Silly Question

My ex and I were discussing the fact that the landman also acted as the notary. I say that it is a conflict of interest since the landman benefits (either through commission or direct salary) by getting me to sign a lease....it's his job to get me to sign. My ex doesn't see that as a conflict of interest at all. What do you all think? Not important, but the kind of thing that comes up on a rainy day.

Views: 2536

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 4:29am

To me, it's the idea that anything on addendum that I've agreed to can be changed by anyone without consulting me that rankles me.  It's the principle of the thing.

If it's an offer, as Josie says, they still can't change it. If I make an offer to buy a house, the seller can't just add a zero to my offer and call it a deal. Changing the offer requires renegotiations, and that didn't happen.

Permalink Reply by paleface on August 31, 2011 at 4:51am
 Lynn they made a mistake to not include the testing wording of the contract so they snuck it in there after it was brought to the land mans attention.Right now they are hoping you don't make a big deal out of it.They added something that is in every contract its not gonna hurt you.I think you found another east employee that hadn't been fired yet but this might speed that up.You have to work with these people they make mistakes too,you have a good contract so let it go it doesn't effect your contract.
Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 4:58am
If I decide I made a mistake, do you think they will let me change the lease? Maybe add a couple more % royalty?  That would be sweet of them.
Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 10:00am

I'd like to know if anyone can comment on the change made to my addendum:

Original (what I agreed to):"Non-surface: Lessor and Lessee hereby agree that this is a non-surface lease. Lessee shall not conduct any surface operations on the leased premises without the prior written consent of the Lessor."

 

Rewritten: "Non-surface with seismic permission: Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained within the foregoing lease agreement, Lessor hereby agrees to allow seismographic testing to be conducted on the lands described hierein, but no further surface operations concerning drilling of an oil and/or gas well are permitted on the surface of the Lessor's property without the prior written consent of the Lessor."

 

The first was short and concise; the rewritten one threw in a lot of extra stuff...loopholes, I wonder..."concerning drilling of an oil and/or gas well" does NOT limit it enough for me. I don't want ANY surface activity except the ONE TIME seismic survey.

Permalink Reply by paleface on August 31, 2011 at 11:22am
Lynn the first addendum was to vague,I don't think they could legally walk across your property.The new one says non surface with seismic permission that statement over rules anything else that is written in your contract that might conterdict that.Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained within,I don't see a problem with it.
Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 11:45am
As Ann says, that just limits the 'non-surface' to "no oil or gas well". There are a lot of other surface operations that WOULD still be allowed: roads, pipelines, tanks, water wells, disposal wells, injection wells, electric/telephone lines, buildings, towers, stations, or other structures, as mentioned under "Ancillary Rights"  in the main part of the lease.
Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on August 31, 2011 at 12:26pm

I don't know that *all* of the uses would be allowed.  But I'd think something like seismic testing to see if the subsurface was suitable for sequestering CO2 would be. 

 

The question is, just what is included-in/excluded-from "surface operations concerning drilling of an oil and/or gas well"?

Permalink Reply by Brian V. on August 31, 2011 at 2:33pm
They would still need to get written permission from you to do anything other than seismic work. You did not open end allow pipelines or anything else. Even still if they wanted to do another seismic they would still contact you before hand to obtain permission. Now though they can go ahead and do seismic with or without a permit because of this change. Nothing else though. You got a good deal IMHO.
Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 3:10pm

Brian; have you read the Shell lease?  Ancillary Rights, in the body of the lease allows: "geophysical operations, the drilling of wells, and the construction and use of roads, pipelines, tanks, water wells, disposal wells, injection wells, pits, electric and telephone lines...necessary buildings, tanks, towers, stations, or other structures...".

The only thing limited in the addendum is "no further surface operations concerning drilling of an oil and/or gas well". It doesn't limit all those other uses. Many of those uses are not concerned with the drilling of a well, but with cleaning, storage, transport of gas and by-products.

Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on August 31, 2011 at 11:53am
Why should they be allowed to walk across the property without permission?
Permalink Reply by Lynn Wigglesworth on August 31, 2011 at 12:49pm
My thoughts, too. If they aren't doing any surface operations, they have no business on my property.
Permalink Reply by Ann Ticopa on August 31, 2011 at 11:35am
The original is the best East/SWEPI non-surface addendum I've seen (but never been offered)   I have been offered one similar to the second and one similar to the second but not explicitly allowing seismic. 

Since they were not willing to stike the ancillary rights section, I was not willing to restrict the non-surface term to "drilling of an oil and/or gas well".

RSS

© 2024   Created by Keith Mauck (Site Publisher).   Powered by

Badges  |  Report an Issue  |  Terms of Service