AboutJames H. McConnell, CPL Expertise READ CAREFULLY BEFORE ASKING ME A QUESTION
I will try to answer questions about oil & gas leases, minerals, royalties, and servitudes, if the questioner has provided a good description of the lands. I require a section, township and range for any land not it Texas. I require a survey name and an abstract number if the lands are in Texas. I will answer questions about offers to lease or purchase mineral interests only if all terms of the offer are in the question, including the term, the royalty and the amount offered. Failure to provide this information will result in the question being rejected.
I have answered more than 2300 questions on this site and get as many as fifty in one day. I do not have the time nor am I inclined to deal with detailed questions requiring an attorney. I am not a substitute for an attorney. If you do not write in a cognizant form, I will reject your question. If you have done real research and have a question I find interesting, I will answer it. If you haven't done any research on your own, I will not do it for you.
If you do not rate the first answer, do not send a follow up, because I will reject it. If my time means so little to you that you feel that you cannot take your time to rate an answer, I do not have time to answer another question.
Experience I have been a Professional Landman for more than thirty five years. I have drilled and operated oil & gas wells in Louisiana and Texas and an familiar with the rules and Regulations of the Texas Railroad Commission and the Louisiana Department of Conservation. I have testified in court as an expert witness.
Question I am a royalty owner in a Texas gas well. Chesapeake is the operator. They are reducing my royalty decimal for payment. They explain that a minority working interest is not marketing its share of production, so they are not paying royalty on this minority WI share of produced gas.
Question: Can they elect to not pay royalty that has been severed from the lease and delivered into a sales line for the reasons given?
Evidently there is a gas balancing agreement, but obviously as a royalty owner I am not a party to it. Presumably the operator is receiving payment for all the gas put on the sales line. Presumable the minority partner is building an entitlement to take some gas in the future from future production to "make up the imbalance". It would seem that this would have no effect on me as a royalty owner. It would seem that when the operator sells the minority WI gas he would pay the royalty and that when the minority WI sold gas including gas he was making up that he would pay the royalty.
I am an operator myself and have never heard of royalty payments being reduced as Chesapeake is doing. Since I have not ever heard of this it was be a relatively unique treatment.
I make quite an effort to find some effort on the internet, but found nothing useful. I would love some input or a refersal to a helpful web site.
Thank you for your time.
My address is
Answer Why don't you send Chesapeake a certified letter, giving them thirty days to pay you all that is due and owing within 30 days. Don't elaborate as to the reasons. Consult an attorney about this and bring a copy of your letter with you. Chesapeake has been doing some strange things with royalty payments lately.
