What might happen if an exploration company is interested in leasing the mineral rights on my property?
Typically, a landman offers a per-acre amount to lease the mineral rights and a percentage of royalties from any production that is realized.

What are surface rights?
The term "surface rights" refers to the rights of use and enjoyment of property above ground, such as residential, agricultural, or commercial purposes.

What are mineral rights?
The term “mineral rights” generally refers to the right to explore and develop property for the production of oil, gas, and other minerals occurring naturally in liquid or gaseous form and to reduce them to possession and ownership. Ownership of land does not include ownership of such minerals, but the landowner or owner of a mineral servitude has the exclusive right to explore and develop the property for the production of minerals.” .

How do I know if I own the mineral rights on my property?
Owning land does not automatically mean you own the mineral rights to property. A search of your deed or property title at your parish clerk of court’s office can tell you whether you own your mineral rights. If your current deed does not specifically discuss minerals, you may need to contact a professional in title research. In Louisiana, mineral rights can only be reserved (held by the seller of surface property) for ten years, either from the date of sale or from the date of the last exploration activity or production of minerals from the land. If there is no mineral development on the property in that time period, the mineral rights then automatically transfer to the buyer.

What is unitization of wells?
Unitization of oil and gas reservoirs in the state is a critical activity achieved by industry and state government working together. It is important to mineral rights owners because of the economic gain once a well is produced. At the request of an applicant or operator, an oil or gas unit is established for a sand, a zone, or a shale or formation. Unitization allows maximal recovery of the resource, prevents drilling unnecessary wells, and protects the rights of the mineral owners.Learn more at http://dnr.louisiana.gov/cons/CONSERGE/TPG_Kumar-Articles.pdf

What is forced pooling?
The size of development well units is 640 acres or about one square mile. All mineral ownership within the 640-acres unit is initially shared in the production of a single well located within that unit on a surface-acre basis. This means that your square is ‘pooled’ with others in the unit.

Where do I go to find information about my property and my land rights?The Clerk of Court in your parish is the office to go to find legally recorded documents such as deeds and mortgages. Landowners with questions may also want to consult with an attorney for help with ownership issues.

Clerks of Court Offices

Caddo Parish
COC-Gary Loftin Executive Assistant -Judy Brockwell (318) 226-6793

DeSoto Parish
COC-Sonny Stone, Jr. (318) 872-3110

Bossier Parish
COC-Cynthia J. Johnston (318) 965-2336

Natchitoches Parish
COC-Louie Bernard, Clerk of Court (318) 352-8152

Red River Parish
COC-Stuart Shaw (318) 932-6741

Webster Parish
COC-Holli Vining (318) 371-0366

Bienville Parish
COC-James W. "Jim" Martin (318) 263-2123

Glossary

3-D Seismic Seismic data that is acquired and processed to yield a three-dimensional picture of the subsurface.

AssignmentThe sale, transfer or conveyance of all or a fraction of ownership interest or rights owned in real estate or other such property. The term is commonly used in the oil and gas business to convey working interest, leases, royalty, overriding royalty interests and net profit interests.

BANANA Acronym for “Build absolutely nothing anywhere near anyone”. Bananas rigorously employ every possible tactic to block any project anywhere. Bananas typically have far too much free time and little tolerance for differing opionions or evidence that does not support their conclusions.

BOE Barrels of oil equivalent

BS A brownish substance liberally applied during the leasing negotiations. Most often spread during a "hard sales close" by an overzealous landman.

Bbl A barrel of 42 U.S. gallons of oil

Bcf A billion cubic feet of natural gasBcfe - A billion cubic feet equivalent, determined using the ratio of 6 Mcf of natural gas to 1 Bbl of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids.

Boiler Plate Offer A term often used to describe a standard company lease offer. Boiler plate leases generally grant many rights to the company that an informed landowner would strike out. Some of these often include royaltys paid after expenses are deducted, free storage and free pipeline right of ways.

Bonus A monetary incentive given by the company to the mineral owner for executing or ratifying an oil, gas and mineral lease.
Completion - The installation of permanent equipment for the production of oil or gas.

Conveyance A written contract between a grantor and grantee, used to transfer title or rights to real estate or property. Typical conveyances include oil, gas and mineral leases; assignments; deeds and rights of way.

Delay Rental Consideration paid to the lessor by a lessee to extend the terms of an oil and gas lease in the absence of operations and/or production that is contractually required to hold the lease. This consideration is usually required to be paid on or before the anniversary date of the oil and gas lease during its primary term, and typically extends the lease for an additional year. Nonpayment of the delay rental in the absence of production or commencement of operations will generally result in abandonment of the lease after its primary term has expired.

Development Well A well drilled within the proved area of an oil or gas reservoir to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be productive

Exploratory Well A well drilled to find and produce oil or gas in an unproved area, to find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of oil or gas in another reservoir, or to extend a known reservoir.

Favored Nations Clause A clause which stipulates that if higher terms are negotiated you will get the difference within a certain amount of time or your lease is invalid. A Favored Nations clause may be negotiated for both the bonus and the royalty or one or the other. A time limit specifies the time that the clause is in effect, and a geographic limitation is generally included to define the distance from the leased land where the clause is to be honored.

HIMBY Acronym for "Here In My Back Yard". A term for a person who welcomes development in his/her neighborhood, or community. HIMBYS typically accept the stated benefit of the project, or have a vested interest in the successful completion of the project.

Horizontal Drilling A drilling technique that permits the operator to contact and intersect a larger portion of the producing horizon than conventional vertical drilling techniques and can result in both increased production rates and greater ultimate recoveries of hydrocarbons.

Lease A contract between mineral owner, otherwise known as the lessor and a company or working interest owner, otherwise known as the lessee in which the lessor grants the lessee the right to explore, drill and produce oil, gas and other minerals for a specified primary term and as long thereafter as oil, gas or other minerals are being produced in paying quantities. This lease gives the lessee a working interest. The oil and gas lease is granted in exchange for royalty payments to the lessor.

MBbls One thousand barrels of oil

MMBOE Million barrels of oil equivalent

MMBbls Million barrels of oil

MMcf Million cubic feet of natural gas

MMcfe Milion cubic feet of gas equivalent, determined using the ratio of 6 Mcf of natural gas to 1 Bbl of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids.

Mcf A thousand cubic feet of natural gasMcfe - 1,000 cubic feet equivalent, determined using the ratio of six Mcf of natural gas to one Bbl of crude oil, condensate or natural gas liquids.

NIMBY Acronym for "Not In My Back Yard". A term for a person who resists unwanted development in his/her neighborhood, or community. NIMBYS typically resist projects like wind farms, oil refineries, manufacturing plants, prisons or other projects deemed undesirable "here", but ok in someone elses back yard

Paid Up Lease An oil and gas lease in which delay rentals for the entire primary term are paid in advance with the bonus consideration.

Pooling The accumulation of smaller tracts of land, the sum total acreage of which are required for a governmental agency to grant a well permit or assign a production quota or allowable to an operator.

Primary Term The period of time during which an oil and gas lease will be in effect, in the absence of production, drilling or other operations specified by the lease. The oil and gas lease can be perpetuated past the primary term by production in paying quantities, drilling, operations and/or the payment of shut-in royalties specified by the lease.

Pugh Clause A clause, which is calculated to prevent the holding of non-pooled acreage in a lease while certain portions of the lease acreage are being held under pooled arrangements. The main purpose of a Pugh clause is to protect the landowner from having their entire property held under a lease by production from a very small portion.

Recompletion The completion for production of an existing well bore in another formation from that in which the well has been previously completed.

Royalty A percentage share of production, or the value derived from production, paid from a producing well. It is important to specify how royalties are to be calculated and paid as well as insuring that you are given the right to have a third party auditor verify the records of the production from your wells. Your royalty should be free of the costs of drilling and producing.

Secondary Term The term of an oil and gas lease in which the lease is held in force after expiration of the primary term. Production, operations, continuous drilling and/or shut-in royalty payments are often used to extend an oil and gas lease into its secondary term.

Severance Mineral rights may be severed or separated from surface rights by mineral deed or by mineral reservation.Severance by mineral deed occurs when a party owning both surface rights and mineral rights sells or grants by deed all or a portion of the mineral rights underlying his/ her property. This deed, known as a mineral deed, is registered with the county register of deeds and will become a part of the abstract of title to the land involved.

Shut In Royalty A payment stipulated in the oil and gas lease, which royalty owners receive in lieu of actual production, when a gas well is shut-in due to lack of a suitable market, a lack of facilities to produce the product, or other cases defined within the shut-in provisions contained in the oil and gas lease. It is the responsibility of the landowner to clearly establish the allowable time limits for a well to be shut in by way of an addendum

Term Lease An oil and gas lease that expires after a specified period of time, regardless of whether oil, gas and/or other minerals are being produced.

Top Lease An oil and gas lease wherein the bonus consideration is paid at the signing of the lease. However, this lease becomes effective only after the expiration or termination of an existing lease on the tract of land.

Unitization The combining of multiple wells to produce from a specified reservoir.

Vertical Drilling A drilling technique that bores a single well shaft vertically into the desired geological strate.

Workover Operations on a producing well to restore or increase production.