise' for violations of contract and other things. Bottom line is they believe that they can tie it up in court for at least ten years, if not longer. It is only a small little 40 acre tract with one well, so the loss of it would be minor to the family. With Devon, Southwestern, Cabot, and EOG leasing many of the larger family holdings, one good hit would make up for it.
As for records; I have scanned copies of all leases, attached them to my Excel files. Backed up with a running record of all correspondences with all of the companys the family deals with. I place all of the data on two disk, place one with the original hard copies in my safe and the other I place in my safety deposit box at the bank.

Permalink Reply by MARG on June 23, 2010 at 15:41

I would try to discuss this with an O & G attorney in an area like Tyler, Kilgore, Longview, or one of the old O&G areas. Tyler has an older lawyer there --Sammons who would probably give you a free conversation/conference. Sounds like a scam and/or someone who has gone out of business or maybe merged. Maybe someone can run check on them from the beginning.

Permalink Reply by Bill R on June 23, 2010 at 17:36

I tried to contact one of the O&G Attorneys in Kilgore that my Grandparents and Mom used, but found out he passed away in 2003. Yeah, no one in the family checked on these guys, they contacted my Great Aunt that lives around there, seemed like a 'nice guy' per her, so the family signed with them. I now run background checks on anyone we lease to and try to point the rest of the family in the right direction.

Permalink Reply by benny688 on June 24, 2010 at 13:01

If you still want to contact an attorney about this you could try:

Dean Searle
305 West Rusk
Marshall, TX 75670

903-935-9972

I came out way ahead paying his reasonable fees to let him negotiate better leases with Petrohawk in Harrison county.

GLTA

Permalink Reply by Bill R on June 22, 2010 at 16:30

Another question -

What if the company in question has a completed well that has never been tested, nor produced, on the property. The TRRC has it classified it as shut-in, the company paid half of the heirs $1 per acre with none of the checks cashed, but the term of the original lease has expired and the option to extend has not been pursued. Add to this the company in question refuses all snail mail, Email and does not return phone calls. Does the company in question still retain all rights at this point or would the owners be able to place the property back on the market after a certain amount of time? I have had a Contract Lawyer (Oregon) read the contract and he says in his understanding of the lease papers, they have no recourse and 'abandon' the site by not renewing the lease with the two year extension.

Is this correct under Texas law?

Permalink Reply by Love Horizontals on June 24, 2010 at 11:18

All depends on what you negotiated in your lease. Very negotiable terms. However if you signed the companies lease, those are generally wriitten to allow the co to shut in and hold your property for an unlimited time by paying a token payment and for any reason. In contrast leases owners have written to protect their own interest generally have limits not just the time a well can be shut in (and for a significantly higher amount), but also for what reasons the well can be shut in. Dont be surprised the co is not responding to you, unless your lease requires them to do so. If Co believes they are following the lease, they wont waste time responding to you. Also, even if they are not following the lease they typically count on the fact that it is there experience tells them 99% royalty owners wont expend the time and money to legally do anything about it.

Permalink Reply by Bill R on June 24, 2010 at 16:38

Love Horizontals - Boy, oh boy, your last line sums up the majority of the family's opinion... they say just let it go... they do not want me to 'rock the boat' because if word gets out, no one will lease our holdings.
I am 'old school military'.... if you cannot sue them, knee cap them! Since we have many more acres of land already leased, being drilled, or already have wells in, I have opted to take the legal course first. I am already into a Attorney and Private Investigator about $2200.00 because they got on my 'bad side' by not acknowledging any attempted contact including the U.S. Mail Certified Mail that I sent. If they have made the mistake of assuming that I am one of that 99%.... they were, oh so very wrong. If nothing else, I will do like the Attorney said and tie up the property for years. Thanks for your input.

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