Question

When two or more parties own a joint working interest, who will usually manage the property?

Answer 1

A working interest is basically an investment arrangement in a well where the investors come together for oil and gas exploration basically due to huge investment costs and to distribute the risk. The investors basically obtain the working interest from a landowner on a lease basis while the ownership of land remains with the landowner itself. The investor partners here are liable to running costs and exploration costs as well and not just investment costs.

Now comes operation - where two or more parties own a joint working interest, they usually appoint a well operator who looks after the management of the property and the operator also fills in a role as a working interest. It sis the operator who takes up the entire workload of development and operation of property. The operator after deducting all the expenses from the revenues distributes the profits amongst the investors.