A little something about royalties...

I'm just about beginning to hope I DONT get drilled!

http://www.propublica.org/article/unfair-share-how-oil-and-gas-dril...

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Permalink Reply by Nancy Mosley on August 14, 2013 at 9:54pm

What you want to hope for is an "honest" company, some better than others for sure. Also a good lease. 

Permalink Reply by Donald on August 14, 2013 at 11:19pm

An honest company? your in a dream world. 0 honest companys out their. these companys will haft to be controled by the goverment.... as much as I hate to say that. the banks had to be controled by the goverment and yet we get ripped off by them. their is more money involved with these oil companys, than the banks. without some kind of oversight on these companys the landowners will get whatever they give them. landowners can not afford to fight the oil companys. unless their is some kind of intervention to help the land owners, they will continue to get whatever the oil companys want to pay them.

it realy don't matter much what your lease says...its what the oil companys say it says. if anyone on here thinks i'm wrong, I would like to hear your thoughts on it. 

Permalink Reply by Mark McGrail on August 14, 2013 at 11:28pm

Donald,

I understand your cynicism, but I do believe that if land owners understand what they need in a lease and stand their ground they will will fare well.

Permalink Reply by Rick on August 15, 2013 at 7:41am

Mark, did you read the part about these companies taking deductions or selling gas on the cheap to friendly companies, or even to themselves? Even though some of the leases said they disallow deductions? They even had the nerve to defraud the US government.. not once, but several times!

Also, a lot of the land was leased before this deduction issue even surfaced, so there are many many leases that do not stipulate about what deductions can be taken. And what about your friends and neighbors or just 1000's of fellow farmers and landowners that signed leases back in the 90's for shallow wells... "doing the right thing for the country and energy independence" working with smaller gas companies like generations before...no one ... not one lawyer i spoke to had any idea that 20 years later, they would be taking these deductions.

And Nancy, i feel Donald is right. There needs to be financial oversight on these operations... they themselves (the companies) have proved that they need it. And if you think you are dealing with an honest company when you sign a lease, think again, because these leases are assigned and reassigned to different companies like poker chips... you have no idea who you will be dealing with a couple years down the road...

 

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on August 15, 2013 at 8:07am

"Also, a lot of the land was leased before this deduction issue even surfaced, so there are many many leases that do not stipulate about what deductions can be taken."

sorry, but you're mistaken. the deductions issue has always been known to anyone who can read. it's right there in black and white for everyone to read before they sign their lease.

whether or not people chose to read and understand what they were signing was up to them. people do it every day, they sign contracts for cellphones, cars...you name it, without reading and fully understanding what they are agreeing to.

and if you think that the government will ever protect you, you haven't been paying attention.

lawyers? you think that every lawyer is a gas and oil expert? you think that any Pennsylvania lawyers had a clue about this stuff when this gasicane started? you cant be that naïve.

it was up to us to act in our own best interest, it always is. this is just business afterall. fail to treat it as such and you'll end up regretting it.

and once you've signed a bad lease and realized your mistake, all ya can do is put on your big girl panties and count your losses.

i'm sorry if the truth hurts, but sometimes it's better to hear the truth than hold out hope for dreams that will never come true.

wj

Permalink Reply by Rick on August 15, 2013 at 8:27am

wyjim.. do you have an opinion on the article? is it ... too bad you signed a bad lease?

Do you have a reading comprenshion problem jim? or didnt you read the article?

This was in there :

But some companies deduct expenses for transporting and processing natural gas, even when leases contain clauses explicitly prohibiting such deductions. In other cases, according to court files and documents obtained by ProPublica, they withhold money without explanation for other, unauthorized expenses, and without telling landowners that the money is being withheld.

Also jim, what about the selling gas on the cheap with sophisticated accounting practices that even the best forensic accounttants struggle with?

You assume i thought this? "you think that every lawyer is a gas and oil expert? you think that any Pennsylvania lawyers had a clue about this stuff when this gasicane started? you cant be that naïve."  I never said that i thought lawyers 20 years ago knew what a gas leases was (even though they have been drilling for gas and oil in Pa for over a hundred years) In fact my point was just the opposite. Stop twisting my posts to try and insult me.

Actually I've read a lot of your posts, and i feel that what you do best here is to take the company side, and  insult the landowner... you are obviously well trained in that technique...

 

Permalink Reply by wyalusing jim on August 15, 2013 at 8:40am

rick...do you believe everything that you read in newspapers?

do you know that companies are "selling on the cheap"?

do you know that companies are deducting when the lease says otherwise?

yes i do have an opinion on this article. it makes broad statements which are not entirely true.

pro publica is not exactly known for it's excellence in journalism.

what it is known for is being very liberal and against gas development.

what this article is designed to do is, to disenchant mineral owners in order to sway public opinion against natural gas development in pa.

I do have a lease that provides for a 1/8 royalty with deductions. it is what it is and I will get what I get. that horse done left the corral a long time ago and i'm not gonna cry over it.

what I will do is enjoy the money that if not for the natural gas industry I would never have otherwise been paid. I will also try to use it wisely to better my life and the lives of my family and community.

you got any other suggestions besides crying over spilled milk?

wj

Permalink Reply by Renee E. Dorsey on August 15, 2013 at 12:43pm

Barf - looked up the article and the author of it talk about a leftie sided slant!  - GAG ME - no need to even bother reading.  Sure is not "NEUTRAL" or "IMPARTIAL" or non-political.   TRUE JOURNALISM is DEAD.  

Abrahm Lustgarten writes about energy, water, climate change and anything else having to do with the environment. Before coming to ProPublica in 2008, he was a staff writer and contributor for Fortune, and has written for Wired, Salon, Esquire, the Washington Post and the New York Times. At ProPublica, his investigation into fracking for natural gas was recognized with the George Polk award for environmental reporting, a National Press Foundation award for best energy writing, a Sigma Delta Chi award and was a finalist for Harvard's Goldsmith Prize. His reporting on BP and the Deepwater Horizon tragedy was nominated for an Emmy.

Abrahm earned his master's in journalism from Columbia University in 2003 and is the author of Run to Failure: BP and the Making of the Deepwater Horizon Disaster, and also China’s Great Train: Beijing’s Drive West and the Campaign to Remake Tibet, a project that was funded in part by a grant from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.

Permalink Reply by Rick on August 16, 2013 at 9:27am

So Renee, I'm asking, are you saying that the statements in the article are untrue? if so, could you please referrence some publication, article, or any link that disspells the specific cases noted? Seems like you spent a lot of time looking up the writer of the piece, but did you look up any of the court cases listed? Hell... did you even read the article? You said no need to read it...

Cant you at least find some dribble from fox news that counters these allegations?

Permalink Reply by Renee E. Dorsey on August 16, 2013 at 3:06pm

Rick - keep it up, little man.   I don't listen to Fox, either!  

Permalink Reply by Money Bags on August 21, 2013 at 10:19pm
What rick said!!
Permalink Reply by Robin Hood on August 15, 2013 at 6:31pm

Just like I said before, Chesapeake does what they want even if it is contrary to the lease agreement. They make interpretations to their advantage and if you don't like it, take em to court. That's the way they operate cause they know most of us don't have the finances or fortitude to endure the due process. 

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