Seismic Survey Payment

recently got a letter from a company called TGS wanting to do seismic surveys on our leased property. Anyone had experience with this and any pros/cons? They offered us $5 per acre which sounded really low but I have no idea. Any input would be greatly appreciated.

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Permalink Reply by Mrs D on March 16, 2015 at 10:21am
Yes we had some dealings with them. $5/acre was the offer with a one page open ended, vague permission agreement that did not even include the land owner friendly provisions that the lease from Chesapeake had in it. So by signing their agreement you are pissing away the protections in your (depending on who you signed with) original oil/gas lease. So, we said sure we will grant permission with X, Y, and Z, we presented them with our version of a permission agreement that was in line with our lease. And we waited, waited, waited.....in the mean time I get a check with a letter telling me to hurry up and deposit it. I called the TGS/Cougar Land Company representative in Carrolton and asked what's up, why did we get a check? we never granted permission, we are waiting to hear if you agree to our terms of the agreement. He said things got crossed in the mail...NO they didn't! He said, no we can't agree to your agreement. I said where do I mail the check back to. ThAt was our saga that was a dead end because they couldn't pull the wool over our eyes.
Permalink Reply by countrygirl on March 18, 2015 at 4:45am

The siesmic crew is walking thru my bottom right now setting up stuff....

Permalink Reply by bootmud on March 18, 2015 at 7:05am

After I ignored one company for six mths,someone showed up at the house and jumped it from 5 to 10 dollars. I said was still not interested. Few days later got a certified letter from their attorney.They said they were proceeding and should I interfere with workers on my prop they would get a restraining order against me.

Permalink Reply by Steven A Joliat on March 18, 2015 at 10:14am
I doubt they could get a local judge to approve one. Seismic contractors usually do not have access to eminent domain. You might check with the sheriff and see what your rights are regarding trespassers. If you know an attorney, show them the letter, though you may not wish to spend money on this.
Permalink Reply by Joe Bezel on March 18, 2015 at 2:12pm

They are way out of control.  The only way they have a "right" to conduct a survey without your permission is if they were contracted by the company that holds drilling rights to your property, like CHK or Hess.  If that was your case, they would have contacted you with a 24-hour notice and they would not be offering you any compensation, as you were paid for that when you signed the lease. 

If you don't mind them tracking up your land, conducting their survey in violation of your lease, and selling the results for $$$, let them proceed.  If you value your property rights, tell them to go away.  If we don't stand up for our rights as property owners, we will get walked all over by unscrupulous people.

Permalink Reply by Rasty on June 29, 2015 at 5:47am

Bootmud,

What was the result of the letter from the attorney.  Did they come on your property then?  I have the same situation going on now.  Any comments would be appreciated.

Permalink Reply by Craig Cooper on June 29, 2015 at 6:28am

Tyrone,

Do you own surface, minerals or both? It will make a difference. What seismic acquisition company is contracted for the job?

Permalink Reply by Rasty on June 29, 2015 at 7:24am

Craig,

Both..TGS is supposedly contracted to do the work.  The O/G lease is limited to below the Clinton formation.  

Permalink Reply by Mike h on June 29, 2015 at 7:58am

If they only have rights to certain strata then you can require them to black out (data) for any strata they don't have rights to.

We have 55 acres and they ended up going around us. They wanted rights to the data in perpetuity and I wanted rights to the data to end with cessation of rights under the lease.

Permalink Reply by Craig Cooper on June 29, 2015 at 9:49am

Mike,

While I understand the rationale for what you're suggesting, you need to be very careful & specific about how the black out is performed. If it isn't performed properly, you'll get an inferior product and will also detrimentally impact O&G operations for the strata they do have rights to.

Tyrone,

Thanks for the info & good luck. Given that you have both surface & minerals you can, obviously, prevent TGS et al from conducting operations on or within your property if that's what you want to do.  

As a general rule, seismic acquisition is one of the least invasive & shortest duration activities associated with O&G operations. In addition, the seismic contractor will be obligated to repair any damages they make at their cost; you have the final approval.

Depending on the size and dimensions of your acreage, the seismic company can skip you and still collect an acceptable quality dataset of the subsurface geology. You'll miss out on a bit of cash (i.e. permit fees) and anything else you can negotiate into the seismic contract / agreement but if you don't care about that and want to keep them off your acreage, you should be able to do that.

It's always a good idea to check with your attorney.

Permalink Reply by Rasty on June 29, 2015 at 10:19am

Thanks for the feedback, Mike and Craig,

This started a year ago with Couger Land Services, and I thought it was over when I told them I wanted $100/acre to do the seismic, after they offered $5/acre and a $750 "bonus" to sign.  About 3 months ago a guy from TGS called and said he was "here" and would be starting to do the seismic within a week.  I told him if he set foot on my property, I would have him arrested.  A little while later I got a letter from TGS to sign their one-sided agreement, which I discarded.  Then I got the attorney letter last week.  I have talked to TGS's hired attorney (Geiger & Teeple in Alliance) and told him my concerns with the whole thing and that I wanted AEU's attorney to call me, if they indeed had a contract with TGS.  Instead I received a call from AEU's landman on Friday.  I am to meet with him.  We'll see what happens.

I have a lot of woods and hills with limited trails, and really think they will make a mess of things if I let them on the property with their 8' wide rig.  Plus, bow season is right around the corner. I'd rather keep the area free of human traffic this time of year. 

 

Permalink Reply by Craig Cooper on June 29, 2015 at 12:29pm

Good luck Rasty.

A potential alternative option would be to allow them to lay geophones only (sometimes referred to as receivers) vs both sources (e.g. vibrators, explosives) & receivers. They can do that with minimal cutting / path clearing; typically via machete & ATV (or on foot per your specs).

You could also specify that they deploy cableless receivers on your property which would further reduce the footprint.

Regardless, if you allow them to conduct any work on your property they are still obligated to repair any damages they make.

Also, it is pretty much standard procedure to either modify operations or avoid them altogether during hunting season.

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