Instead of buying mineral rights the oil and gas companies often extract minerals by leasing the mineral rights of the surface. This lease of mineral rights, provides the company the right to extract minerals for the mentioned period of time. Even though the deals are so clear the owner of the surface needs to consider few things before signing the contract and they are listed below.
- It is often important to take enough time to decide whether to go for the deal or to wait for some thing which can be better and beneficial than the present deal. As the oil and gas companies have enough time for their projects they never leave the deals and will wait till you come back.
- The moment you get a deal from a mineral company, it is a sign for you that a couple of companies are awaiting to send you the mail. So, do not be quick in decisions, let all the companies come and compare the quotes made by them. So that you can opt for one which is more beneficial than the rest.
- If any company wants to approach you, they will send a person to talk to you regarding the deal and the other things. Try to know about the person, and try to find whether he is directly from the company or an agent recruited by the company for such operations, or a speculator, who wants to buy the rights from you and tries to sell them to the companies for more profit.
- Next thing is hiring the attorney. It is not a wise idea to hire an attorney as soon as you get a deal since he starts billing you right from that moment. So, once you get all the deals and when you choose the best among them, then hire that person before signing the agreement or for some documentation.
- During the paper work make sure that every thing which was spelled is on paper and also take help of the attorney to understand the agreement made by the company so that there will be no other issues after the work starts.
These are the few things which helps you to take a wise decision regarding the leasing of mineral rights.