West Virginia Surface Owners’ Guide To Oil and Gas

Second Edition — 2004/2005

This Guide is for you if:

• You own and/or live on the surface, and
• You are or may be subject to oil and gas drilling or production activities, but
• You do not own or have any rights to the oil and gas under the land.

This Guide also answers many questions for citizens:

• Who live near oil and gas drilling or production
• Who own some interest (and there are many people who own very small interests) in the oil and gas or in the royalties from oil and gas production.

This Guide was written for low income citizens. However, almost all of the information in the Guide would be equally applicable to citizens who are not low income. If you would like a hard copy of the Guide mailed to you please click here.  We recommend getting the written version of the Guide if you are not in a hurry because the Guide is 166 pages long, and that can take you a long time and lots of ink cartridges to print it out at home. Also, electronic transmission of the Guide may make the page numbers in the table of contents off a little, and printing it on your printer may make some of the “front and back” forms included in the Guide “back and front”. However, if you just got a notice of an application to drill a well or do other kinds of work on your land, then HURRY! You already have less than 15 days to comment on the permit or take other action. You better get a downloaded copy and read it from your computer or print it out If you would like to download an electronic version of the Guide, please click here.

Another page on this web site has further suggestions for surface owners that have not yet been included in the Guide.

For additional information please see this cover letter and the States Soil Erosion and Sediment Control Manual.

Click here to order a paper copy of the Erosion and Sediment Control Manual (It comes automatically with a paper copy of the Surface Owner’s Guide)