San Ardo, King City, Bradley: roughly 680 producing wells, essentially all of them heavy oil operated by two companies.
Monterey County production is concentrated almost entirely at San Ardo, where Chevron and California Resources operate between them. It is a two-operator county, which makes the paperwork simple and the leverage limited. Steam-driven heavy oil has an unusually long life, and that tail is the part of a Monterey royalty that gets underpriced.
Whatever you own here, producing royalties, non-producing acreage, or an inherited fraction split among family, we will identify it from whatever paperwork you have, value it off the actual wells and units rather than off a county average, and show you the reasoning with the offer. Free, no obligation, and no pressure: if keeping it is the right answer, we will say so.
Well, rig and permit counts are sourced from Enverus and current as of August 2026. See our Salinas Basin page for how the play as a whole is valued.
The Aurignac and Lombardi sands at San Ardo, a large heavy oil field produced by steam injection.
The source rock and, in places, the reservoir.
Wherever your tract sits in Monterey County, we will research it free and value it with the work shown.
We buy in every California county, including ones without a page here. See the full county index or the California overview.
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 guideThe things owners here most often wish they had read first. All free, none of it gated.
Free, no obligation, and no pressure. We reply within one business day, usually faster.
Prefer the phone? Call or text 918-984-1645 and you will get Stephen, the owner, not a call center. If we miss you, we text back the same day.
In a hurry? Our preliminary offer puts a written number in front of you within about two business days and holds it still for 7 while you decide.