Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by bo boboski on January 26, 2018 at 9:58am

To my knowledge, you will have to get a release from CHK. before you can lease with someone else.

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Permalink Reply by bo boboski on January 26, 2018 at 11:26pm

I do remember the term,"top lease", once. That's when another company leases your minerals right before your recorded lease is getting ready to expire.It gets the recorded lessor really committed to either exercise their option to extend the lease, or release it.  Most of what I've learned about oil&gas biz has been from reading posts on GMS everyday for the last 6 years. although I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.

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Permalink Reply by Donald on January 27, 2018 at 4:04am

don't want to lease with someone else I want to lease his minerals myself

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Permalink Reply by Robert Bond on January 26, 2018 at 10:59am

If you can not get the lease released talk to an attorney about an affidavit of non-compliance which you can file with the courthouse.  At least that can be filed in Ohio, unsure where you are.

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Permalink Reply by Barry D on January 26, 2018 at 3:42pm

FWIW

Simple answer is,yes.

However, in order to obtain clear title for your lease, a release of lease will be required (my opinion)

As to your leases expiring a year ago, or more, first: that does not necessarily mean the leases are expired. Next, it is not uncommon for companies Not to automatically release a lease. The company may believe the lease to be of value and has not exercised it's option to renew or release. Again, this may not mean the lease is expired. Instead you will have to go through the process of requesting a release. That is, assuming the company wishes to release the lease.

Bottom line, it may be worth your time to use an oil and gas attorney ( not your cousin Fred the divorce attorney).

As for Affidavits of Non Compliance, Non Performance etc., these alone will not replace an actual release ( again, my opinion). The Affidavits are great as part of the process to obtain a release, but the Affidavits alone do not release a lease, and protect you from future legal action ( my opinion)

Certainly, if you are planning to lease the property yourself I would not rely on any Affidavit alone. Seek the advice of an experienced oil and gas attorney.

Just my opinion and not offered as legal counsel. I am not an attorney, although I play one on TV.

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Permalink Reply by Donald on January 27, 2018 at 4:29am

Thanks for the reply. I was in the coal business several years ago, an have been involved in several leases. back then it was common for coal companies to lease over other leases.

my theory is, if I lease over CHKs lease the burden of proof will be on them. I Won't need an atty. and release. at that point they can renew my lease or give me a release.if they go to court, I think my lease would be in force science theirs has expired. might be a good script for TV.

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Permalink Reply by G.H. on January 29, 2018 at 4:21am

As others have said, yes, you can do it.  If the original lease is still in effect it will be considered a top lease, to take effect when the original lease has expired.  The question is whether the underlying lease/original lease is still valid in any way.  Probably best not to spend a lot of money on this if you are uncertain whether the original lease is actually expired.  As previously mentioned by other posters here, the best course of action would be to obtain a release of the original lease.  At the very least you could get an affidavit of non-production and non-payment, though as Barry said, this probably isn't really the best option.  I'm not an attorney, just going off of what I've seen.

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Permalink Reply by Jon on February 3, 2018 at 6:46pm

If you live in PA, you can. I had mine released. However, I was later told that I didn't need to.

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