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National oil & gas lease form
See page 1 of the actual instrument before you buy. Transfers an oil and gas lease from the current lessee to the assignee for a stated price — while the assignor keeps an overriding royalty on production, the assignee assumes every lease obligation and indemnifies the assignor, and a development clause requires drilling within a year, with advance monthly rentals until drilling starts — those rentals do not extend the deadline — and a forfeiture option if the assignee does not drill. Closes with an optional spousal consent and a notary acknowledgment. Word for editing; PDF for printing.
This download includes the assignment in both Word and PDF. Use the Word version to identify the lease and its recording reference and to set the price, the overriding royalty fraction, the development dates and rental, and the notice addresses; the PDF is formatted for printing and reference.
See page 1 of the actual instrument below. Your complete editable download (Word and PDF) — the development-clause body, the default clause, the well-access rights, the warranties, the payment and notice mechanics, and the execution and acknowledgment blocks — is delivered after checkout.
Legal currency, verified
The instrument a lessee uses to sell or transfer an oil and gas lease to a new operator: it identifies the lease by date, lessor, county, legal description, and recording reference, conveys the assignor's entire right, title, and interest for a stated price, and reserves the assignor an overriding royalty on production — while the assignee assumes every obligation of the lease, indemnifies the assignor, and takes on a development clause with a hard one-year drilling deadline. Page 1 of the actual instrument is previewed above before purchase.
Two terms carry this instrument. The overriding royalty the assignor reserves — a fraction or percentage you set, on the value of all oil produced and the net proceeds of gas and casinghead gasoline sold, payable at the same time and computed the same way as the lessor's royalties — is the assignor's continuing economic stake, and the modification clause bars any lease change that would reduce it. The development clause forces the issue: the assignee must commence drilling by the date you set or reassign the lease back, and until drilling starts, monthly rentals are due in advance — payments that do not extend the one-year outside date, after which the assignor may declare the rights forfeited and resume its status as lessee. Note the warranty structure before you buy: there is no warranty of title — the assignor warrants only that the interest is free of liens the assignor created, that it has the right to convey, that no defaults have been declared, and that the lease is in good standing. Title diligence is the assignee's job. The executed assignment should be recorded in the county land records where the lease itself is recorded — the form carries the lease's book-and-page reference and closes with a notary acknowledgment for that purpose.
The identity-of-lease recitals — date, lessor, county and state, legal description, and book-and-page recording reference; the granting clause, which sells, assigns, transfers, and conveys the leasehold for a stated price; the overriding-royalty reservation and its payment mechanics; the assignee's assumption of all lease obligations; the indemnity of the assignor against claims from the assignee's operations; the modification-and-extension clause protecting the override; the development clause with its one-year outside date and advance monthly rentals; the default clause — forfeiture and the assignor's right to resume lessee status, or suit; the assignor's access to wells, tests, logs, and reports; the four limited warranties; payment by mail to a named depository bank; written notices; prevailing-party attorney's fees; heirs and successors; the entire-agreement clause; execution blocks for assignor and assignee; an optional spousal consent; and the notary acknowledgment.
The assignment in editable Word and print-ready PDF — three pages with the lease identification, price, royalty fraction, development dates and rental, depository bank, and notice-address blanks you complete, plus the optional consent of the assignor's spouse and the acknowledgment.
This form is not legal advice. It is a national instrument; consult a licensed attorney in your state for advice about your situation. Oil and gas conveyancing has state-specific recording and interest-character rules this form does not attempt to cover.
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It conveys the current lessee’s entire right, title, and interest in an identified oil and gas lease to the assignee for a stated price. The lease is pinned down by its date, the lessor’s name, the county and state, the property’s legal description, and its book-and-page recording reference, and the assignee accepts the assignment agreeing to perform every obligation the lease places on the lessee.
An overriding royalty: a fraction or percentage you set of the value of all oil produced and removed under the lease and of the net proceeds from gas and casinghead gasoline sold — payable at the same time and computed in the same manner as the lessor’s royalties under the lease. The assignee may obtain lease modifications or extensions from the lessor, but none that reduce the reserved override or infringe the assignor’s rights.
The development clause forces the issue: commence drilling by the date you set, or reassign the lease back to the assignor. Until drilling starts, the assignee pays a monthly rental in advance — and those payments do not extend the one-year outside date. If the assignee fails to commence drilling within the year or otherwise defaults, the assignor may declare the rights forfeited and resume its status as lessee, or sue to enforce the instrument or recover damages.
No — the instrument expressly makes no warranty of title. The assignor gives four limited warranties instead: the interest is free of liens and encumbrances the assignor created; the assignor has the right to convey; no defaults have been declared under the lease; and the lease is in good standing and in full force. Everything beyond that — the lessor’s title, prior assignments, buried encumbrances — is the assignee’s diligence job.
Yes — an assignment of a recorded lease belongs in the same county land records, and the form is built for it: the identity-of-lease recitals carry the lease’s book-and-page recording reference, and the instrument closes with a notary acknowledgment. An optional spousal-consent block is included where community-property or homestead rules make the spouse’s joinder appropriate.
Two tracks, at the assignor’s option: declare the assignee’s rights under the lease and the instrument forfeited and resume its own status as lessee, or bring an action at law or in equity to enforce the instrument or recover damages. The prevailing party in any litigation over the assignment recovers a reasonable attorney’s fee.