Comment

Comment by Bob Donaghy on July 22, 2012 at 5:27pm

http://channels.isp.netscape.com/news/story.jsp?floc=ne-main-9-l8&a...

Interesting article discussing cancer, radioactivity and drinking water contamination caused by natural gas drilling/fracking/etc.

Comment by TylerCH4Us on June 27, 2012 at 7:59pm

The next Western Tyler Mineral and Landowner Group meeting is at 6:00 PM, on Friday, June 29, 2012 at the Little Methodist Church in Friendly WV.  Meetings are open to all mineral and landowners.  We will continue to review lease terms and clauses.

For directions or more information call: 304-771-1063

Information + Education + Patience + Cooperation = Better Results

www.tylerch4us.com

Comment by Ken Barton on June 13, 2012 at 6:47pm

I have not met him yet, but I'm sure he is a member or is involved with the local AAPL chapter.  I'll look for him.

Comment by Jim White on June 13, 2012 at 6:26pm

Yes that's me and I just sent you an email stating that I should stick with pretty much what I know best......which is not much! Did you know Harry Moats, the oil and gas lawyer from Harrisville?

Comment by Ken Barton on June 13, 2012 at 6:10pm

Are you "Jim White" from NYC?  If so, I am hoping to give you some definitive information on the mineral interest very soon.   I believe-just from what you have shared-that it is very possible that the "royalty" you refer to is, indeed, mineral interest.  In my experience, some owners sold interest in certain wells to individuals or to O & G companies, like South Penn, but in conveyances of the surface, they usually witheld at least 1/2 minerals for themselves.  I look at the 1/2 minerals they conveyed to the purchaser of the tract as a "sweetener", to make the sale proceed smoothly.  In instances where there was existing production, rarely, unless the sale was to family members, would any minerals be conveyed, only the "use of free gas", as many deeds read. 

Comment by Jim White on June 13, 2012 at 5:24pm

Ken

I initially was going to add a comment to Gas Girls post when I reread your post. I practiced with my brother who was circuit judge of Tyler for many years and we discussed the royalty issue quite a bit since it came up in his court and in his private practice as well as with our families interests. Unfortunately this was over 30 years ago and I am unclear as to everything that was said. When I was getting the deeds for one of the county, I came up with several which stated that the Grantors conveyed a half (whatever) royalty interest in certain pieces of land. I though this was the issue in Gas Girls case where her deed stated royalties, not mineral interests just as some of ours did. I am pretty sure that my brother assumed these were royalty conveyances (for profits from production) and not mineral interest, since we did talk about the fact that he thought our royalty interests should be taxed along with our mineral interests. Long story. When I saw your post, I though that maybe the language of our deeds could be construed as mineral interests, or in fact should be construed that way. Unfortunately, the man who mapped most of our interests from these deeds somehow lost the ones from this county which took me two weeks to collect! and I am uncertain as to the exact language in the deed. We may be talking about different issues. I will leave this one to you experts!

Comment by Ken Barton on June 13, 2012 at 5:14pm

He is a fine man, very capable and extremely knowledgeable about Tyler County.

Comment by David Spencer on June 13, 2012 at 4:42pm

We are using Dean Rohrig as well. Our family has used him for many years.

He is reasonable and knows everyone as he was prosecuting attorney for many years.

Comment by Ken Barton on June 13, 2012 at 4:32pm

Jim-I am uncertain about what you mean about "royalty interests" on "leases".  I am specifically referring to a mineral reservation made in a deed of conveyance, where the Grantor reserves all or part of the mineral interests.  In that case, in the past, the terms "1/8 royalty", "royalty", "oil & gas" and others have been used to indicate a severance of the minerals.  The deed which severs, or attempts to sever the  minerals would be what a court would use to determine the intent of the Grantor, if he or she was not living to give testimony, based upon the wording of this deed and others written in the same time frame, by the same authors.  One reason for this confusion is old leases used to be Delay Rental-meaning that the only income derived from the lease was and oil and/or gas royalty payment if a well was drilled and produced, or a payment-usually $ 50 or $ 75 dollars per quarter during the term of the lease, if no well was drilled.  Paid Up leases, which are fairly recent instruments in WV allow the person with leasing rights to receive the bonus payment, and someone who only has a right to the "royalty" only gets money if a well is productive.  As I said, though, it is very rare to find anyone in Tyler County with royalty rights, who doesn't also have the mineral, (i.e. leasing) rights, although a common situation is if a family member give an older son or daughter leasing rights by will, but gives other family members land with royalty rights. The older son, daughter or their heirs may maintain the leasing rights, while the heirs of the othr children retain royalty rights of the property.  In a family situation, it is not uncommon for the minerals to not have a separate tax ticket, and although one family member has the executive (leasing) rights, he is taxed the same as the children with royalty rights only.  I believe that "Gas Girl", or anyone else for that matter should not give up any rights or acquiese to anybody's opinion, unless compelling evidence is presented that they have no leasing rights.

Comment by Ken Barton on June 13, 2012 at 3:54pm

Mr. White makes a good point about intent.  If there were producing wells on the tract in question when it was conveyed to another party, then this may mean that the previous owner retained or reserved the "royalty", however, in most of the old deeds, as I stated before, royalty refers to the oil and gas interests-the mineral interests.   Reserving the royalty, while not retaining the mineral interests is very rare in Tyler County, based on research that I have personally done.  There have been at least four periods of aggressive O & G exploration and production in Tyler County, so most mineral owners were keenly aware of the value of their mineral interest and depending on when your mineral interests were severed from the surface, a cursory look at other deeds that were issued at that time would have similar language, as they were probably written by the same lawyer or lawyers who practiced in Tyler County during those years.   

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