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mineral rights valuation

Are mineral rights valuable? Well, yes and no. Below, we will answer this question by exploring the different kinds of mineral rights and mineral rights valuation.

The Short Answer

Yes. Mineral rights are valuable.

Owning mineral rights is just like owning land or any other property. Of course, mineral rights entitle you to all of the valuable resources that can be found within the plot’s subsurface. Because of this, mineral rights are both valuable as an asset, as well as a potential source of income from the extraction and sale of oil, gas, or other minerals.

The Long Answer

As outlined above, mineral rights valuation has two distinct ways of measuring. The first comes in the form of non-producing mineral rights. The second comes into play when an oil or gas company is able to buy or lease your mineral rights. Below, we will outline the key differences between producing mineral rights vs. non producing mineral rights.

Non-Producing Mineral Rights

You own non-producing mineral rights if there are currently no oil or gas companies extracting minerals from your property’s subsurface. For homeowners, mineral rights are common in deeds as a part of a fee simple estate.

In a fee simple estate, a person owns both the surface and subsurface (mineral) rights. Conversely, in a split estate, you may only own your surface rights while another individual or entity retains the mineral rights.

Non-producing mineral rights valuation can be really high. Then again, they can also not hold much value at all. Obviously, there is a huge difference in the mineral rights valuation of a 50-square-foot yard in Dallas vs. 16 acres near existing oil fields.

Producing Mineral Rights

Producing mineral rights are inherently valuable because they produce a stream of income. If an oil company produces and sells resources from your land, then you are entitled to a percentage of the income.

The amount of money you earn will be based on your percentage mineral rights ownership share as well as the terms agreed between both parties. Typically, mineral rights leases for oil and gas companies agree to pay landowners monthly for the sale of the extracted minerals.

If you have further questions, feel free to reach out to us here. 

oil royalty and oil royalty interest

Whenever you are selling or leasing your mineral rights, negotiating the best deal is very important. If you allow an oil or gas company to explore and drill on your land, then you will want to ensure that you are compensated for the absolute highest share possible.

Two of the most common ways to be paid for the production of oil and gas are through royalty payments and royalty interests. Despite the fact that they sound so similar, the two terms actually refer to two completely separate kinds of transactions. Not knowing the difference can end up being very costly to your future income streams.

In this article, we are going to fully define royalty and royalty interests as they relate to the oil and gas industry. In doing so, we hope to provide a helpful insight for anyone looking to sell or lease mineral rights.

What is an Oil Royalty?

An oil royalty is a landowner’s share in the oil or gas production below his or her property. In some cases, single landowners may be the only parties that receive a royalty payment. More commonly, however, joint and combined subsurface rights make it possible for landowners to earn a smaller share of a larger oil production.

Those who own mineral rights of a plot of land can receive oil or gas royalties. In this scenario, the shareholder is considered a “non-interest royalty owner.” Once production begins, the royalty payments are then paid as a percentage share of the well’s output and resource sales.

What is an Oil Royalty Interest?

Of course, landowners are not the only ones involved in the extraction process. In addition to oil and gas drilling operations, there are many financiers and contractors that enable a plot of land to be explored and drilled for oil or gas. For these contributions, individuals and entities are awarded with oil royalty interests.

If you are a landowner and decide to sell, rather than lease, your mineral rights, then you still may be able to hold an oil royalty interest for the property’s future production. In addition to the large lump sum you will receive when selling your mineral rights, oil royalty interests allow the potential to benefit from the future sales of oil or gas.

oil-gas

The modern history and innovation of petroleum dates back to 1846 when the process of refining kerosene from coal was introduced. The credit for this process goes to Nova Acotian Abraham Pineo Gesner. The speed of time stimulated human brain cells to such an extent that Agencie Lucasovic introduced the terms to the gas refinery, which facilitated the process of purifying kerosene. The earliest rock oil cave was discovered in Buberka, near Krasno, Galicia (Poland / Ukraine). After discovering wells and deposits, scientists began working on the synthesis of chemical components of oil and the distribution of formulas. In 1854, Najman Sully, a professor of science at Yale University in Inouehaven, began the work of separating the constituents of petroleum. Was capable of meeting 90% of its oil needs. From the oil reserves, the companies traded oil to facilitate their delivery to areas where oil production is low.

Therefore, the first commercial refinery to commercialize the world was established in 1857 at Plosti, Romania. Romania is the only country in the world whose crude oil production has been tested internationally (statistically). The total volume of this refinery was 275 tons. The first oil well in North America was discovered in 1858 by James Mulrolim in Oil Springs, Ontario, Canada. The United States wanted to convert these natural metals into large-scale industrial and trade assets as soon as possible.

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Source: Modern Diplomacy

average natural gas well production

More often than not, individuals looking to earn income from their mineral rights are hopeful to find oil below their property. The now-timeless art of getting rich off of your land is almost synonymous with striking a fruitful field of crude oil.

But what about natural gas? In this article, we are going to take a look at natural gas wells across the United States. After identifying the best parts of the country to earn natural gas royalties, we will answer the question, “What is an average natural gas well production?”

The States with the Most Natural Gas Production

In 2016, natural gas was the largest source of energy in the United States. In comparison to coal, natural gas is lower in price and also better for the environment with a smaller carbon footprint. For this reason, many companies may be interested in buying your mineral rights in order to extract and sell natural gas.

According to the US Energy Information Administration, 2018’s top states for natural gas production are as follows:

  1. Texas
  2. Pennsylvania
  3. Oklahoma
  4. Louisiana
  5. Ohio

How much does an Average Natural Gas Well Produce?

Within the states listed above, much of the natural gas produced can be found in some of the countries’ largest gas-producing fields. For example, the Marcellus Shale field in Pennsylvania and West Virginia is known to produce nearly 3,000 billion cubic feet of natural gas per year. Likewise, the Barnett shale, Haynesville Shale, and Eagle Rock formation make up a large portion of Texas’s gas production.

Of course, natural gas wells eventually deplete and the amount of resources that can be extracted decline gradually over time. At first, a well will likely produce between one and twenty million cubic feet of natural gas per day. After which, the rate will slowly decline over a well’s 20 to 30 year lifespan.

marcellus-shale-gas-drillin

The Marcellus Shale, which stretches across Pennsylvania and West Virginia, has dethroned the Permian Basin of West Texas and eastern New Mexico as the top U.S. destination for hydraulic fracturing crews.

The Marcellus, which is rich in natural gas, has 31 percent of the active hydraulic fracturing crews in the field, followed by the oil-rich Permian with 30 percent and the Eagle Ford Shale in South Texas and the Haynesville Shale in East Texas and Louisiana with 14 percent each, according to data from Houston investment advisory firm Tudor, Pickering, Holt & Co.

Of the 450 available hydraulic fracturing fleets in the United States and Canada, only 70 are deployed in the field, Tudor, Pickering, Holt said.

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Source: Houston Chronicle

Image Credit: Nicholas A. Tonelli/Flickr

What Do Mineral Rights Mean and to Convey It

In the United States, mineral rights can be extremely valuable in earning oil or gas royalties. However, when it comes to selling your property, the documentation may cite “conveying” mineral rights to the new owner as a part of the agreement.

If you are unclear what this means, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we are going to define what it means to convey mineral rights and outline some scenarios and benefits in which conveying or retaining these may be best.

The Definition of Conveying Mineral Rights

In legal terms, “conveying” is a term used to describe the sale or transfer of a property. In a split estate, landowners can choose to convey or retain their rights separately from a property’s surface rights. Essentially, when working with them, there are three basic ways in which property can be conveyed. They are as follows:

  • Conveying surface rights, while retaining mineral rights.
  • Conveying mineral rights, while retaining surface rights.
  • Or, conveying both mineral rights and surface rights to one or separate entities.

The Benefits of Conveying It

If you choose to sell your mineral rights, then that may earn you a nice paycheck. Plus, if you sell these rights on a parcel of land that is producing oil or gas (or will be in the future), then you may be able to earn a royalty interest on the future sale of resources.

In a fee simple estate, the sale, or conveying, of mineral rights is tied in with the surface rights. Therefore, it is commonplace that the sale of the property also involves the sale of the property’s subsurface. However, in a split estate, it is possible to convey your mineral rights while retaining your surface rights.

The Benefits of Retaining It

Because they are valuable, obviously, there are also benefits in retaining them (rather than conveying them) when selling your property. In the case of a split estate, surface rights can be sold for a large profit, while these rights are retained for future earnings. If you still own your mineral rights, then you can explore an oil and gas lease as a great way to earn royalty interests from the resources produced and sold.

If you have further questions, feel free to reach out to us here. 

oil production in texas

The United States produces more barrels of oil than any other country in the world. Within the US border, no state produces more oil than Texas, and this is by a landslide. In fact, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, oil production in Texas produces over 3 times as many barrels as North Dakota, the second leading state.

Where is Oil Found in Texas?

So where is all of this oil found? In this article, we are going to explore some of the densest spots for oil production in Texas.

Major Oil Producing Regions

Within the Lone Star State, there are seven large basins which produce the majority of oil production in Texas. They are as follows:

  • The Permian Basin
  • The Gulf Coast Basin
  • The Anadarko Basin
  • The Fort Worth Basin
  • The Maverick Basin
  • The Val Verde Basin
  • The East Texas Basin

Among them, the Permian Basin is the most widely known and highest-producing region. In fact, the massive 250 by 300 mile landmass extends into Southern New Mexico and is divided into several different regions in itself. Within the Permian Basin, oil is found in:

  • The Delaware Basin
  • The Midland Basin
  • The Central Basin Platform
  • The Eastern and Northwest Shelves
  • The San Simon Channel
  • The Sheffield Channel
  • The Hovey Channel
  • The Horseshoe Atoll

After the Permian Basin, perhaps the second most famous region for oil production in Texas is called the Eagle Ford Group. The Eagle Ford Group, also known as the Eagle Ford Shale is found in southern Texas and extends between the Maverik and East Coast basins. The area ceased producing oil after a strike, caused by rapidly declining oil prices in 2015.

The Largest Oil Towns in Texas

Of course, in order for oil to be found, individuals and companies need to raise capital to explore and drill. After production has begun, oil royalties are only earned by mineral rights holders if the barrels are sold. In terms of related jobs and local economies, the largest “oil towns” in Texas are:

  • Houston
  • Dallas
  • Austin
  • San Antonio
  • Midland
oil-inventories

Stockpiles of U.S. oil inventories dropped for the second straight week, the Energy Information Administration reported.

Oil prices remained higher following the report, with WTI futures climbing more than 3%.

Oil inventories fell by about 5 million barrels for the week ended May 15, the EIA said. That compared with expectations for a build of about 1.15 million barrels, according to forecasts compiled by Investing.com.

Cushing hub inventories fell another 5.8 million barrels, almost aligning with the decline in total inventories.

“I think we can take our eyes off Cushing as it’s no longer a hot-button issue — the tanks aren’t going to blow there anytime in the near future,” Investing.com analyst Barani Krishnan said.

Gasoline inventories gained unexpectedly by 2.8 million barrels, versus forecasts for a drop of about 2.1 million barrels. Distillate stockpiles rose by 3.8 million barrels, compared with expectations for a build of about 1.43 million barrels.

“The more forward-looking meaningful numbers are in products,” Krishnan said. “Gasoline shows that refiners continued to ramp up gasoline production last week in anticipation of some return at least in weekend road travel for the upcoming Memorial Day weekend.”

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Source: Investing.com

If you have further questions related to U.S. oil inventories, feel free to reach out to us here. 

pooling and unitization

Mineral rights and oil and gas leases tend to be a bit more complicated than ordinary surface rights leases. When you sell or lease a home, there is a pretty obvious boundary (oftentimes marked by a fence) that designates what the lessee can control. Below the surface, however, the spaces occupied by precious mineral reserves rarely follow the same pattern.

If an oil reserve is under multiple different parcels of land, it can still be entirely depleted from a single well. For this reason, mineral rights owners often enter into contract agreements to ensure that they are able to benefit from the sale of the oil or gas below their property.

Pooling and Unitization

Pooling and unitization are two of the most common methods for the consolidation of mineral rights. Although the two terms are often used in place of one another, they actually refer to different kinds of agreements.

What is Pooling?

Pooling is a process that combines several tracts of land together in order to cover the area of a single oil well. In a pooling agreement, all of the parties own their portion of any oil that is produced from within the pooled land. Essentially, instead of digging a new well on each separate piece of land, the reserve is drilled in the best way possible and each owner can benefit from the sale of precious minerals with oil royalties.

What is Unitization?

Unitization is a process that merges different pieces of land together across an entire oil field. Unlike pooling, unitization can combine the production of many different oil wells into one shared contact.

Compulsory and Voluntary Pooling and Unitization

Voluntary pooling and unitization agreements occur when independent owners agree to work together. The documents can be signed by the owner themselves, a legal representative, or heir. Agreements are generally made to be mutually beneficial. Voluntary pooling offers can be declined without any consequence.

Compulsory, also known as forced, pooling or unitization is a mandatory consolidation of oil and gas leases. They are conducted by a regulatory committee, most commonly the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

Joint Operating Agreements in Oil and Gas Leases

Lastly, two active oil and gas leases can be combined into what is known as a “joint operating agreement (JOA),” or a “joint lease.” In a JOA, operators agree upon a community lease in which assets are shared and new royalty percentages are defined. In addition to oil and gas agreements, joint leases are common across other industries such as health care.

Oil Prices

Oil prices jump after U.S. stockpile data Wednesday showed another surprise weekly decline as coronavirus lockdown restrictions continue to ease across the country.

The Energy Information Administration reported crude inventories dropped by 5 million barrels last week. Analysts polled by S&P Global Platts saw an increase of by 2.4 million barrels.

Last week, EIA stunned markets by reporting a surprise drop in U.S. crude inventories, the first since January.

U.S. crude production fell to 11.5 million barrels per day from 11.6 million bpd in the prior week, EIA said Wednesday. That’s down from a high of 13.1 million in March and the marked the seventh consecutive decrease.

Early signs were more bearish for oil prices. Late Tuesday, the American Petroleum Institute saw a 4.8 million-barrel increase in U.S. crude supplies and a 651,000-barrel decrease in gasoline stockpiles.

Oil Prices, Oil Stocks

U.S. crude futures jumped 4.8% to settle at $33.49 per barrel, the highest since March 10, in the first day for July-delivery contracts taking over as the front month. Brent oil prices climbed 3.4% to $35.82 per barrel.

West Texas Intermediate contracts for June delivery expired Tuesday without a repeat of May’s shocking drop into negative territory.

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Source: Investor’s Business Daily

If you have further questions related to oil prices jump trends, feel free to reach out to us here.