Did You Know?

1. An oil and gas lease is not like other leases.
2. You cannot cancel your oil and gas lease if you are unhappy about it.
3. There are oil and gas leases in Texas that have been held by producers for over 75 years.
4. The oil and gas lease is more like a deed to minerals and a contract to pay royalties than a property lease.
5. A professor of oil and gas law in Texas has commented that the Producers 88 should be "banned" because it is so one sided, leaves no real protection for the landowner, and affords no practical remedy for any misdeeds without expensive and uncertain court involvement.
6. Though the laws are somewhat different from state to state, generally the common effect is to make the energy company the sole controlling entity in the use of your property, with you having little to nothing to say in the matter over the many years it is in force.
7. The owner of a large leased ranch in South Texas has said that the energy company conducts its operations without notice as if the owner did not exist and, though repeatedly asked to share its plans and schedules, has not complied.
8. The owner of a Texas ranch says the energy company has not fully compensated him for his oil and gas production, pollution, fires, or explosions that have occurred on the surface over the years. This is not uncommon to hear.
9. The typical Producers 88 form lease does not specify what oil and gas in what geologic formations the lease encompasses.
10. An oil and gas lease/contract can include many provisions protecting the landowner if the landowner knows what to request and the energy company agrees.
11. Professor Ernest E. Smith of the University of Texas Law School has said that the typical Producers 88 lease has nothing in it that sets out the details of any duties or responsibilities to the landowner, other than the royalty percentage.