PetroBlog is dedicated to providing resources and expert advice for oil and gas royalty owners. Here we provide answers to questions about mineral rights, land, leases, royalty payments, and operations.
Welcome to PetroBlog by Petrolitix. If this is your first time visiting the site, I’m glad you’ve found it and hope it is useful to you. This site is not only for mineral owners and those with oil and gas royalties but also for anyone who wants to understand a little bit more about the petroleum industry. In future posts, I will discuss many different aspects of the oil and gas industry and how each relates to the mineral and royalty owner.
Before delving in to the complexities of the industry, I’d like to share a little bit about myself and why I’ve created PetroBlog. I am an engineer with over 10 years experience in the oil and gas industry. I hold both a bachelor’s and master’s degree in petroleum engineering and am a registered engineer in multiple states. Throughout my employment with various production companies, I’ve had the privilege of working with many mineral and royalty owners. Most of the encounters were enjoyable experiences due to a positive relationship between the owner and producing company. Unfortunately, there also have been a few unpleasant conversations with irate (and justifiably so) owners seeking resolution to infractions by the operating company. My goal is to educate all mineral and royalty owners so that, whether or not they have a positive relationship with the company producing on their minerals, they have the knowledge not only to ask the hard questions but also to weigh the merits of any answer.
In my experience, most oil and gas companies aren’t out to swindle the mineral owner. Yes, just like any savvy person, every company is looking for a good deal and trying to make a profit – but that’s why companies exist. Even reputable companies have problems . . . mistakes happen, bureaucracy prevents the right things from being done, and sometimes there are even unscrupulous people at good companies. When dealing with an oil and gas company, I believe the informed royalty owner is the most effective in reaching resolution to problems. If you can understand any problem from more than one perspective, reaching a reasonable solution is much more likely (and it’s much easier to know if you are being told a tall tale).
Although, for the most part, I believe most companies are reputable, there are exceptions. Educating yourself about the industry and the law is the best way to see deception for what it is. Hopefully, PetroBlog will be one of many sources where you will find accurate and useful information about the industry.
The second goal of PetroBlog is to introduce you to Petrolitix – the company I co-founded to provide technical service to America’s community of mineral and royalty owners. In my years working in the petroleum industry, I’ve worked with a multitude of companies that provide services to oil and gas producers, but few, if any, which serve those who actually own the nation’s mineral wealth. I believe Petrolitix will break that mold, and as we develop solutions useful to the community, I will introduce them to you in future posts.