NATCHEZ — The City of Natchez recently received an approximately $76,500 check for its share of royalties from an oil well on Cemetery Road.

Mayor Butch Brown said the money, which is payment for December through May, was put in the general fund. Brown said, however, he does not believe the money has been spent yet.

Ward 1 Alderwoman Joyce Arceneaux-Mathis, in whose ward the well sits, said she wants the board of aldermen to have a finance committee meeting to determine if the money should be set aside for a particular use.

The city is expected to receive monthly royalty payments from the well. The recent check was payment for the first six months of the well and was delayed until a division order was finalized.

A division order tells an oil company how to pay the well’s royalty owners by listing each owner of an interest in production and that owner’s share of the production revenue.

The oil well was drilled by DRAYCO Exploration and was approved by the city in November 2011. Arceneaux-Mathis, in whose ward the well was drilled, reported to the Natchez Board of Aldermen in October 2012 that the well had been successful and struck oil.

The city owns three-sixteenths of the well and has estimated that it will receive approximately $30,000 a month from the well.

Brown said, however, that the well’s operators have slowed output of the well in an effort to make its production period longer.

The city will likely receive, Brown said, approximately $12,000-$15,000 monthly from the well.

Final details, Brown said, are also being worked to drill a second well at the site.