Anyone have seismic testing done on their property?

[jakdeere]

My wife and I own 17 acres and we recently had some tracked vehicles driving through our backyard and everywhere else. When I asked what they were doing they told me they were doing 3D "dogbone" seismic testing. Keep in mind I do not own the mineral rights but, I thought someone would have at least called and let me know they would be on my property. So I got the number for their foreman and called him. He was kind of stumped that no one has been in contact with me and asked if I signed the permit. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me that they would fix my property and that he would get a permit drawn up for me to sign. He never mentioned anything about money nor does the permit. I told him that I wanted to talk to an attorney before I signed anything. That's when he started getting smart with me. He told me that they already have their holes drilled and charges in there (dynamite) and they were going to do what they had to do. He told me that attorney's do not worry them and that they deal with this all the time. Right now I just have to wait till Monday morning so my attorney can look this permit over to see what my options are. I've also read somewhere that in West Virgina you can refuse to have 3D testing done on your property but I don't know if that holds true in Pennsylvania also. If anyone else has been through this I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

[dmccarty]

Keep in mind I do not own the mineral rights

I think the lack of mineral rights will be key. I have heard some pretty bad stories about people who owned the land but not the mineral rights.

If they need a permit and they don't have one, I would think that would be a problem. Besides the attorney, see if you can find out the permit requirements.

17 acres is not much land to be setting of dynamite. I would video tape your foundation, walls, chimneys, cabinetry, tile, etc before they setup of the explosives.

Later,
Dan

[jerrybob]

Wow....that's strange. Good advice above.....are they on other peoples property as well? Would it do any good to contact local sheriff and have them removed for trespassing?

[polo1665]

My wife and I own 17 acres and we recently had some tracked vehicles driving through our backyard and everywhere else. When I asked what they were doing they told me they were doing 3D "dogbone" seismic testing. Keep in mind I do not own the mineral rights but, I thought someone would have at least called and let me know they would be on my property. So I got the number for their foreman and called him. He was kind of stumped that no one has been in contact with me and asked if I signed the permit. I told him I had no idea what he was talking about. He told me that they would fix my property and that he would get a permit drawn up for me to sign. He never mentioned anything about money nor does the permit. I told him that I wanted to talk to an attorney before I signed anything. That's when he started getting smart with me. He told me that they already have their holes drilled and charges in there (dynamite) and they were going to do what they had to do. He told me that attorney's do not worry them and that they deal with this all the time. Right now I just have to wait till Monday morning so my attorney can look this permit over to see what my options are. I've also read somewhere that in West Virgina you can refuse to have 3D testing done on your property but I don't know if that holds true in Pennsylvania also. If anyone else has been through this I'd appreciate any advice. Thanks.

I don't know that I can tell you what you want to hear, but I'll give you my experience. I own 76 acres here in Ohio, but like you, I do not own the oil and gas lease (was kept by the prior owner).
I was approached about seismic testing on my land and was offered a small amount per acre ($3 or $6) if I remember right. They gave me some story about having to stay 200' from any structure and said that they wouldn't do any brush or tree cutting with anything bigger than a machete. I questioned a couple of oil people in the area and based on their recommendation I decided to decline the offer. Never heard another word from them and they never showed up on my land.

A few months later, out of curiosity, and because of all the increased oil and gas activity in the area, I took the original oil and gas lease to a local lawyer to inquire as to my rights as the land owner. I was told that whatever was agreed to on the original lease was the word with the bark on it. He told me that I was lucky to get away with declining the seismic testing offer and that they could have forced me to allow it if they had wanted to. As it was, I got away with it. Not sure why, but they tested all the ground aroung my acreage, but never pressed the issue with me. In fact I never heard from them again. I even went so far as to tell them that they could not use my lane to access the property next to mine.

So I guess my answer to you is to go and talk to your lawyer. Have him go over the original lease for the property you are on and see if there is any way to hold them up. You should also make sure that they kept the holes far enough away from you house

[polo1665]

I think the lack of mineral rights will be key. I have heard some pretty bad stories about people who owned the land but not the mineral rights.

If they need a permit and they don't have one, I would think that would be a problem. Besides the attorney, see if you can find out the permit requirements.

17 acres is not much land to be setting of dynamite. I would video tape your foundation, walls, chimneys, cabinetry, tile, etc before they setup of the explosives.

Later,
Dan

I wasn't sure if the OP had meant that he didn't own the rights or if he didn't own the lease. Either way he does own the surface rights and the original lease will outline the rights of the oil and gas company. Back when mine was signed they were worded very generally, to the advantage of the oil and gas company as you could imagine.

[Western]

I'm in another state, but when they did mine, they where still responsible for surface damages, (they ended giving me a check for 2k for trees their trucks had damaged) They didn't use dynamite here, rather HUGE seismic trucks that sent the waves into the ground with amazing strength, like pounding. Prior to all this, they spent weeks running wire all over the country to pick up the waves.

They did send out an engineer and we walked my 15.28 acre's with me, the concern was any water wells. He said they could not "pound" within 100 yards of a drilled well. I also showed them the washed out creek, (they still damaged the bank trying to get the trucks in that way and ended up going around where I had shown them)

They , for the most part will act "entitled", I would stand my ground and speak with your attorney as you are going to do, I would video and photograph every single move they make, (just in-case)

I found I got more answers going above the foreman's head, call the main office, those guys are grunts and have heard all the complaints before.

[Brant]

Speaking to an attorney is a good idea. You should seek out an oil and gas attorney if possible. I strongly suspect that you will not have any redress, however. See here.

[crackerjack222]

I have had 3d seismic done on two properties in Texas. I got $35/acre from them. They cleared senderos with gators (aka HydroAxe), strung miles of cables, then came in with the Vibroseis (ground pounder) trucks. Three trucks, nose to tail. They would move about 100 yds, stop and pound for about 15 seconds then move again. When they were done, they came back and filled in the ruts they left and even cleaned up some of my roads that they had not damaged.
I have mineral rights, so I was ok with them doing the seismic work.
In Texas the mineral rights owner has the right to use as much surface as is reasonably necessary to recover the minerals, without compensation to the surface owner. In practice, the oil companies always will try to work a deal to keep the surface owner satisfied. In a large seismic survey, they can work around a small tract and still get good data. HTH

[Lou66]

They did my 72 acres about 5 years ago,, they paid me 25 dollars an acre,, they stole my chains off of my gates.. short 3 foot pieces.. three gates,, they stole a pair fieldglass,, when I asked them about it,, they say we no speak english,, so I called the immigration office,, they came out check them out.. took two of them,, left one trucks in the field,, I parked two tractor one in front and one the back,, I got 5 new chains 20 footer with hooks on them, a nice pair of fieldglasses,, better than the ones I had,, they replaced two gates,, them paid another thousand dollars for the damage to the fields.. I do own half of my oil and gas rights and all my minerals..Lou

[jakdeere]

Thanks for all the replies. I also forgot to mention that we just built a new house on this property and that is the reason for concern. New house-new foundation-dynamite in the ground close to it-doesn't sound good to me. I wonder what would happen if I just don't sign the permit? I'm sure they will just do their testing anyhow. I guess these will all be good questions for my attorney he is a specialist in gas leases and rights.