Release after lease expires?

Our lease expired in March.  We have over 100 acres in Robinson Township, Washington County.  We had originally signed with Dale, which was Chesapeake, flipped to Range.  There is no auto-extension provision in our lease, it was a straight five-year term with no renewal option.  Range has us pretty well buttoned up with cheap leases all around us that they did renew.  There are units close by but none of our immediate neighbors are unitized (nor were we). 

Range had approached us a few years ago about putting a well pad on our property (our lease was no-surface use).  While we were negotiating with them, they filed a stormwater permit on our property which they had no right to do since we had a no surface lease and had not given permission for any surface use at all.  Ultimately, we could not come to an agreement, and they stopped negotiating with us.  They did appear to come to an agreement with our neighbor, but although an initial stormwater permit was filed a couple of years ago, nothing else has been done.

We were listening to the "It's Your Legacy" radio show on 1170 and the attorney recommended that anyone in this position get a "Release from Lease" recorded.  There is nothing in our original lease agreement that requires the Lessee to do this automatically.  I had previously called Range and the land dept. manager said while he'd love  to renew us, they just don't have the money in the budget.  At that time I asked him if they would be filing anything to acknowledge that the lease had expired, but he said they don't do that.

I guess my question is, can I draw up some type of document and file it in the courthouse myself, or is there some sort of "official" Release form that has to be signed by the gasco before it can go on record?  And also, since they filed that permit years ago which they had no right to do, could we in any way be considered held by production?

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0ym9x5ag7ury2Permalink Reply by 0ym9x5ag7ury2 on July 20, 2015 at 8:43am

Donna,

    You can use this PA House Bill 402 as a "Do It Yourself" legal method to Release your lease in the court house, or hire a lawyer. There appears to be a few methods you can use but it's all here in HB 402.

I like the legal add in the paper nearest your parcel stating you are going to Release/Terminate the lease, using all the legal jargon & proper discriptions. After a 2 or 3 weeks with no response you can go to the court house and file a release. 

This bill left out the lawyers, which amazes me. A society being run without a lawyer that you have to pay. This is 1900s thinking for sure, but I like it. Too bad Ohio and WV don't have the same.

There are plenty of people trying to pry grubby hands off of their land titles.

THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF PENNSYLVANIA,  HOUSE BILL No.402

Imposing duties on lessees of oil and natural gas leases; and providing for the recording of surrender documents from oil and natural gas leases and of affidavits of termination, expiration or cancellation.

The General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hereby enacts as follows:

Section 1.  Short title.

This act shall be known and may be cited as the Recording of Surrender Documents from Oil and Natural Gas Lease Act.

Document Attached.
Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Donna on July 20, 2015 at 10:53am

Thank you!

Permalink Reply by Garry L Miller on July 20, 2015 at 10:27am

 HEY FRANK  ..... THEY HAVE A 500 MILLION DOLLAR LEAN ON EVERY ONES OGM I THINK GETTING THEM TO SIGN OFF IS GREAT IDEA AN THEY SHOULD IF THERE IS NO  RENEW LEASE THEN THEY HAVE TO TAKE LEAN OFF THE OGM   RIGHTS .....................................

Permalink Reply by Gary on July 21, 2015 at 1:12am

Donna, you might try the simple approach (which worked for me) email:
rwood@rangeresources.com..I sent this to RRC:"Rebeca, My lease has expired and I would like a release." included the names that are on the lease and my address..I did this and got a release and filed it in the court house myself 25 bucks or something like that ..then a few months later RRC signed another lease with me...Gary

Permalink Reply by Star Gazer on July 21, 2015 at 1:29am

My lease is going to expire in 2 months and would like to have recommendations on oil and gas attorneys. My property is in Lawrence County, PA. Thanks in advance for any replies.

Permalink Reply by Donna on July 21, 2015 at 1:54am

Thank you Gary - I have written up a letter to send but did not know who to send it to, and a call to Range just got me an answering machine and no call-back.  Yesterday at our local township meeting I did have a chance to speak to a Range guy, who said he'll get a name for me.  If I don't hear from him, I'll try this email.  Thanks!

Permalink Reply by Martha Stevens on July 22, 2015 at 12:26am
Our 1980's lease with range expired in 2009 when they FINALLY capped our well that was in essence a dry hole all that time. After a year, I started using the approach of gentle nagging and placed a phone call to my local office, first every month, then every week until the letter was delivered. They also stated that they would like to redo our lease, but after my experience with the assclowns at Range I said not at this time. To my knowledge, they never did file it at the courthouse as I requested. I was looking at my deed sometime much later at the courthouse and did not see the lease release filed. I still have the letter though.
Similar to your experience Donna, they had proceeded with placing a pipeline across my property at a time they were not supposed to for a neighbor's well that was NEVER drilled and without a right of way. I guess that's my pipeline now. I tried to have them remove it, but of course that got nowhere. I am sure there are big red warnings next to my name at the range home office. I don't really care. At least in our neck of the woods, they have proven themselves so untrustworthy that I would rather not do business with them.
Permalink Reply by Donna on July 22, 2015 at 1:55am

I hear you, Martha!  Our relationship with Range hasn't been the great experience a lot of other folks have reported.  But as for not doing business with them again, we really wouldn't have much of a choice.  We are completely surrounded by Range leases, so unless another gasco comes in and acquires some of those leases (which seems unlikely) they are the only game in our small town. We just want to keep our title cleaned up at this point.

Permalink Reply by Terrance Livingston on July 22, 2015 at 9:16am

Here is a lease surrender template to use.

 Date:               Via certified mail, return receipt requested
               Tracking Number:___________________

Lease Administration Department
XYZ Exploration Company
Any Street
Houston, TX

Subject:   Lease surrender request
      All your lease info here Name, Lease number,
                        Lot & Block etc:
                    

To:   Lease Administration Manager

The purpose of this letter is to request a surrender of the my oil and gas lease.  The primary term of the lease has expired.  No operations have been commenced on the land.  The leased land has not been included in a drilling/production unit.  There are no current operations nor lease payments to extend the lease beyond the primary term.  Therefore, the lease is null and void, and has expired due to the terms contained therein.   In the event the lease is active, please provide proof to support the claim within thirty (30) days of your receipt of this notice.

Within 30 days, please file a Surrender of Lease Document covering the tract of land in the Recorder of Deeds Offices for Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania.  Please provide me with a copy of the recorded instrument.

Thank you for your assistance to clear the title my tract of land.

Sincerely,

Attachments:
Permalink Reply by Star Gazer on July 22, 2015 at 12:37pm

What if the primary term has expired, which in my case was 10 years, but they still send money to extend the lease beyond the primary term? Can the extension check be returned with a surrender of lease document since the lease is past it's primary term. My land is in PA, for anyone with knowledge of how PA law may work in this case.

Permalink Reply by Donna on July 23, 2015 at 3:18am

Star Gazer - it is my understanding that your lease will say something about the Lessee being able to renew the lease by simply paying you again (each lease will have its own wording).  In our lease, it specifically said it was for one five-year term with no automatic renewal.  Since they continue to pay you, my guess is your lease has that auto-renewal type option.  You should have an attorney look at it for you.

Permalink Reply by Donna on July 23, 2015 at 3:16am

Thank you, Terrance!

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