# Sell Colorado Mineral Rights | DJ Basin, Weld County | Berlin Royalties

> Sell Colorado mineral rights and DJ Basin royalties. Rogers v. Westerman first marketable product rule, SB 19-181 and the 45 percent pooling threshold, the 2 percent nonresident withholding, and what Weld County minerals are worth.

Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/
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 · Colorado

## Sell your Colorado mineral rights and royalties.

DJ Basin Niobrara and Codell royalties in Weld County and the northern front range. Colorado protects royalty owners on deductions better than most states, and regulates development harder than any of them. Both facts change what your interest is worth.

[Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/)
or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645)

Colorado is a state where the law is unusually good to royalty owners and the regulatory environment is unusually hard on development. Both matter to what your interest is worth, and neither is explained anywhere in the results you get when you search for how to sell Colorado minerals, which is currently led by a listings directory.

Berlin buys Colorado minerals and royalties, concentrated in the DJ Basin under Weld County and the northern front range, with interest in the Piceance and southern Colorado as well.

## Colorado is a first marketable product state

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.

Practically, the costs of making gas saleable, gathering and dehydration and compression, fall on the operator rather than on you, subject to what your lease expressly says.

That places Colorado alongside [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/), which reaches a similar result by statute, and [West Virginia](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/west-virginia/), and squarely against [North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/), [Kansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kansas/), and [Pennsylvania](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pennsylvania/). If you own in more than one of these states you own assets that behave differently, and a single blended multiple applied across all of them is not underwriting.

If your Colorado check shows gathering or compression 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.

## SB 19-181 and what it did to the calculus

Senate Bill 19-181, enacted in 2019, is the most consequential change to Colorado oil and gas law in a generation. Three provisions matter to a mineral owner.

**The mission changed.** 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. The agency itself was later renamed the **Energy and Carbon Management Commission**, or ECMC.

**Pooling got harder for operators, which means leverage for you.** 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. In a fragmented unit, a group of unleased owners now has genuine negotiating position that did not exist before 2019.

**Local governments got real authority.** Section 4 gave local governments power to regulate siting, inspect facilities, impose fines, and charge fees, and Section 17 confirmed that local requirements may be **stricter** than the state's. Practically, a tract in a municipality with a hostile posture and a tract in unincorporated Weld County are not the same asset even if the geology is identical.

For valuation, the honest summary is: **Colorado development timelines are longer and less certain than they were, which discounts undeveloped acreage, while producing interests are unaffected and Colorado's deduction rule protects the check.** A buyer who quotes you a Colorado number without knowing which municipality you are in has not done the work.

## Taxes, including the two Colorado surprises

**Severance tax** is graduated on gross income: 2.0 percent under $25,000; 3.0 percent from $25,000 to $100,000; 4.0 percent from $100,000 to $300,000; and **5.0 percent** at $300,000 and above, C.R.S. section 39-29-105(1)(b).

The headline rate overstates the burden badly. There is a large **ad valorem credit** for property taxes assessed on production, and a **stripper exemption** for oil wells under 15 barrels per day and gas wells under 90 Mcf per day. Colorado Legislative Council Staff calculated that the **effective severance rate averaged about 1.6 percent from 2013 through 2022**, ranging from 0.3 percent to 2.5 percent. The ad valorem credit percentage has been changing, and the calculation method changed again beginning in 2026, so verify current treatment.

**SB24-230 production fees** are new and separate from severance tax, with a Clean Transit component and a Wildlife and Land component, and **rates are reset quarterly**. Do not rely on a fixed number from any source, including this page. Check the Colorado Department of Revenue's posted rates.

**Nonresident withholding: 2 percent** of the sales price when a nonresident sells Colorado real property over $100,000, C.R.S. section 39-22-604.5. This applies to mineral conveyances. Colorado's individual income tax is a flat **4.40 percent**.

Compare [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) next door, which has no income tax and no withholding at all. For an out of state seller with interests in both, the after tax difference is real. See [taxes when you sell mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mineral-rights-capital-gains-tax/).

## The severed mineral disclosure statute

Colorado requires title insurers to give **written notice in title commitments** when recorded evidence shows a severed mineral estate, including notice that the mineral estate may include the right to enter and use the property without the surface owner's permission. C.R.S. section 10-11-123.

That is unusual and it is worth knowing for two reasons. It means Colorado surface transactions routinely surface the existence of severed minerals, which is how a lot of Colorado families first learn they own something. And it means the mineral estate's dominance is expressly acknowledged in state law, which matters in surface use negotiations.

We also found **no Colorado dormant mineral act**. Unlike [Kansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kansas/), [North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/), and [Ohio](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ohio/), a severed Colorado mineral interest does not appear to lapse for nonuse. Unpaid royalty **proceeds** are a separate question and are reachable under Colorado's unclaimed property act at C.R.S. section 38-13-209. See [unclaimed royalties](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/unclaimed-royalties/).

## What actually moves a Colorado interest's value

- **Core versus outer DJ.** Weld County core Niobrara and the basin edge are different assets by a wide margin.

- **Codell inventory.** Where Codell is productive and co-developed, an interest carries meaningfully more remaining locations than the Niobrara alone would suggest.

- **Municipality and surface constraints.** Post SB 19-181, permitting reality is a valuation input, not a footnote.

- **Whether the acreage is already in a producing unit.** Undeveloped acreage in Colorado carries more timing risk than it does in Texas or Oklahoma.

- **Operator.** Chevron by way of its acquisition of PDC, Civitas, Occidental, and Prospect all operate in the DJ with different development paces. Our [Colorado operator lookup](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/operators/colorado/) is refreshed weekly from the ECMC active operator list.

## Statutes and primary sources

- **First marketable product rule**: *Rogers v. Westerman Farm Co.*, 29 P.3d 887 (Colo. 2001); *Clough v. Williams Production RMT Co.*, 179 P.3d 32 (Colo. App. 2007)

- **SB 19-181**, [Colorado General Assembly](http://leg.colorado.gov/bills/sb19-181)

- **Severance tax**, C.R.S. section 39-29-105; effective rate analysis from [Colorado Legislative Council Staff](https://content.leg.colorado.gov/sites/default/files/r25-328_effective_severance_tax_rates-accessible.pdf)

- **SB24-230 production fee rates**, updated quarterly at the [Colorado Department of Revenue](https://tax.colorado.gov/oil-gas-production-fee-rates)

- **Nonresident withholding**, C.R.S. section 39-22-604.5

- **Severed mineral estate disclosure**, [C.R.S. section 10-11-123](https://law.justia.com/codes/colorado/title-10/title-insurance/article-11/part-1/section-10-11-123/)

- **Energy and Carbon Management Commission (ECMC)**, formerly COGCC: [ecmc.colorado.gov](https://ecmc.colorado.gov/). See our [well records by state](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/well-records/) page.

- Land records are held by **county clerks and recorders**. Colorado has no statewide official portal.

Last reviewed August 2026. Colorado severance tax methodology changed for 2026 and SB24-230 fees reset quarterly. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop, not a law firm or a tax advisor, and this page is general information rather than advice about your interest.

## Where to start

Also see our [DJ Basin and Niobrara page](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/dj-basin-niobrara/) for how the Colorado and Wyoming sides of the same basin differ.

Send a check stub, a lease, a deed, or a legal description. We will run the ECMC records and the county records, tell you what you own, tell you what has been permitted and what the local permitting picture looks like, and give you a number with the reasoning shown. Free, no obligation, and we will tell you if holding is the better call.

Formations & Plays

## What produces here

### Niobrara

The DJ Basin's primary target. Chalk benches A, B, and C developed at scale under Weld County, with well economics that vary sharply between the core and the outer basin.

### Codell

The sandstone below the Niobrara, frequently co-developed in the same wellbore program. Its presence adds real inventory value under the same acreage.

### Piceance Basin

Western Colorado tight gas across Garfield and Mesa. Long lived, price sensitive, and thinly covered by anyone selling to mineral owners.

### Raton and San Juan

Southern Colorado coalbed methane and conventional gas, mature and declining, with deeply fractional ownership and old title.

Counties

## Where we're most active

[Weld County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/weld-county/)

[Adams County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/adams-county/)

[Broomfield](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/broomfield-county/)

[Arapahoe County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/arapahoe-county/)

[Larimer County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/larimer-county/)

Boulder

[Morgan County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/morgan-county/)

[Garfield County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/garfield-county/)

[Mesa County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/mesa-county/)

[Las Animas County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/las-animas-county/)

[La Plata County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/la-plata-county/)

Weld County is the center of gravity for the DJ, and we review interests across Colorado including the western slope.

### The Colorado mineral owner's guide

Everything a Colorado 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 Colorado guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/colorado/)

[Every oil and gas operator in Colorado](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/operators/colorado/), with contact information, refreshed from the state regulator. Free to search, and useful whether or not you ever sell anything.

Questions

## Straight answers for Colorado owners

Can my Colorado 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 places on the lessee the cost of getting gas into a marketable condition. Clough v. Williams Production RMT Co., 179 P.3d 32 (Colo. App. 2007), follows it. That puts Colorado with Wyoming and West Virginia and against North Dakota, Kansas, and Pennsylvania. If your Colorado check shows gathering, dehydration, or compression deductions, that is worth asking about.

How did SB 19-181 change things for Colorado mineral owners?
Substantially, and in ways that cut both directions. The 2019 law changed the Oil and Gas Conservation Act's mandate from fostering development to regulating it to protect public health, safety, welfare, and the environment. It required that owners of more than 45 percent of the mineral interests to be pooled must have joined in the pooling application before the commission can force pool the rest, where previously a single owner could initiate. And it gave local governments authority over siting and allowed local requirements stricter than the state's. The agency is now the Energy and Carbon Management Commission. For an owner, the 45 percent threshold is real leverage in a fragmented unit, and the longer, less certain permitting timeline is a real drag on the value of undeveloped acreage.

I live out of state and want to sell my Weld County minerals. Will Colorado withhold anything?
Yes. 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. Minerals are real property, so a mineral conveyance is covered. Colorado's individual income tax is a flat 4.40 percent and nonresidents are taxed on Colorado source income. We disclose the withholding figure before closing rather than letting it surprise you on the settlement statement.

Is Colorado's severance tax as high as the 5 percent rate suggests?
No, and this is one of the more misunderstood numbers in the state. The severance tax is graduated on gross income, topping out at 5 percent above $300,000, but there is a large ad valorem credit for property taxes assessed on production, and stripper wells producing under 15 barrels per day of oil or under 90 Mcf per day of gas are exempt entirely. Colorado's own legislative 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 published summary.

Can I lose Colorado mineral rights if I never use them?
We found no Colorado dormant mineral act, and Colorado is absent from the multi state surveys of such statutes. A severed Colorado mineral interest does not appear to lapse for nonuse the way it can in Kansas, North Dakota, or Ohio. Unpaid royalty proceeds are a different matter and are reachable under Colorado's unclaimed property act, which is about the money rather than the mineral estate. Colorado also requires title insurers to give written notice in title commitments when the record shows a severed mineral estate, under C.R.S. 10-11-123.

## Before you sign anything in Colorado

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 Colorado 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.