# Sell DJ Basin Mineral Rights | Niobrara, Weld County CO | Berlin Royalties > Sell DJ Basin and Niobrara mineral rights in Weld County, Colorado and southeast Wyoming. SB 19-181's 45 percent pooling threshold, Rogers v. Westerman deductions, Codell inventory, and the 2 percent nonresident withholding. Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/dj-basin-niobrara/ Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645. License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL. Basins ยท Denver-Julesburg ## Sell your DJ Basin and Niobrara mineral rights. Weld County produces more oil than most states. It is also the most heavily regulated place in America to drill a well, and since 2019 that regulation cuts both ways for a mineral owner: longer timelines on undeveloped acreage, and real leverage if you are unleased. [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/) or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) Weld County produces more oil than most states, and the DJ Basin is one of the more contested SEO landscapes in the mineral business. What is missing from every page competing there is the thing that actually decides value in Colorado now: what the regulatory regime does to development timing, and what the 2019 pooling change did to a minority owner's leverage. Berlin buys DJ Basin and Niobrara minerals and royalties in Weld County and the northern front range, plus the Wyoming and Nebraska extensions of the same basin. ## SB 19-181 cuts both ways, and you should understand both Senate Bill 19-181, enacted in 2019, is the most consequential change to Colorado oil and gas law in a generation. **Against undeveloped acreage.** Section 6 rewrote the Oil and Gas Conservation Act's declaration from **fostering** development to **regulating** development to protect public health, safety, welfare, and the environment. Section 4 gave local governments authority over siting, inspections, fines, and fees, and Section 17 confirmed local requirements may be **stricter** than the state's. The agency itself is now the **Energy and Carbon Management Commission**. The practical result is that permitting in Colorado takes longer and is less certain than in Texas, Oklahoma, or Wyoming. Undeveloped acreage that would be drilled in eighteen months elsewhere may take considerably longer here, and in some municipalities may not be drilled at all. That is a real discount on non producing minerals and any honest valuation has to apply it. A tract in unincorporated Weld County and a tract inside a hostile municipality are not the same asset even with identical geology. **In favor of unleased owners.** Section 14 requires that owners of **more than 45 percent** of the mineral interests to be pooled must have **joined in the pooling application** before the commission may force pool the remainder. Previously a single owner could initiate a forced pooling. That is genuine leverage. In a fragmented unit, a group of unleased owners can no longer be swept in by one cooperative party. If you are unleased in the DJ and an operator is assembling a unit, you are negotiating from a materially better position than you would have been in before 2019, and you should know that before you sign the first thing you are sent. Producing interests are largely unaffected by all of this. If you already have wells, your check keeps arriving. ## Colorado protects the check In ***Rogers v. Westerman Farm Co.***, 29 P.3d 887 (Colo. 2001), the Colorado Supreme Court adopted the **first marketable product rule**: the lessee bears the cost of getting the gas into a marketable condition. *Clough v. Williams Production RMT Co.*, 179 P.3d 32 (Colo. App. 2007), follows it. Gathering, dehydration, and compression to make the gas saleable fall on the operator rather than on you, subject to express lease language. That puts Colorado with [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/), where the rule is statutory, and against [North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/), [Kansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kansas/), and [Pennsylvania](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pennsylvania/). If your DJ check shows those deductions, ask. Our [royalty statement decoder](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/royalty-statement-decoder/) explains the line items and our [letter templates](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/letter-templates/) include a certified mail demand for an itemized accounting. ## The Codell that nobody counts Under a substantial part of Weld County, the **Codell** sandstone sits below the Niobrara and is co-developed in the same drilling programs. Where Codell is productive, an interest carries meaningfully more remaining locations than the Niobrara alone implies. An offer computed as a multiple of your current royalty check counts none of it. This is the same structural error we see in the [Powder River](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/powder-river/), where the stack is even deeper, and it is the most common way DJ owners get underpaid. When we underwrite a DJ interest, remaining locations by bench, with the probability we applied and why, is an explicit line in what we send you. The Greenhorn and deeper intervals are optionality rather than inventory across most of the basin, and we price them that way rather than promising them. ## The state line runs through this basin too The DJ extends north into **Laramie and Goshen Counties, Wyoming** and east into the **Nebraska panhandle**. The geology continues. The law does not. | | **Colorado** | **Wyoming** | | Force pooling threshold | Owners of **more than 45 percent** must join the application | No comparable joinder requirement || Local government siting authority | Broad, may be stricter than state | Limited || Post production cost rule | First marketable product, *Rogers* | First marketable product **by statute**, W.S. 30-5-304 || Individual income tax | Flat **4.40 percent** | **None** || Nonresident withholding on sale | **2 percent** over $100,000, C.R.S. 39-22-604.5 | **None** || Severance | Graduated to 5 percent, effective rate historically about 1.6 percent, plus quarterly SB24-230 fees | 6 percent plus county ad valorem, among the highest total burden nationally | For an owner with acreage on both sides, those are two different assets. Full detail is on our [Colorado](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/) and [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) pages. ## What else moves a DJ interest's value - **Core versus outer basin.** Weld County core Niobrara and the basin edge differ by a wide margin. Section and township, not county. - **Municipality.** Post SB 19-181 this is a valuation input, not a footnote. - **Legacy verticals.** Thousands of old vertical Codell and Niobrara wells across Wattenberg produce small royalties today while sitting on acreage that supports horizontal inventory. Do not let a buyer value the well and ignore the acreage. - **Fractional ownership.** Wattenberg has an unusual density of small inherited interests. We buy them with no minimum and pay all closing costs. See [small mineral interests](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/small-mineral-interests/). - **Operator.** Chevron by way of its PDC acquisition, Civitas, Occidental, and Prospect all operate here at different paces. Our [Colorado operator lookup](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/operators/colorado/) is refreshed weekly from the ECMC active operator list. ## Where to go next - [Colorado mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/): SB 19-181 in detail, severance and the ad valorem credit, nonresident withholding, and the severed mineral disclosure statute - [Weld County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/weld-county/) - [Wyoming mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) and [the Powder River Basin](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/powder-river/) to the north - [Well records by state](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/well-records/) for the free ECMC and WOGCC databases - [How mineral rights are valued](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mineral-rights-value/) and [when not to sell](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/when-not-to-sell/) Last reviewed August 2026. Colorado severance methodology changed for 2026 and SB24-230 fees reset quarterly. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a tax advisor, and this page is general information rather than advice about your interest. Formations & Plays ## What produces in the DJ ### Niobrara A, B, and C benches The primary target. Chalk benches developed at scale beneath Weld County, with well quality that varies sharply between the core and the outer basin and between benches within the same section. ### Codell The sandstone below the Niobrara, frequently co-developed in the same drilling program. Where Codell is productive it adds real inventory under acreage that already has Niobrara wells, and it is routinely left out of mailer offers. ### Greenhorn and deeper Lightly tested across most of the basin. Optionality rather than inventory, and it should be priced that way. ### Wattenberg legacy vertical Thousands of old vertical Codell and Niobrara wells across the field, many now recompleted or plugged, and the source of a great many small fractional royalties nobody has consolidated. Counties ## Where the DJ Basin is [Colorado](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/) [Weld County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/weld-county/) [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) Adams Broomfield Arapahoe Larimer Boulder Morgan Laramie, WY Goshen, WY Banner, NE Kimball, NE Weld County is the center of gravity. The basin extends north into Laramie and Goshen Counties in Wyoming and east into the Nebraska panhandle. Questions ## Straight answers for DJ Basin / Niobrara owners How did SB 19-181 change what my Colorado minerals are worth? In two opposite directions. The 2019 law changed the state's mandate from fostering oil and gas development to regulating it to protect public health, safety, welfare, and the environment, and gave local governments authority to impose siting requirements stricter than the state's. That lengthens and complicates permitting, which discounts undeveloped acreage. But Section 14 also requires that owners of more than 45 percent of the mineral interests to be pooled must have joined the pooling application before the commission can force pool the rest, where a single owner could previously initiate. In a fragmented unit that is genuine leverage for an unleased owner that did not exist before 2019. Producing interests are largely unaffected. Can my DJ Basin operator deduct gathering and processing from my royalty? Generally not the costs of making the gas marketable. Colorado adopted the first marketable product rule in Rogers v. Westerman Farm Co., 29 P.3d 887 (Colo. 2001), which puts the cost of getting gas into a marketable condition on the lessee. Clough v. Williams Production RMT Co., 179 P.3d 32 (Colo. App. 2007), follows it. That puts Colorado with Wyoming and against North Dakota, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. If your Colorado check shows gathering, dehydration, or compression deductions, that is worth asking about. I live out of state and want to sell Weld County minerals. What gets withheld? Colorado withholds 2 percent of the sales price when a nonresident sells Colorado real property for more than $100,000, under C.R.S. 39-22-604.5, and minerals are real property. Colorado's individual income tax is a flat 4.40 percent and nonresidents are taxed on Colorado source income. Note the contrast with the Wyoming side of the same basin, where there is no state income tax and nothing is withheld. We disclose the figure before closing rather than letting it appear on the settlement statement. Is Colorado's severance tax really 5 percent? The headline rate is graduated up to 5 percent on gross income above $300,000, but the effective rate is far lower. There is a large ad valorem credit for property taxes on production, and stripper wells under 15 barrels per day of oil or 90 Mcf per day of gas are exempt entirely. Colorado Legislative Council Staff calculated the effective severance rate averaged about 1.6 percent from 2013 through 2022. Separately, SB24-230 added new oil and gas production fees on top, with rates reset quarterly, so check current figures rather than relying on any summary. My Weld County royalty comes from an old vertical well and pays very little. Is it worth selling? It may be worth more than the check suggests, and for a specific reason: the same acreage often carries undrilled horizontal Niobrara and Codell inventory. A buyer pricing your interest off a marginal vertical well's income is valuing the wrong thing. We will tell you what the acreage supports in remaining horizontal locations, what that is worth, and whether holding beats selling. Free, and we buy small interests with no minimum. Free Valuation ## Find out what your DJ Basin / Niobrara minerals are worth. Free, no obligation, and no pressure. We reply within one business day, usually faster. Prefer the phone? Call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) and you will get Stephen, the owner, not a call center. If we miss you, we text back the same day. Your Name Phone Number Email Address Where are your minerals located? OklahomaTexasNew MexicoLouisiana ArkansasKansasNorth DakotaMontana WyomingColoradoUtahCalifornia West VirginiaOhioPennsylvaniaKentucky MichiganMississippiAlabamaAlaska Sand/Gravel/AggregateOther / Not sure County (if known) Interest type Select an option Minerals and Royalties Working Interest Overriding Royalty Interest An Entity (LLC, Partnership, Trust) Not Sure Are you currently receiving royalty checks? Select an option Yes No I Used To But They Stopped Not Sure Have you received offers for your minerals before? Select an option Yes No What best describes your situation? Select an option I'm ready to sell now I'm exploring my options I'm just curious what they're worth Anything else? (optional) Get My Free Valuation No cost, no obligation, and we never share your information.