Hi Teegue, Quite a story, but while truly serious, couldn't help to break a grin. You painted quite a visual-- but your last paragraph really nailed it. Knowing how my own father/grandfather would have reacted under similar circumstances, no notice, no negotiating access or comp, it's a good thing Murphy got some Suface Owner legislation passed that averts (most of) this...for everyones sake.
On Nov 6, 11:10 pm, Teegue <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Personal experience here being run off a property with the surveyors > by the landowner and son sporting rifles, and again when the machines > moved in to build the location. Had to get the sheriff to allow > things to proceed. Things were eventually settled in court regarding > damages, but access couldn't be denied or drilling stopped in the > meantime as the lease was near expiration. Got chased off property a > few times when the machines moved in to start moving dirt, but only > once did it involve rifles and the sheriff. The point is that the > surface owner can hem and haw, but courts have no problem granting > injunctions to prevent interference with drilling operations. > > Some of this occurred before the surface owner act was passed in ND in > the early 80's (led by Rep. Jack Murphy of Killdeer, who had his own > run-ins with the oil companies) that required advance notice to > surface owners before operations started and damage payments. It > could be quite a surprise not to know anything about a well on your > property and have unannounced bulldozers appear overnight and start > building a road through the wheat field (and always the best wheat > field, as the story goes). > > On Oct 29, 6:11 am, David <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > > In a word, "No". > > > He COULD try to negotiate an overly high price for the land and > > damages from the driller, but at some point a court could have to > > decide what the driller is paying is fair. The legal wrangling could > > delay the spud date, but not stop the driller from drilling. But, as > > owner of the minerals you have the legal right to get them drilled. > > > To prevent these conflicts, its sometimes wise to sell the surface > > owner a small percent of the minerals when the land is sold, or > > negotiate that as part of the sale price. That way, the surface owner > > will have an interest as you do in getting your minerals drilled. The > > percent could be as small as 5% or so. > > > David > > > On Oct 28, 10:48 pm, montanaswede <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > > > I'm new here, and posting this question again--I think I goofed up > > > earlier and attached it to an old post. > > > > Anyway--the surface owner hates my brother and me, who have leased the > > > minerals rights we retained on our dad's former farm in eastern > > > Montana. He cheated our dad, and hates how we've publicized it. The > > > question: can he prevent an oil company from drilling? We picture > > > him trying to block it just to hurt us. (He doesn't live on the land; > > > it's just CRP and rented cropland and pasture.) Thanks for any help; > > > I've learned a lot from this blog!- Hide quoted text - > > - Show quoted text - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Bakken Shale Discussion" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/bakken-shale-discussion?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
