Old gas well on land we're looking at

Pardon my ignorance but are wells, pipelines not registered on the title for the land? You really do need to know the status of the well but I would suspect it's dry and abandoned and been reclaimed and if that is the case, setback regulations wouldn't apply (or at least they don't in Alberta, provided a reclamation certificate has been registered).

Some of the 'razorbacks' (Arkies ) might know the specifics for Arkansas... here in Tx they can drill so close to your house you can hit the well with a rock. If the drilling rig fell, it'd squash some of the house about the midway point of the rig ! No setbacks at all for pipelines, as long as you aren't on the r.o.w. itself. They even drill in town. They set up a monster rig right behind the library, in some folks with a half acre back yard.... well, they used to have a yard...

One of my cousins has a pumping unit compressor about 100' from her house... all her ceiling tiles have fallen off... they got tired of replacing em... her house literally vibrates... her dang porch vibrated so much it finally fell apart .

__________________
Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity. Seneca
Learning is not compulsory... neither is survival. W. Edwards Deming

Thanks 4animals, it's "home" for now, and likely another 5 years or so.

WR, yes that information should be with the deed. I've given up getting this info from the realtor and plan to head to the courthouse today to see what I can find. I've also put a call into the Arkansas Gas and Oil Commisson and they are hopefully finding the information about the well for us.

Very annoying, that realtors don't do this for you. I'm trying to figure out what their commission is for when I have to do this myself?

Texican, that would indeed be a bummer. My parents home suffering some trauma from a quarry that went in very near to them from the blasting.

Logbuilder, I have always preferred to have all pertinent information in hand before making an offer on property, as we will make a cash offer with no contingencies and hope for a price reduction.

The Wandering Quilter's Life in a Box!

I wouldn't think there would be any restrictions on a well that is capped. A capped well (for all intents and purposes) should actually mean - there is no well there. "With no well there", you should be able to do what you want with the land.

Now, if the well was operating or still hooked up and producing gas, that's one thing, but this seems to be an old well that either was dry to begin with and capped, or all the gas was taken out and the well was capped. Either way, I would think that would mean you don't have any restrictions.

In the lease I signed with the gas company (of course, this is 6 or so years ago, not 60 years ago), it states right in the lease that they can't drill within so many feet of any building (unless the owner gives permission). Of course, if the mineral owner is different than the land owner, I'm not sure who's permission they would have to get to drill closer than is stated.

Here's hoping you can find out quickly, so you can decide if this is what you want or not.

__________________
Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

Well while we were trying to find more info out on the gas well, someone else put a contract on the land. Guess it wasn't meant to be

Funny, as much as we both liked this piece, we experienced a sense of relief when this happened.

I think perhaps like Jim above, the idea of not owning the mineral rights bothered us more than we realized.

I think we're going to just work on the land we have (that we bought to retire on). We may go ahead and get another tractor, build a tractor shed on the land to house it, and spend weekends working on the place when we can get up there.

The Wandering Quilter's Life in a Box!