Instructions to find leases and leasing trends

We in Huerfano County have 4 oil and gas companies who own leases at this time.  They are:  SWEPI (Shell Western Exploration and Production Inc), iii Exploration/Petroglyph, Tabula Rasa, and OXY USA.  SWEPI (Shell) has leases all around the Gardner area in two federal units, through Majors Ranch, then north, west, south, and under La Veta.  iiiExploration/Petroglyph own leases under La Veta and north into Majors Ranch, then east to Walsenburg through Navajo, Rio Cucharas, River Ridge and private lands.  Tabula Rasa bought out Manzano west of La Veta and south of Hwy 160.  They now own the processing plant. A new well has been drilled, with another submitted for approval.  OXY USA has taken over where ARCO was at Sheep Mt and surroundings, looking for CO2.  They’ve just had 3 wells approved.  Do you wonder who owns minerals under your land or in your area?  Below are instructions to the County Recorder website to find out who has interest in your area. 

Instructions to find leases and companies in Huerfano County:

• Go to (click here):  the County Recorder    www.thecountyrecorder.com
• Click Colorado and Huerfano County, then GO.
• Say Yes, I accept.
• Click Search.
• Go to Document Type, click Load, then scroll to Oil and Gas Lease.
• Then click Name, which will give you all lease holders and companies, or you can type in a particular name.  Or click Business Name for a particular company.
• Click 50 per page..
• In the upper right of the page you will see numbers 1-110 (or higher).  Click the last number for the most recent lease signings or renewals.
• Click on the 6 digit blue number on the left and you will see when the lease was obtained, who the seller of it is, and who the company is that bought the lease.   Keep this blue number if you want more details on a specific lease as this site doesn’t give details of exact location, just the section, township, and range that the lease is in.  Example: 20 (section) 29S (township) 68W (range) You can get detailed information at the County Clerk’s office on their Computers using the 6 digit number.

Or... You can follow directions above and just above the 50 per page, you can enter into the Legal box your Section, Township and Range, which you will see on your deed. (Example: 20 29S 68W) This will give you companies and names of who owns leases near you in your section.  Since Colorado recognizes “split estates”, the owner of the minerals, hence the lease holder, may not be the same as the surface owner.

Your deed will also have the exact location of your property, which this site does not give you.  Each mile Section is divided into 4 quarters, NE SE NW SW and then each of these quarters is divided into 4 quarters of the same description.  So you will see maybe that your property in the NE section of the SW quarter.  It sounds complicated, but if you draw the quarters out on paper, it’s not so confusing. 

We hope you find this interesting and the information will help you stay abreast of drilling trends here in Huerfano County.