{"id":274,"date":"2020-04-19T23:28:14","date_gmt":"2020-04-20T05:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/?p=274"},"modified":"2020-04-19T23:28:14","modified_gmt":"2020-04-20T05:28:14","slug":"mineral-rights-and-leases-confusion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/mineral-rights-and-leases-confusion\/","title":{"rendered":"Mineral Rights and Leases \u2013 Confusion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Many landowners are confused about mineral rights and how oil & gas leases work. Many oil & gas lease operators are also confused about mineral rights and even about some of the clauses in their oil & gas leases. There\u2019s also confusion among lawyers and judges, especially those who aren\u2019t experienced with mineral rights and oil & gas law. I shuddered one day in court when the judge held up the oil & gas lease and said, \u201cLooks like just another business contract to me.\u201d My opposing counsel also shuddered, and we looked at each other, knowing we would settle the case because there was no predicting what this judge might do with it. Minerals and leases thereon have spawned volumes of court cases spanning more than a century of jurisprudence. It\u2019s a subject well suited to the word \u201cesoteric<\/a>\u201c. Lawyers and judges like \u201cblack letter law\u201d because it requires no interpretation, nor analysis of how it might apply to a given factual situation. The phrase rarely, if ever, applies to oil & gas cases. Yes, there are statutes and regulations on the books printed in black letters. They are frequently poorly drafted or subject to interpretation or, more often, just not clearly dispositive given the facts that can arise in the real world. It\u2019s amazing what people who are confused about mineral rights and leases can spawn. Okay, where am I going with this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not unusual to get a phone call from a landowner who starts with, \u201cI just have a quick question\u2026\u201d There will be a five or ten minute description of their perspective of the matter before getting to the quick question. I invariably start my reply with, \u201cWell, there\u2019s no quick answer.\u201d Then I explain that the law is generally not black and white when it comes to oil & gas matters and I can\u2019t provide a competent answer within the confines of a phone call. Sometimes I provide an educated guess but it is accompanied with warnings and disclaimers. Then I disclose my hourly rate and advise it\u2019s likely to involve at least three hours of billable time to study the pertinent documents that they probably don\u2019t have in their possession but will need to get for me (or else pay me to track them down with a title search), to track down some pertinent information that I can probably find online, and to then explain where they stand, which won\u2019t be a sure win or sure loss but, hopefully, somewhere east or west of 50\/50. By now I\u2019ve been on the phone at least half an hour that I can\u2019t bill for. Okay, where am I going with this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes I suggest they do some \u201chomework\u201d to acquire basic knowledge about mineral interests and oil & gas leases. This can shorten the amount of time it takes for me to explain what the law portends for their situation. As a simple example, if they know what \u201croyalty\u201d means, then I can use it in a sentence without having to spend extra time explaining it; and, if they know the difference between a \u201cmineral deed\u201d and a \u201cdivision order\u201d, then that will save time. Saving time will save them money, since the less time I have to spend on it the less my fee will be. So, to that end, I sometimes refer them to one of my blog posts<\/a> that has links to information about minerals and leases.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings me to where I was going with this, which is another article I recently came across: \u201cMineral Rights<\/a>\u201d on the Geology.com<\/a> website. It\u2019s a pretty good summary of mineral rights in layman\u2019s terms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many landowners are confused about mineral rights and how oil & gas leases work. Many oil & gas lease operators are also confused about mineral rights and even about some of the clauses in their oil & gas leases. There\u2019s … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mineral-rights","category-oil-law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=274"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":275,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/274\/revisions\/275"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=274"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=274"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jchappell.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=274"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}