Sunday, June 16, 2013

Oil & Gas Royalty Rights (Royalties)

In the United States and in some parts of Canada, those who own mineral rights usually own the royalty rights to their proportionate share to the oil and gas production revenue from oil and gas wells. The owner of the executive right is the one who has the right to explore for oil and gas on the property or lease it to an oil company. In return, he will enjoy a royalty, a share of the production. The royalties are usually a minimum of one-eighth (1/8th) of the well's production, multiplied by his share of acreage within the production unit.

For as long as there has been oil and gas production in the USA and Canada, royalties have been bought and sold. One can readily sell royalties in any oil and gas producing region, it's just a matter of finding a willing and reputable buyer. The oil rights or gas rights value varies widely. If you wish to sell oil rights or sell gas rights, bear in mind that if the royalties are paying from a well that is a good producer, obviously, the royalties will be worth more than those from a poor producer. The value is calculated from the projected income stream from future production. The value is also dependent on whether or not the income is declining.

There are many reasons why owners choose to sell oil or gas royalties. Perhaps they wish to buy something or provide for children's education. Maybe the owner just wishes to enjoy life more or to enjoy retirement more with sure-thing cash settlement. If one keeps the royalties, it may take many years to achieve the same amount of cash income that a sale of royalties will produce. And, some owners sell because the royalty interest is small and the paperwork is burdensome. It just might not be worth the hassle of keeping it. A lot of owners find it complicated and just wish to simplify their life and leave it up to a buyer to monitor the production and revenue. Increasingly, older generations who own royalty rights are dying off and children and grandchildren inherit the royalties; the royalty interests are diluted by the number of heirs and many would just rather sell something they know nothing about.

The oil and gas business is daunting, complicated to the royalty owner, but selling royalty rights is not difficult with an experienced royalty buyer. A sale of royalty rights can be accomplished fairly quickly but it can't happen in a day or two. It does take a little bit of time but a good royalty buyer makes the process easy, as he will do most all of the work, making sure that the royalty interest is transferred properly with the county and also the oil and gas company which operates the oil or gas well. Whether you wish to sell oil rights or sell gas rights, you can enjoy a lump sum settlement payment for your royalties.

For more information about selling oil and gas rights, read this site about selling royalties or contact this blogger.

Friday, June 7, 2013

What Is A Non-Participating Royalty Interest (NPRI)?

The oil and gas business is certainly a challenge! It's a very complex business. For mineral owners, it's quite daunting to understand mineral rights, especially, since many mineral rights owners inherited their rights and really do not know what they have. Daddy or Grandpa might have bought something 50 years ago, then passed and didn't really keep ideal records. This is quite common! So, say you found some papers and you know it has something to do with mineral rights. What, exactly, do you have?

Do you find a reference to a non-participating royalty interest? For short, it may be called NPRI. A non-participating royalty interest is the right to receive oil royalties or gas royalties, pure and simple. It does not include some rights that a mineral rights owner enjoys. Such as, the right to explore for oil and gas. (This is moot unless you are Bill Gates, as oil and gas wells cost a small fortune to drill.) More apropos, a mineral rights owner has the right to lease the lands to an oil and gas company (grant an oil & gas lease) and let the oil company (who has big bucks) drill and explore. And, if a mineral rights owner did, in fact, own the royalty rights, the oil or gas company will pay him royalty if a well hits. Lastly, a mineral owner enjoys the rights to a lease bonus (lease signing bonus) and annual rentals (rentals are uncommon these days). So, a non-participating royalty interest is just basically the right to receive oil checks or gas checks (royalties). Almost all sales of mineral rights these days are just that but in decades past, sometimes an NPRI was carved out of the mineral rights.

Perhaps you have discovered that you inherited an NPRI. Maybe some day you will be contacted by an oil company saying that they have drilled a well and they wish for you to ratify an oil & gas lease that the mineral rights owner has signed. The document is called just that -- ratification. This is quite common. Once you ratify and are put in "pay" status, you can then enjoy royalty checks when oil/gas production occurs. Hopefully, the oil or gas company will hit something good and you'll get regular checks. If for any reason you wish to sell these rights, it is possible to do so. Here is more info about the non-participating royalty interest (NPRI), or just contact me for help.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Oil & Gas Operators Deducting Too Many Fees

Oil and gas exploration entered a new era in 2008 with the announcement of the discovery of the Haynesville shale play in Louisiana (and later Texas). The Barnett shale, Fayetteville shale and other shale plays had seen some development before that but the Haynesville broke it wide open.

This post is about deductions from royalty checks to the mineral owners. Prior to 2008, in my opinion, all was pretty much well. Operators did not make many deductions to oil and gas royalty checks. We are primarily talking about deductions pertinent to natural gas, not crude oil or condensate. The problem for royalty owners has surfaced in the past few years. The two worst companies operating in the Haynesville shale which I have seen are Chesapeake and Samson. Wow, they are socking it to the royalty owners. Instead of a few percent, I've seen it as high as 33%. Say your check's gross amount due you is $1,000; they deduct up to $330 for fees. And often, exactly what these fees are is impossible to determine. This isn't right. Some operators don't even show deductions at all, they just pay the royalty owner a lower price for each unit of natural gas. Something should be done about this. And, in fact, something is being done about it in some cases, as numerous lawsuits have occurred. What a shame. The governing authorities should step in here and protect royalty owners. But, who knows if that will ever happen. And, in some states, a class action lawsuit, where a lot of mineral/royalty owners could band together in a class action, it just isn't possible due to the way the laws are in that state. I hope things will improve.

I have had people contact me wishing to sell their mineral and royalty rights because it's just not worth dealing with it due to excessive deductions and fees reducing their royalty check amount. These regular oil and gas checks sure come in handy for people but you sure hate to be "taken." I understand their thinking and regret that operators put people in this position. And as I said, this only started happening in the past few years. For anyone thinking along these lines (about selling royalties), here is more info: selling mineral rights.