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Texas | This is what I do for a living.
There are two basic types of surveys. Speculative and those done by the mineral owner or lease holder. Spec shoots they must be given permission to do. Basically the seismic company goes into an area they think is going to be hot and they acquire the data with hopes of selling it many times to oil companies that are active in the area. You can tell these people no and there is not much they can do about it. When the mineral owner or lease holder wants to do seismic there is nothing a surface owner can do to stop them in Texas. The mineral estate is the dominant estate. They can do whatever necessary on the surface to exploit their minerals as long as they compensate the surface owner a fair amount for any damages. I have seen several times the sheriff deliver restraining orders to the landowner to let the seismic crew on. I hate to see that, but it is the way the law is.
$12.50 an acre for pasture land is a pretty decent offer. I have seen a lot of it paid at $5 an acre or less. Crop land is a different story. Those of you saying $70 ain't squat are right in one aspect but then again he only has 5 acres. Many times a whole project is spec'd out at a set rate per acre for damages. For example in this case everyone would get $12.50 an acre. Not to impressive for the guy with 5 acres but if you have a section $8,000 isn't bad. We have done seismic on a whole section in three days before and we were done and the landowner did not even think we had done it yet. Other areas you have to do bull dozing, wood gator, etc and there is more damage.
6 months is a pretty standard term for a permit. They won't be there for the whole six months. They just will have six months from the date of signing to get the work done. In most cases they won't be on your property more than a week or two unless you have a large tract of land.
More than likely if you tell them no they are not going to go to the trouble and expense of getting an injunction to force their way on to 5 acres. 5 acres is not that critical to most projects and they can likely work around around you.
If I were in your shoes I would modify the permit form and sign it. Simply write on the bottom something like
"I own 5 acres with a house on it. I do not agree to any brush clearing on my property.
I do not want any source points on my property due to the proximity of my house, water well, buried pipes, etc"
Receivers may be placed on my property but they must be hand carried in. No vehicles allowed.
Subject to these additional terms and conditions I grant you permission to conduct your survey"
I see stuff like this a lot with small tracts and it is no problem and really no harm will be done. I have been placing the sensors around all kinds of cattle. horses, emus, goats, alpacas, you name it for nearly 20 years and I have yet to see an animal get hurt by it. They like to chew it up but that is about it.
If you want me to take a look at the agreement for you I would be glad to.
Edited by Drilldo 9/2/2014 05:48
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oil company wants to put seismic sensors on my place for 6 months...
