AboutFrederick M. Scott CMM Expertise I can answer questions about oil and gas leasing, and give suggestions on how to respond and what to expect when contacted by an oil company or their representative offering to lease your minerals. I can answer questions about selling or buying minerals, and can provide advice that will help ensure you get a fair deal. I can also answer questions concerning forced-pooling, correlative rights, deeds and conveyances, and the infamous "post-production" costs that are often deducted from royalty checks. I am most experienced with Oklahoma properties and laws, but am able to answer questions concerning other oil and gas producing states in many cases.
Experience I am a Certified Professional Mineral Manager (CMM) (certified by the National Association of Royalty Owners in Tulsa, OK) and have managed my own oil and gas properties in Oklahoma for over 10 years and have dealt with many landmen, attorneys, and other oil and gas professionals in the process of doing so. I am also a member of several professional associations and have written articles of interest to royalty owners which have appeared in several industry publications. I have prepared deeds and done title work and curative for my own minerals; and have acquired a good deal of knowledge on the subject of oil and gas law and landwork in general in the process.
Question My Friend found some old oil and gas lease papers that her grandmother had and her Aunt left her. There is some from the Los Angeles Oil Field. The papers are from Seaboard Oil Company of Delaware, signed in 1943, it was called the Parkway Community Lease and says her grandmother is entitled to 1/6th of royalty are these lease worth any thing, or who can we contact
Thank You,
Mike
Answer Mike, if there is still a well producing there, then I'd look into it. If not, I'd still look into it to see if your friend might have inherited an actual mineral interest, or if the grandmother simply had an "overriding royalty interest" in someone else's lease (which expires when the lease does.)
The legal description should be on the lease and I believe the state has a website you can check for oil and gas production. If there's no current production, then the lease has expired and so no royalty forthcoming right now.
Even if there's no current production, I'd check to see what happened to these rights after her grandmother passed away, and exactly what kind of rights they were..i.e. did she actually own the minerals, or merely own an interest of royalty in someone else's minerals.
Even if there's no production now, there could be later, in which case it would be nice to know whether she actually owned any minerals or not. Did she have a will? If it's only a couple of acres that were owned, then probably not that big a deal to chase down. It would cost more than it's worth likely unless you do it yourself.
