Anyone know anything about investing in natural gas wells?

[lippy]

My grandfather passed on a few months ago and left my Mom and her siblings some weird investments to deal with.

The one that is giving them a fair amount of trouble is what to do with two Trans Pacific Oil Corporation natural gas wells. He owned a small part of two of them

Trans Pacific has offered $11,500 for them. A friend of grandfather's reviewed the paperwork and put the total minimum value at $16,713. At auction he thinks they could fetch 19k-21k.

The profits over the last months

7 500
8 355
9 343
10 936
11 367
12 335
1 488
2 488
3 0
4 0
5 481
6 556
7 514
8 503

The projections of Net Cash Flop from Trans Pacific (skipping every 3rd year, no aberrations);

07 3854
08 6756
09 5532
10 4425
11 3890
12 3390
13 2949
14 2568
15 2215
16 1888
17 1585
18 1304
19 1044
20 802
21 579

In those numbers, the projected expenses are only moderately affecting the decrease in profit (only changing ~300/yr over the 14 year period).

Now, if you've made it this far, thank you!

My questions;

Would this be a good investment to keep?

Is it risky (could they be out the entire value tomorrow if something bad happens)?

My Mom, who is somewhat financial secure and with a decent retirement, is thinking about offering each of her siblings $5000 for their thirds. They are not very well off financially and getting on in age. My mom is 10 years younger. Would this be mutually beneficial?

If this was your investment, would you sell it right now? Would you keep it?


Thanks for any help you have to offer. I know this is a lot to ask of anyone that can help. I've tried to read up on natural gas but really haven't found anything that gives me any insight into what my Mom should do.