A worked sample
SAMPLE, made-up numbers. An owner holds 1/4 of the minerals in an 80 acre tract. The lease royalty is 1/5. The tract is pooled into a 640 acre unit, so its share of the unit is 80/640, or 0.125.
Decimal: 0.25 times 0.2 times 0.125 equals 0.00625. If the division order shows 0.003125, the difference is exactly half, and the first place to look is the owner's fraction or the lease royalty.
Where decimals go wrong
- The owner's fraction: a deed read as a share of royalty when it states a share of production, or the reverse.
- The lease royalty: taken from the wrong lease, or missing an amendment.
- The unit acreage: a unit re-designated after first sales, with the old acreage still in the deck.
- An NPRI or ORRI figured on the wrong base.
- An interest held in suspense instead of paid.
What to send
- The division order or a check stub showing the decimal.
- The lease, and the deed or chain into the owner.
- The unit designation, for a pooled well.
We are landmen, not attorneys. This page describes the land record in general terms. It is not legal advice, and every matter turns on its own instruments.