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gja1000 · 01-13-2012, 01:29 PM

Hi Diana, thanks for the support. Yes, we have our land leased for drilling. It is a 3 year lease. We didn't sell our mineral rights or land, only leased them so they still belong to us.

The letter was a notice of a hearing to be held in December. The hearing was for the oil company to ask the Oklahoma corporation commission to allow the to allow them to be able to drill a different way than was specified in our lease. The request was approved by the corporation commission, so that is an issue.

Also at issue was the amount of money we will get IF they drill a well on our farm and IF it produces gas or oil. Our share of the money (IF the well is drilled and produces) is lower in the papers from the hearing than what is specified in our lease with them. When we didn't read the letter we got in November, we didn't know about the hearing, so we couldn't go an protest or have our attorney go and protest these changes.

Now, in reviewing the original notice we got back in Nov., we discover that lowering our percentage of money was not listed among the things in the original letter that they were going to ask for. That is the only thing that could possibly cost us money in the future - IF they drill a producing well in the next 2 1/2 years. Since we know about it now, but it was NOT listed in the notification letter (the one we didn't read), our attorney can probably get that part taken out. Of course though, we will have to pay our attorney to do that - so this snafu will cost us some money, either way. There are 7 of us cousins who own the land/mineral rights together, so it won't cost any ONE of us very much.

The other part of the oil company's request to the corporation commission won't cost us any money and I really don't understand that part of it anyway. It has to do with our lease specification that said they can only drill to a certain depth (e.g. 10,000 feet) but they want to be able to drill to other depths, e.g., 14,000 feet (and that was granted by the corporation commission). I don't understand why we had that restriction in our lease and so I don't know the implications of removing it - but I do know that that part is not what will cost us money in the long run.

01-13-2012, 01:29 PM	#8
gja1000 Donating 4WT Yakker Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Central Texas Posts: 5,717	Hi Diana, thanks for the support. Yes, we have our land leased for drilling. It is a 3 year lease. We didn't sell our mineral rights or land, only leased them so they still belong to us. The letter was a notice of a hearing to be held in December. The hearing was for the oil company to ask the Oklahoma corporation commission to allow the to allow them to be able to drill a different way than was specified in our lease. The request was approved by the corporation commission, so that is an issue. Also at issue was the amount of money we will get IF they drill a well on our farm and IF it produces gas or oil. Our share of the money (IF the well is drilled and produces) is lower in the papers from the hearing than what is specified in our lease with them. When we didn't read the letter we got in November, we didn't know about the hearing, so we couldn't go an protest or have our attorney go and protest these changes. Now, in reviewing the original notice we got back in Nov., we discover that lowering our percentage of money was not listed among the things in the original letter that they were going to ask for. That is the only thing that could possibly cost us money in the future - IF they drill a producing well in the next 2 1/2 years. Since we know about it now, but it was NOT listed in the notification letter (the one we didn't read), our attorney can probably get that part taken out. Of course though, we will have to pay our attorney to do that - so this snafu will cost us some money, either way. There are 7 of us cousins who own the land/mineral rights together, so it won't cost any ONE of us very much. The other part of the oil company's request to the corporation commission won't cost us any money and I really don't understand that part of it anyway. It has to do with our lease specification that said they can only drill to a certain depth (e.g. 10,000 feet) but they want to be able to drill to other depths, e.g., 14,000 feet (and that was granted by the corporation commission). I don't understand why we had that restriction in our lease and so I don't know the implications of removing it - but I do know that that part is not what will cost us money in the long run. __________________ Gayle Last edited by gja1000; 01-13-2012 at 01:31 PM.