The natural gas price you read in the news is the price paid at what is called “Henry Hub” which is the central gathering point in South Louisiana that establishes the “Base Price” for natural gas sold in the United States. All natural gas is priced at this “Index Price” LESS transportation (pipeline costs) and [...]
Like most commodities, crude oil is produced in widely differing “qualities.” For example, much of the crude oil produced in the field contains sulfur – sometimes in very high quantities. To refine this high-sulfur crude oil obviously costs more than for what is termed “sweet crude oil” and this incremental refining cost is deducted from [...]
WHAT TO DO WHEN AN APPRAISAL IS REQUIRED? As compared to an outright sale, this alternative is far more problematic. As I have already discussed, the oil and gas purchasing companies are usually prohibited by company policy from giving out a determination of value of an interest. In most instances, it would merely be an [...]
At least several times a month, we receive a call from a desperate and exasperated son or daughter trying to figure what to do about qualification of their parent for some type of State or Federal service. Whether they seek Medicaid or some other type Social Security benefit, the problems presented are the same. Divestiture [...]
Although the modern day oil and gas industry began over 100 years ago in Pennsylvania, mineral and royalty interest owners in the Keystone State have forlornly watched all these years as their fellow mineral interest owners in nearly twenty other states received the royalty payments year in and year out from the various oil companies. [...]
Ownership of minerals is ordinarily limited to that which does not require the destruction of the surface to accumulate. Some states, such as Texas, use what is called the “surface destruction test” to determine if getting down to the minerals would destroy the rights, full use and enjoyment of the surface owner. Ordinarily the surface [...]
As if mineral and royalty interest owners didn’t already have enough to worry about with declining oil and gas prices, high ad valorem taxes, delays in royalty payments and bankrupt oil and gas Operators, now comes the Romanian scientist Virgiliu Pop, with his latest scholarly work on who owns the land and minerals on, in [...]
The final Crude Oil and Natural Gas Prices are in for April 2009 and continue to look pretty scary! The effects of the world wide recession (some still use the “D” word) on energy consumption coupled with excess supplies, especially of natural gas here in the United States, continue to drive down current and futures [...]