I'm VERY surprised that that man has rights to the oil.
In a lot of the midwest you buy surface rights only, not the minteral rights to your property.
Here in Iowa you own everything under your property. There is a group of folks getting permission from landowners to drill in SE IA, figuring that they would be able to pump oil that over millions of years as seepage from the Illinois oil fields.
They are willing to split the profits 50/50 with the landowners if oil is found and can be extracted, no cost to the landowner except giving permission to drill.
