Oil and Gas Title and Land Glossary

General information only. This guide explains common practice in plain terms. It is not legal advice, and practice varies by state, county and attorney. Ask the examining attorney how they want something done.

A
Abstract of title: A written summary of each recorded instrument affecting a tract, in order. Compare with a runsheet, which is a table.
Affidavit of heirship: A sworn, recorded statement of family facts about a person who has died. See the guide.
B
Bring-down: An update of an earlier title search from its last date to a newer date.
C
Chain of title: The series of recorded transfers that connects the current owner back to an earlier owner or to the original grant.
Conveyance: An instrument that transfers an interest in land from one party to another, such as a deed.
Corrective deed: A deed recorded to fix a mistake in an earlier deed, such as a wrong description or a misspelled name.
Curative: The work of meeting the requirements in a title opinion. See common curative requirements.
D
Division order: A document, signed by an owner, that states the owner's share of production and directs how it will be paid.
Division order title opinion: A title opinion that sets out each owner's share of production so division orders can be prepared. See the guide.
Drillsite title opinion: A title opinion written before a well is drilled, mainly about whether the operator's leases are good and what must be fixed first.
E
Effective date: The date shown on an instrument, as opposed to the date it was recorded. Also the date through which a title search is run.
F
Fee simple: The broadest form of ownership of land. It can be split into separate surface and mineral estates.
G
Grantor and grantee: The grantor gives or transfers. The grantee receives.
H
Held by production (HBP): A lease that continues past its primary term because the land is producing oil or gas in paying quantities.
I
Imaging: Making digital copies of recorded instruments or paper files.
Instrument: Any recorded document, such as a deed, lease, mortgage, release or affidavit.
Instrument number: A number the county assigns to a recorded document. Older records are found by book and page instead.
L
Legal description: The wording that identifies a piece of land for the record, such as a section, township and range, or a lot and block.
Lessor and lessee: In a lease, the lessor is the owner who grants the lease. The lessee is the party who takes it.
M
Mineral estate: The right to the minerals under land. It can be owned by someone other than the surface owner.
Mineral ownership report (MOR): A summary of who owns what share of the minerals under a tract, built from the runsheet. Not a legal opinion.
N
Net mineral acres: The acres in a tract multiplied by the owner's mineral fraction. An owner of 1/4 of the minerals under 160 acres has 40 net mineral acres.
Non-conveyance: An instrument that does not transfer ownership, such as a mortgage, a release or an easement. On our runsheets these rows are orange.
O
Overriding royalty interest (ORRI): A share of production, carved out of the working interest, that does not carry cost of operation. It lasts as long as the lease it came from.
P
Patent: The document by which the government first transferred land to a private owner.
Pooling: Combining separate tracts or leases into one unit for drilling and production.
Q
Quitclaim deed: A deed that passes whatever interest the grantor has, if any, without promises about it.
R
Ratification: A signed document in which an owner approves an earlier lease, unit or agreement.
Recording date: The date the county recorded an instrument. Compare with effective date.
Requirement: An item an attorney lists in a title opinion that should be done or shown before the attorney is comfortable with title.
Reservation: Words in a deed by which the grantor keeps part of what was owned, often some of the minerals.
Royalty: A share of production, or of its value, paid to the mineral owner without bearing the cost of drilling and operating.
Runsheet: A dated list of the instruments of record that affect a tract. See the guide.
S
Section, township and range: The survey grid used for legal descriptions in many states. A township is made up of 36 sections of about one square mile each.
Sovereignty: The government or state that first held the land. A sovereignty abstract starts with the first transfer out of the sovereign.
Stipulation of interest: A signed agreement among interested parties stating how they read an unclear instrument or what each one owns.
Surface estate: The right to the surface of the land, which can be owned separately from the minerals.
T
Take-off: A list, taken from the record, of the owners and interests in a tract or unit, often used as a starting point for leasing.
Title opinion: An attorney's written conclusion about who owns what, with the requirements that should be met. We do not write these.
Tract index: An index in some counties that lists recorded instruments by the land they affect, rather than by name.
U
Unit: The area pooled together for a well, also called a drilling unit or spacing unit.
W
Working interest: The share of a lease that carries the right to operate and the obligation to pay costs.

Oil and gas title and land glossary

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