I did not lease my mineral rights, but an oil company drilled its horizontal wellbore under my land. What can I do?
If you did not lease your mineral interests and a horizontal wellbore is producing from under your land, then you may be entitled to damages from the oil company. Such damages will likely take into consideration the proportion of production from the well that comes from your tract. If an oil company drills a well under your land without having a lease from a mineral interest owner, it is generally considered a trespass. In such circumstances, the unleased mineral interest owner would generally be entitled to his or her share of production from the well. Depending upon the type of trespass, the oil company may be entitled to a credit for some of its expenses incurred in obtaining production from the well.