Category: Law Firm

By Kenny DuBose

Common mistakes mineral owners make in oil and gas lease negotiation

Every day across America, mineral owners are contacted with oil and gas lease proposals regarding their oil and gas mineral interests. Unfortunately many of them dont do their homework and miss available upside. Along with a sister article titled Oil Lease Negotiating – Top 10 Things To Do, we present here things NOT to do. Hopefully you wont find your actions among these.

Dont Jump at the Site of an Oil and Gas Lease!

Dont immediately pick up the phone to the leasing agent, gushing with emotion that youve received an oil and gas lease in the mail. If theres ever a signal that says youre an early signer (and likely not getting the best terms), its that you just couldnt wait to start talking.

Dont Rush to Hire a Lawyer

While you may in fact want to get an attorney involved later during the process, there are many other things you can do to benefit yourself in the mean time. Immediately hiring a lawyer upon receipt of an oil or gas lease only starts his fees sooner, and will ultimately cost you more than if you had waited. In fact, the lawyer, if hes worth his salt, should first ask you questions that youll need to find the answers to yourself. You can find many of these issues discussed here at MineralWeb.com.

Dont Sign the Oil or Gas Lease

Most documents within an oil and gas lease proposal package (leases, ratifications, bank drafts, etc.) are legally binding documents. Until the deal is thoroughly discussed, negotiated, and understood, theres no need for you to sign anything.

Dont Focus on the Lease Price Alone

Of course the economic implications are important, but this is far from the only important aspect of an oil and gas mineral lease. Everything is negotiable. In the case where you own surface rights along with mineral rights, the terms related to surface use can be quite important, possibly more important than lease bonus and royalty percentage.

Dont Start Spending Money You Dont Yet Have

This is called common sense. Until the check clears the bank, you havent made a dime. Furthermore, just because the drilling rig has shown up does not mean that a commercially viable well is around the corner. Maybe, but no guarantees. There are plenty of dry holes around.

Dont Respond That Youre Not Interested

Even if youre the rare person who couldnt care less about the economic benefit, its in your best interest to learn about what is happening in the area. You may in fact ultimately get force pooled, which will result in certified mail and phone calls to deal with anyway.

Dont Warrant the Oil and Gas Lease

The first draft of an oil and gas lease presented to you likely states that you warrant and defend the chain of title to your minerals. Simply stated, delete it. Dont warrant (guarantee) anything.

Dont Spout Off

As in, dont say things verbally that youre not willing to stand on. Absolute statements like I wont take anything less than $5,000 per acre are usually of little value, and in fact may hurt you. If ever you decide to back away from your statement, youve lost credibility, which will only minimize your negotiating power. Absolute statements in negotiating are typically made by rookies.

Dont Lease Multiple Non-contiguous Tracts on One Lease Form

Simply put, this minimizes the chance of problems down the road. Development of an oil or gas field is a dynamic process that unfolds over time as in years. By matching one oil or gas lease to each contiguous tract, the issue of whether a tract is held by production from another tract is all but eliminated.

Dont Allow Unrestricted Use of Fresh Water

The first draft of almost all oil and gas leases allows for unrestricted use of fresh water for operations related to the drilling and completion of a well. This issue may or may not be applicable in your specific case, but it is certainly worth considering.

About the Author: Kenny DuBose holds a Bachelor of Science in Petroleum Engineering and is an active member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and the National Association of Royalty Owners. He is President of

mineralweb.com/

a resource for owners of

mineral rights and oil and gas royalty

.

Source:

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By Steve Gee

Why were the police knocking on Anna Wallis’s door in the middle of the night?

Anna Wallis is an IT technician in a department store. She’s good at her job and she runs around all day long fighting with computer bugs and keeping the stock control database up to date. It’s a high pressure job but she loves it and wouldn’t have it any other way. Anna has never been in trouble with the police before so why did the cops come for her in the middle of the night? They knocked so hard that she thought they were going to break the door down.

You can get your identity stolen so very easily

Anna won’t remember this now but it happened more than 2 years earlier. She often takes her lunch into a nearby park to get away from the stress of the office for an hour and one day she left her purse on the bench where she sat to eat. Only a few minutes had past before she realized what she had done and went back for her purse right away.

She was so relieved to find that the purse was still there, exactly where she left it. A quick check of the contents revealed that nothing had been stolen so Anna was happy and felt very lucky to get her purse back. But what has this got to do with the police at her door 2 years later?

She didn’t know it but a thief had stolen Anna’s identity from her purse as it sat alone on that park bench. Her credit card numbers, her address, her drivers licence details and other information had been quickly copied and Anna never knew that it had happened. The thief took less than 3 minutes to steal Anna’s identity.

Has your identity double got you into trouble with the police?

You might expect that if someone steals your identity then they will use it to make some instant money. Go on a spending spree with your credit cards, rent a car in your name and take out a huge loan for you to pay back. This isn’t always the reason that a thief might want to steal your life.

In Anna’s case the thief had been saving her identity for a special occasion. Something more important than a quick spending spree. This thief had been planning a big robbery and had been arrested as she left the scene. Unfortunately the police had no real evidence to suggest that they had caught the right person. The thief was too good to be caught in the act or with the stolen goods on her so she was let free on bail.

The thief had used Anna’s identity when she was arrested. This was why she stole it from her in the first place, to use as a contingency plan. When the thief failed to return to court a bench warrant was issued for Anna, not the thief.

This story is made up. It never happened but it could happen and it could happen to you.

The cops can arrest you any time they want if you have a warrant for arrest

The police don’t have the time to go after everyone the moment that an arrest warrant is issued. Depending on the severity of the crime it could be months or even years before they get around to you. Very often they will just wait until they pull you in for something else like a speeding ticket or jumping a red light. They will do a check on you then and find the warrant.

Sooner or later they will catch up with you and if they have to they will search you out and knock on your door.

Don’t wait for the knock at the door. Find out about warrants for arrest now

Whether you committed the crime or not, when you get to court you will most likely be treated far more favorably if you give yourself up voluntarily instead of being dragged there by the police. But how do you deal with a warrant if you didn’t know that you have one in the first place?

Do regular background checks on yourself

It’s easy to do a regular background check on yourself using an online public records database. It can take less than 5 minutes to check yourself out and make sure that you don’t have any warrants or other problems that you need to deal with. By doing this you can stay one step ahead of the police and deal with arrest warrants before they become a major problem for you.

About the Author: Check yourself out for arrest warrants by using an online public records database. How to do a background check on someone including yourself howdo-i.com/backgroundcheck/

Source: isnare.com

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By Susan Fielding

If you have decided on nursing as your chosen profession, you must first go through training at a recognized nursing school before you can become a fully qualified nurse.

You will be given lessons by qualified doctors and experienced nurses to prepare you for the nursing world. Some things that you will learn include how to assess and diagnose health problems, and provide the appropriate care for your patients so they improve, and also to help patients cope with various health issues and diseases. You will also be given basic education on medicine as well.

Selecting the best nursing school is very important, to ensure that you get the right education. This requires an investment of time, money, and effort. There are many factors to consider when choosing a nursing school, however your research will be well worth it.

First of all, you need to decide on what type of nurse you want to become. Different nursing schools offer different courses, so you will need to choose a school that matches the specific training you wish to take.

Next, you need to determine where you are willing to attend. Are there any nursing schools in your area?

Nursing schools in larger cities have many advantages over other schools, including access to top hospitals. There is also the convenience of good public transport systems which make your commute between school and home much easier.

The best nursing schools are those that are associated with prominent hospitals, as they have modern classrooms, high-tech labs and advanced equipment. They use the latest technology to convey a superior level of practical knowledge in the field of nursing science.

Another important point to consider is the ratio of the students to the teacher. Nursing schools that maintain a ratio of less than 20:1 are the best. These smaller classes ensure each student is given equal attention.

Finally, before picking a nursing school, contact the school and request further information and make sure you research the school’s reputation. If you choose to select a private school, make sure you visit the facilities.

Top nursing schools can help you to discover what your life’s path will be and then allow you to find that path through their programs. Nursing is a very rewarding profession, and there will always be high demand for qualified nurses.

About the Author: For more Nursing School resources and further information visit Nursing School Online

Source: isnare.com

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