A promise RR&A makes to our clients is that we are not interested in selling you services you do not need. When purchasing a non-operated interest, you likely do not need a full-scale drilling or division order title opinion covering the entire land and leasehold subject to your investment. There may be certain circumstances where it is advantageous to know all owners involved in a prospect, but those circumstances are rare, and you can likely obtain the information you need without a title opinion. While we are certainly prepared to issue this type of opinion if needed, given the nature of most non-operational interests, the cost of a full title opinion would generally be out of scale with the value of the interest being purchased. The information you really need can be provided in a limited acquisition title opinion at a much lower cost. We limit our coverage to just the history of the leasehold interest being purchased – ensuring the leases are valid and that no title defects would affect your revenue interest.

As tends to be the case with most areas of law, Louisiana is an exception. In Louisiana, non-operating leasehold owners may be responsible for paying revenues attributable to their proportionate working interest. Accordingly, it may be useful to expand the scope of your acquisition opinion to include research into the royalty and overriding royalty ownership to ensure accurate payment consistent with your Operator.

RR&A has attorneys with decades of experience advising private and publicly traded energy companies. Because so many of our attorneys have spent time in-house, we understand the business as well as the legal risk in these situations. This is an experience most other law firms can’t offer. Contact RR&A when purchasing a non-operated asset to ensure you are being advised correctly.