The senior vice president of West Energy Capital, William Kelleher has served as the CEO of Addison Resources in Ventura, California. In his CEO position, William Kelleher evaluated and leased 5,800 acres of land for oil and gas development.
Negotiating oil and gas leases is a complex process. If you are a land owner with ownership rights to the minerals below the surface land, you may have been approached by a landman who proposed to lease land for oil extraction. Following are a few things of which to be aware.
The landman is probably working for an oil company. Before coming to you, he or she will have studied local area geology maps and researched land and resource ownership in your area. When he or she finally calls you up, that’s when the negotiating begins. If you agree to the terms proposed, an oil and gas lease will be drawn by the oil company and you can sign it.
After signing the contract, the oil company will drill up the property to determine the likelihood of it having oil in commercial quantities. If the results are positive, you will receive a bonus fee and drilling will commence. Once the well is complete and oil is extracted, you will start receiving royalty checks from the profits of the operations, as agreed upon in the contract.
