re: Just bought 40 acres

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The oil company has to now negotiate surface rights with OP and minerals with previous owner.

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This the way I understand it as well.

I once bought a piece of property where the seller reserved the mineral rights. However, this did not give anyone the right to the surface use of the property. The oil company could directionally drill to get at the reserves under my property but they could not step foot on it without a separate agreement in place with the landowner.

If they do approach you for a surface use agreement, have an attorney review it before you sign. the one they asked me to sign basically said they could require me to vacate the premises during drilling activities. On advice from the attorney, I declined to sign anything giving them surface use rights. Wasn't worth the possible headaches.