# Sell California Mineral Rights | Kern County to Long Beach > Sell California mineral rights and royalties: Kern County, Los Angeles Basin, Ventura, Santa Maria Valley. A buyer who prices California honestly instead of fleeing it. Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/ 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. Where We Buy ยท California ## Most buyers are scared of California. We are not. Kern County, Long Beach, Ventura, the Santa Maria Valley: California royalties have paid families for a century, and we still buy them when almost nobody else will. [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/) or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) Berlin buys California minerals and royalties, from the giant steamfloods of Kern County to town-lot fractions under Long Beach. That sentence alone separates us from most of the industry, so it deserves an explanation. ## Why buyers are scared of California The headlines are real. California passed a 3,200-foot setback law for new wells near homes and schools, spent several years issuing almost no new drilling permits, and its largest city voted to phase out drilling entirely. Chevron moved its headquarters to Texas. Operators consolidated, with Aera folding into California Resources. Buyers who price minerals off a drilling story looked at all that and left the state. Here is what the headlines miss: California royalty income mostly does not come from new drilling. It comes from shallow, heavy-oil fields under steamflood and waterflood that decline at a few percent a year, some of them producing since before Oklahoma was a state. Midway-Sunset has produced for more than a century. Kern River was discovered in 1899 and still produces. A royalty check from these fields is one of the most durable income streams in American oil, and its value depends on the wells, not on a permit that was never going to be filed under your lot anyway. ## What changed recently The state's posture is bending toward pragmatism. When refinery closures threatened California's fuel supply, Sacramento passed legislation in late 2025 reopening a permitting pathway in Kern County, and state regulators began approving new wells again in numbers not seen in years. Nobody should sell or hold based on one legislative season, but the direction matters: the state has discovered it still needs its own barrels. ## How we price California honestly We value the wells: current production, decline, operator quality, and your decimal. Then we apply a discount for California's political risk, and we show you that discount explicitly instead of hiding it inside a lowball. You see the number we would pay for identical wells in Oklahoma, and what we subtract for Sacramento. That is the difference between a risk adjustment and a hope that you will not ask questions. If you own minerals or royalties anywhere in California, producing or not, inherited or bought, whole or a 1/384th town-lot fraction, send it through the [free valuation form](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/) or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645). We will research it free, tell you what it is worth with the work shown, and tell you plainly if you are better off keeping it. Formations & Plays ## California's producing basins ### San Joaquin Basin Kern County's giants: Midway-Sunset, Kern River, Belridge, Cymric, Lost Hills, and Elk Hills, plus Coalinga in Fresno County. Shallow heavy oil under steamflood that declines slower than almost anything in Texas or Oklahoma. ### Los Angeles Basin Wilmington under Long Beach, Signal Hill, Inglewood, Santa Fe Springs, Brea-Olinda: urban fields with town-lot minerals split into tiny fractions, and royalty checks that have outlived every prediction of their demise. ### Ventura Basin The Ventura Avenue field and its neighbors along the Santa Clara River valley, structurally spectacular and still producing after a hundred years. ### Santa Maria Basin Orcutt, Cat Canyon, and the Santa Maria Valley fields of Santa Barbara County, heavy oil country with a long history and patient decline. Counties ## Where we're most active [San Joaquin Basin](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/san-joaquin/) [Kern County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/kern-county/) [Los Angeles County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/los-angeles-county/) [Ventura County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/ventura-county/) [Fresno County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/fresno-county/) [Santa Barbara County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/santa-barbara-county/) [Orange County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/orange-county/) [Monterey County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/monterey-county/) [Kings County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/kings-county/) Kern is the heart of it and Los Angeles the most misunderstood. We review California interests statewide, including counties not listed here. ### The California mineral owner's guide Everything a California owner needs in one place: who owns what under state law, how royalties must be paid and by when, what a buyer can and cannot deduct, the tax treatment of a sale, and the deadlines that quietly cost people their minerals. Free, and no sign-up. [Read the California guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/california/) Questions ## Straight answers for California owners Why won't other buyers touch California minerals? Fear of the regulatory headlines: setback laws, permitting slowdowns, phase-out talk. Most out-of-state buyers cannot price that risk, so they either walk away or lob a lowball and hope. We underwrite the wells themselves, which in California are among the most predictable in the country, and we show you exactly how we discount for the political risk. Is California production being shut down? Not the production that pays most royalty owners. Existing wells keep producing and paying, and the state's posture has softened as refinery closures forced it to choose between in-state barrels and imported ones. New Kern County permits started flowing again under 2025 legislation. Uncertainty remains real, and we price it, but the obituary was premature. Does the regulatory situation mean I should sell now? Not automatically. Selling trades an uncertain future stream for certain cash today; for some owners that is exactly right, for others it is not. What the situation does mean is that a second opinion is worth more here than anywhere, because lowballing scared owners is a business model in California. We will give you our honest read either way. Do I pay property tax on California mineral rights? If they produce, usually yes. California counties assess producing mineral interests ad valorem, which surprises out-of-state heirs who inherit a Kern County royalty and then receive a tax bill. It is one more reason small inherited interests here get sold, and one more line item we handle cleanly at closing. Do you buy small California royalties and town-lot fractions? Yes. Los Angeles Basin town-lot interests are often tiny fractions of small city lots, the kind of interest most buyers will not even research. We research them, value them off the unit's production, and buy them. ## Before you sign anything in California The things owners here most often wish they had read first. All free, none of it gated. - [How mineral rights are valued](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mineral-rights-value/), including the rule of thumb people quote and why it is usually wrong - [Selling mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-mineral-rights/) and [selling oil and gas royalties](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-oil-and-gas-royalties/), with the real process and timeline - [The Pugh clause](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pugh-clause/), the single most valuable sentence you can negotiate into a lease - [What a farm out is](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/farmout-agreements/), and why your operator suddenly changed - [The rule of capture](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/rule-of-capture/), and why a neighbor's well can legally drain your minerals - [Non-participating royalty interests](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/non-participating-royalty-interest/), if your deed carved one out - [Executive rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/executive-rights/), if somebody else signs the lease that binds your minerals - [Surface owner rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/surface-owner-rights/), if you own the ground and someone else owns what is under it - [Questions to ask a buyer](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/questions-to-ask/) and [what happens if you want out after signing](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/can-i-back-out-of-a-mineral-rights-sale/) Free Valuation ## Find out what your California 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.