There are several MUST read documents available at Texas A&M Real estate Center . These documents explain many issues to consider when leasing.
For example, surface owner rights are subordinate to mineral owners. Also surprisingly, even if the lease indicates royalties are to be paid without post-production expenses being deducted, that is not supported by case law. In fact, owners end up sharing in those expenses.
Here are some quotes from these documents.
1. One of the earliest and most significant cases decided by the Texas Supreme Court held that the mineral estate is dominant over the surface estate. The grant of the mineral lease gives the mineral lessee the implied right to use as much of the surface as is reasonably necessary for the exploration and development of the minerals. The surface owner’s consent is not required for this right to be exercised. The mineral lessee is liable for surface damages only in limited situations.
2. The shared expenses depend partly on where the lease fixes the royalty. Commonly, the royalty for oil is set "at the well" or "wellhead." In such cases, the mineral owner’s royalty payment is free of production costs, but all costs subsequent to production are shared. (Two 1996 Texas Supreme Court decisions, Heritage Resources, Inc. v. Nations Bank, 09-0515, and Judice v. Mewbourne Oil Co., 95-0115, so held even though the lease addendum stated the royalty was free of such costs.) If the lease fixes the royalty "in the pipeline," "at the place of sale" or at other delivery points, different costs subsequent to production may be shared. These costs may include items such as compression expenses necessary to make the product deliverable into the purchaser’s pipeline, expenses necessary to make the product salable, transportation costs and the expenses used in measuring production.
Until you sign the lease, you own both the surface and mineral estate in a single deed and have control over your estate. After signing, the mineral and surface estates are in separate deeds and will never be combined again. Plus you end up losing control of the surface estate too. I am not a lawyer and can not give legal advice but the old saying "BEWARE of strangers bearing gifts" seems to apply.
IT'S YOUR GAS ... ENJOY IT!
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