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Guides for owners holding an offer
One question per page, in plain words. General information, not advice for one state. Each guide ends with a short note to a landman.
What you got
Start with the paper in your hand.
- Lease offerThe letter, the printed form and the bonus draft.
- Top leaseA new lease that waits for the old one to end.
- Division orderYour decimal, and whether it adds up.
- RatificationConfirming a lease or unit, and how far the words reach.
- Pooling noticeWhen a hearing date or election deadline comes with it.
- Pipeline or ROW easementWidth, term, number of lines, depth and restoration.
- Seismic permitA survey crew on your land, and who pays for damage.
- Surface use agreementPads, roads, water and restoration, in writing.
Lease clauses
One clause at a time, in plain words.
- Royalty fractionWhat share you are paid, and how it becomes your decimal.
- Post-production costsGathering, compression, treating and transport charges.
- Pugh clauseLetting go of land outside a producing unit.
- Shut-in clauseHolding a lease with a payment instead of production.
- Depth limitsWhich rock the lease covers, and when depths come back.
- Primary term and extensionsHow long the company has, and what can stretch it.
- Warranty of titleStanding behind your title, and the narrower wording.
- AssignmentWho ends up holding your lease.
- Surface use and damagesWhat can happen on the ground, and what is paid for it.
- Pooling authorityCombining your land with your neighbors' land.
- Continuous developmentKeep drilling after the primary term, or let go.
- Granting clauseWho leases what to whom, and for which uses.
- Legal descriptionWhich land, and how many acres.
- Signatures and acknowledgmentWho signs, the notary block, and what is attached.
- RecordingWhen the lease goes on the county record.
Your situation
When the question is bigger than one document.
Send it before you sign
Tell us what you got and what you want to know. We reply by email and tell you how to send the pages. A landman reads them and sends back a one-page review sheet.
Email hello@landman.review with what you got and your question, or call (307) 263-8515.