Question on mineral rights and gas lease.

[Kurt]

Originally Posted by CaptShadow

Thanks Kurt. I found some FAQ's on Louisiana Department of Natural Resources which suggest that I go to my parish clerk of court’s office and research my deed to find out if I own my mineral rights. If I can't determine anything there then I will have to consider hiring a landman or attorney to help me. Thanks again.

Sounds good. Keep in touch and let this thread know what you found out. There are many people out here that are sort of in limbo on all of this. If there is no production on any existing lease on my property in the next 8 years the mineral rights revert to me--but I have 36 acres and there is a possiblility that I might be involved in some above ground pipeline or storage surface operation. So far there has been no production. Once I have had the property for 10 years all new leases must be negotiated with me. The productive wells have been drilled in a strata to the north of me up by Logansport--the very northern end of Toledo Bend lake. My property is lakefront and definitely recreational--although I have a nice stand of timber that can be harvested in about 5-6 years.

Where is your property located?

[Anole]

Sounds like you are somewhat close the Haynesville shale play. If I were you I would also be investigating what and if your neighbors are leasing their property. They are paying some very high amounts for leases. Good luck, to read about this play just type in Haynesville Shale, there are several articles in geology.com about the technology that has made this a viable drilling target and some info on the going lease prices and royalties being paid.

[Patches33]

A natural gas well is going into my neighbors property, he has told us the gas company plans to run horizontal pipes under our property to transport it to the main gas line. This is all new to our area in NE PA. Are we entitled to any royality on the gas?

[Patches33]

Originally Posted by Anole

Sounds like you are somewhat close the Haynesville shale play. If I were you I would also be investigating what and if your neighbors are leasing their property. They are paying some very high amounts for leases. Good luck, to read about this play just type in Haynesville Shale, there are several articles in geology.com about the technology that has made this a viable drilling target and some info on the going lease prices and royalties being paid.

Thank you for your information. We are actually in the Marchellus Shale area in NW PA area. We are under a current lease and so are most of our neighbors, thank you for suggesting the articles etc. All of this gas exploration is just starting to take place up here with the new technology. I just thought since areas in LA and TX have been leased up and producing natural gas for a while now someone might know how this works when the "branches" (I dont know the correct terms) go outward onto another persons property. Once the landsmen sign you up they have now all disapeared so it is tough to get any answers. thank you again for your help.

[Anole]

Patches, down here if the well is successful then a production area will be delineated- that is to say the boundaries of the productive zone will be determined. Royalties are determined by how much land you have in the unit. All this info is public-there are hearings to discuss the areal extent of production and these can be quite heated as some folks are not included in the unit. There are several factors which come in to play-faults, pinchouts, poor data, a good geologist to argue your case, etc. Landmen don't always have the answer, if there is a university nearby-try the geology dept. or your state should have a mineral dept. where you can look up this info. In Louisiana we have an online site called Sonris which has tons of info on wells. All wells are numbered and lots of info is available online. I don't know anything about the Marcellus Shale in Pa. but good luck. I'm not sure what you mean by "branches".