Oil & Gas Lease Acquisition
in Louisiana and Beyond
From ownership research to a recorded lease, J.P. Hesterly & Associates runs leasing programs for operators and other companies from Lafayette, Louisiana. Traditional landman skills, a modern process, and a lease packet built for the people who have to rely on it next.
Research first,
then the offers
A leasing program is only as good as the ownership work underneath it. Before anyone is contacted, we establish who owns the minerals, how the interest is divided, and what is already leased, so the offers go to the right people in the right shares and the lease that comes back is one your title team can take forward.
J.P. Hesterly & Associates is led by a fourth-generation landman, and the leadership team has over 60 years of combined experience across eight states. The work pairs that background with a modern, organized process, so a program of any size arrives as one clean set of files rather than a drawer of loose leases.
What shapes the job
No two leasing programs scope the same way, so we do not quote a standard timeline. These are the things that set the size of the work. Send what you know about each and we will scope the job from there.
One lease on a single tract is a different job from a program across many tracts with fractional interests, successions and absentee owners.
A short look-back on recently examined acreage, or a full run from the sovereign on acreage no one has worked in decades.
Some records can be worked remotely; older records still mean time in the clerk's office.
Prior runsheets, prior leases, or an abstract on file shorten the research phase. Send what you have.
Your lease form and your parameters for bonus, royalty, term and special provisions. We negotiate inside the limits you set.
A unit application, a rig date or a closing sets the order in which tracts get worked.
What you get
A finished leasing engagement typically includes:
Who owns what, in what fraction, with the instruments that establish it, tract by tract.
Priority order, contact strategy and offer parameters, agreed with you before the first call.
Negotiated inside your parameters on your form, properly executed and acknowledged.
Leases and memoranda filed with the parish or county recording office, with recording data returned to you.
Lease, ownership support, payment records and correspondence organized per tract, with a status report that shows leased, pending and unleased interests.
How the work runs
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01Scope
You send the area, the deadline, your lease form and any existing title work. We confirm the approach and what you will receive.
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02Ownership research
Conveyance, mortgage and probate records, online and at the courthouse, built into an ownership report per tract.
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03Leasing plan
A priority order and offer parameters agreed with you. Unleased interests are flagged before the program starts, not after.
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04Negotiation
Contact with owners, offers inside your limits, and clear communication back to you on anything that falls outside them.
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05Execution and recording
Leases executed, payments documented, instruments recorded.
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06Lease packet
Everything delivered per tract, in one organized package, with a status report.
The Louisiana angle
Louisiana is a civil-law state, and leasing here follows rules that do not look like Texas or the Appalachian states. Conveyance and mortgage records live with each parish clerk of court rather than a county recorder. Minerals are held as a servitude that can prescribe after ten years without use, so an ownership report has to look at when a servitude was created and whether anything interrupted prescription. Usufructs and forced heirship affect who can sign, and drilling units are set by the Office of Conservation rather than by the lease alone.
We work those questions every day from Lafayette. Outside Louisiana, the same research and negotiation process runs under each state's own recording and title rules.
Who hires us
- Operators and exploration companiesbuilding a drilling unit or filling in acreage ahead of a rig.
- Companies in an acquisition or divestiturethat need acreage leased, re-leased or confirmed before a deal closes.
- Land departmentsthat need a program run end to end, or an extra team for a push.
Before you call
Do you negotiate with landowners directly, or only prepare the paperwork?
Both, depending on what you need. We can run the program end to end, from first contact through recording, or prepare ownership reports and lease packages for your own negotiators.
What do you need from us to scope a leasing program?
The area, your deadline, your lease form and parameters, and any existing title work. If you do not have a lease form, say so and we will discuss what you need.
Can you work from online records only?
Where the parish or county has its indices online, much of the research can be done remotely. Older records, and some clerks' offices, still require time in the courthouse. We tell you which applies to your area before the work starts.
Do you handle recording?
Yes. Leases and memoranda are recorded with the parish or county recording office and the recording data comes back in the lease packet.
Do you work outside Louisiana?
Yes. The firm has worked in Louisiana, Colorado, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
Send the area
and the deadline
Tell us where the acreage is, what you need leased and when you need it. We will scope the program and tell you what you will receive.
Suite C-1
Lafayette, LA 70503