# Sell North Dakota Mineral Rights | Bakken | Berlin Royalties > Sell North Dakota mineral rights and Bakken royalties. The 20 year abandonment statute, pooling risk penalties under N.D.C.C. 38-08-08, the 16 percent cost free royalty, and what Williston Basin interests are worth. Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/ 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 North Dakota ## Sell your North Dakota mineral rights and royalties. Bakken and Three Forks minerals in the core Williston Basin, priced off the wells rather than a mail merge. Plus the two North Dakota statutes that can quietly cost an absentee owner everything. [Get a Free Valuation](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/free-valuation/) or call or text [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) North Dakota has one of the largest royalty owner populations in the country and one of the weakest sets of online resources serving it. Search for how to sell Bakken minerals and the top results are forum threads. When user posts outrank every commercial page, Google is telling you that no adequate page exists. So we built one. Berlin buys Bakken and Three Forks minerals and royalties in the core Williston Basin counties, and legacy conventional interests across the rest of the state. Most North Dakota owners we talk to inherited the interest and live a thousand miles from the nearest wellhead, which makes them the favorite target of high volume mailer buyers. Our approach is the opposite: fewer deals, real underwriting, and a valuation you can see, including what remaining infill locations on your spacing unit are worth. ## The 20 year clock most North Dakota owners have never heard of North Dakota is one of a minority of states where a severed mineral interest can be **extinguished by doing nothing**. Under **N.D.C.C. chapter 38-18.1**, a mineral interest that goes unused for **20 years** preceding the first publication of notice is deemed abandoned, and title vests in the **surface owner** after the statutory notice and quiet title process. Section 38-18.1-02 sets the rule; sections 38-18.1-06 and 38-18.1-06.1 govern the procedure. What counts as "use" under section 38-18.1-03 is broader than people fear, and includes: - actual production of oil, gas, or other minerals - operations for injection, withdrawal, storage, or disposal - production from a common vein or seam by a co-owner - a **recorded** lease, mortgage, assignment, or conveyance - a **recorded** pooling or unitization order or agreement - filing a **statement of claim** under section 38-18.1-04 That last one is the escape hatch, and it is cheap. A statement of claim recorded with the county recorder before the 20 years expires, stating the owner's name and address and the legal description, preserves the interest. Filing one costs a recording fee. If you inherited a North Dakota interest that has never produced, has never been leased, and has never had anything recorded against it, this is the most urgent item on your list, ahead of any decision about selling. We will tell you where you stand for free, and we will tell you even if the answer means we cannot buy it. ## What you get if you are unleased when a well shows up North Dakota's pooling statute, **N.D.C.C. section 38-08-08**, is unusually favorable to unleased owners and almost nobody publishes what it actually says. | Your situation | What the statute gives you | | Unleased, pooled **before** Aug 1, 2009 | Cost free royalty equal to the acreage weighted average royalty of leased tracts in the unit, **never less than one eighth** || Unleased, pooled **after** Jul 31, 2009 | That acreage weighted average, **or a cost free 16 percent** at the operator's election || **Leased**, elects not to participate | Charged **200 percent** of their share of reasonable actual costs || **Unleased**, does not participate | Charged **50 percent**, and only after a good faith unsuccessful attempt to lease | Two things follow. First, a cost free 16 percent is a better royalty than many North Dakota owners negotiated in a lease, which means being unleased is not automatically the disaster owners assume. Second, the 200 percent penalty that people worry about applies to **leased** nonparticipating owners, not to unleased ones. Compare [Montana](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/), where an unleased refusing owner is treated as owning a **one eighth** landowner royalty until costs are recovered under M.C.A. section 82-11-202. Same Bakken, same operators, different state line, materially different economics. That gap is exactly the kind of thing that should be priced into an offer, and rarely is. Our [pooling election calculator](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pooling-election-calculator/) was built for Oklahoma orders but the arithmetic of comparing a royalty option against participating is the same exercise. If you are holding a North Dakota pooling notice, send it to [Ask a Landman](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ask-a-landman/) and we will read it free. ## Deductions: North Dakota is an "at the well" state In *Bice v. Petro-Hunt, L.L.C.*, 2009 ND 124, 768 N.W.2d 496, the North Dakota Supreme Court adopted the **at the well** rule and the work back method, and expressly rejected the first marketable product doctrine. Practically, that means gathering, compression, processing, and transportation can be worked back out of the downstream sale price before your royalty is calculated, subject to what your lease says. North Dakota sits with [Pennsylvania](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pennsylvania/) and against [West Virginia](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/west-virginia/), [Colorado](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/), and [Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/) on this question. Because the rule defaults against the owner, **your lease language carries more weight in North Dakota than in a first marketable product state**. A lease that is silent produces a very different check than one with a real no deductions clause, and the difference compounds over a well's life. Our [royalty statement decoder](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/royalty-statement-decoder/) walks through the line items, and our [letter templates](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/letter-templates/) include a certified mail demand for an itemized accounting. ## What the state takes - **Oil gross production tax: 5 percent** of gross value at the well. - **Oil extraction tax: 5 percent** of gross value, reduced to **2 percent** for qualifying production outside the Bakken and Three Forks, with stripper well exemptions and secondary and tertiary recovery exemptions. - **Gas gross production tax:** a flat rate per Mcf that is **adjusted every July 1**. For the fiscal year running July 1, 2026 through June 30, 2027 the rate is **$0.0655 per Mcf**. Verify the current figure with the Tax Commissioner before relying on it, because it changes annually. Authority is N.D.C.C. chapters 57-51, 57-51.1, and 57-51.2, and N.D.A.C. sections 81-09-02 and 81-09-03. ## The Missouri riverbed question If your interest lies along Lake Sakakawea or the historical Missouri River channel, there is a second statute worth knowing. **N.D.C.C. chapter 61-33.1** settled the long running dispute over minerals under the historical riverbed, providing that the State's sovereign mineral ownership extends only to the historical channel up to the ordinary high water mark, and that the State holds no claim above it. That determination returned substantial royalty sums to private owners. If you own along the river and your royalties were suspended or paid to the State during the dispute, it is worth checking whether money is owed to you. See [unclaimed royalties](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/unclaimed-royalties/). ## What actually moves a North Dakota interest's value - **Township, not county.** The core of McKenzie, Williams, Mountrail, and Dunn is a different asset from the basin margin. Two interests forty miles apart can differ by an order of magnitude per acre. - **Remaining locations.** Bakken wells decline steeply and then flatten into long, predictable tails. The value that separates a good Bakken interest from an average one is undrilled inventory: how many more wells the spacing unit will hold, and whether the operator intends to drill them. - **Which bench.** Three Forks first bench is developed across much of the core. Second and third bench potential is real in some areas and speculative in others, and it should be priced accordingly rather than promised. - **Operator.** Continental, Chord, Hess, Devon, Marathon, Grayson Mill, and Kraken all operate differently, report differently, and pay on different schedules. Our [operator directory](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/operators/) has current contact information. - **Whether title is clean.** A large share of Williston Basin minerals sit in unprobated estates from the 1970s and 1980s. That is fixable, and we pay for the curative work as part of a purchase. See [selling inherited minerals before probate is done](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/sell-inherited-minerals-probate/). ## Statutes and primary sources - **Termination of mineral interest (20 year abandonment)**, N.D.C.C. chapter 38-18.1, especially sections 38-18.1-02, -03, -04, and -06 - **Pooling, risk penalties, and unleased owner royalties**, N.D.C.C. section 38-08-08 - **Missouri riverbed mineral ownership**, N.D.C.C. chapter 61-33.1 - **Severance taxes**, N.D.C.C. chapters 57-51, 57-51.1, 57-51.2; current gas rate from the [North Dakota Office of State Tax Commissioner](https://www.tax.nd.gov/business/oil-and-gas-severance-tax) - *Bice v. Petro-Hunt, L.L.C.*, 2009 ND 124, 768 N.W.2d 496 - **North Dakota Industrial Commission, Department of Mineral Resources, Oil and Gas Division**: [dmr.nd.gov/dmr/oilgas](https://www.dmr.nd.gov/dmr/oilgas), and its [mineral owner information page](https://www.dmr.nd.gov/dmr/oilgas/mineralownerinfo) - Land records are held by **county recorders**. North Dakota is better served than most states here through the North Dakota Recorders Information Network, a subscription system covering many counties. Last reviewed August 2026. Statutes and rates change, and the gas gross production tax rate changes every July. 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 [Bakken and Williston Basin page](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/basins/bakken-williston/), which compares the North Dakota and Montana rules side by side. Send a check stub, a lease, a division order, or just a county and a family name. We will locate the interest, tell you whether the 20 year clock is a problem, tell you what it is worth and how we got there, and tell you honestly if holding beats selling. Free, and no obligation. Out of state heirs should also read [out of state mineral owners](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/out-of-state-mineral-owners/) and [transferring inherited minerals](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/transfer-inherited-minerals/). Formations & Plays ## What produces here ### Bakken The play that redefined American oil. Mature now, with predictable declines and continued infill drilling in the core, which makes valuation a real exercise rather than a guess. ### Three Forks The bench below the Bakken, adding drilling inventory and value under much of the same acreage. First, second, and third bench potential varies sharply by township. ### Madison and legacy conventional Older vertical production across the basin margins and Bottineau and Renville. Small checks, long lives, and title chains that have not been touched in decades. Counties ## Where we're most active [McKenzie County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/mckenzie-county/) [Williams County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/williams-county/) [Mountrail County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/mountrail-county/) [Dunn County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/dunn-county/) [Divide County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/divide-county/) [Burke County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/burke-county/) [Stark County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/stark-county/) [Billings County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/billings-county/) [Golden Valley County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/golden-valley-county/) [Bottineau County](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/bottineau-county/) The core four counties are our focus, but we review interests across the Williston Basin and the North Dakota conventional areas. ### The North Dakota mineral owner's guide Everything a North Dakota 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 North Dakota guide](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/guide/north-dakota/) Questions ## Straight answers for North Dakota owners Can I lose my North Dakota mineral rights if I never do anything with them? Yes, and this is the single most important fact for an absentee North Dakota mineral owner. Under N.D.C.C. chapter 38-18.1, a mineral interest unused for 20 years is deemed abandoned, and the surface owner can publish notice and take title. Use under section 38-18.1-03 includes actual production, injection or storage or disposal operations, production from a common vein by a co-owner, a recorded lease or mortgage or assignment or conveyance, a recorded pooling or unitization order or agreement, or filing a statement of claim. A statement of claim recorded with the county recorder before the 20 years runs preserves the interest and costs very little. I inherited Bakken minerals and I have never leased them. What happens if a well is drilled? You will be pooled into the spacing unit by the North Dakota Industrial Commission, and what you receive depends on when. An unleased interest pooled before August 1, 2009 receives a cost free royalty equal to the acreage weighted average royalty of the leased tracts in the unit, never less than one eighth. An unleased interest pooled after July 31, 2009 receives that acreage weighted average or, at the operator's election, a cost free 16 percent. That 16 percent is materially better than the one eighth an unleased Montana owner receives on the same geology, which is a real difference across a state line. What is the risk penalty if I do not participate in a North Dakota well? It depends on whether you are leased. Under N.D.C.C. section 38-08-08(3), a leased owner who elects not to participate is charged 200 percent of their share of the reasonable actual costs. An unleased owner who does not participate is charged 50 percent, and that penalty applies only after the operator has made a good faith and unsuccessful attempt to obtain a lease. Owners routinely assume the harsher number applies to them when it does not. Can the operator take gathering and processing costs out of my Bakken royalty? Generally yes, subject to your lease. North Dakota follows the at the well rule. In Bice v. Petro-Hunt, L.L.C., 2009 ND 124, the North Dakota Supreme Court adopted the at the well rule and the work back method and expressly rejected the first marketable product doctrine. That makes your specific lease language the thing that decides how much comes off your check, which is why a buyer who has not read your lease has not really valued your interest. I live out of state and inherited North Dakota minerals. Do I owe North Dakota tax if I sell? North Dakota taxes nonresidents on North Dakota source income, and gain on the sale of North Dakota real property is North Dakota source. Minerals are real property. The good news is that North Dakota has the lowest top individual rate of any income tax state where we buy, at 2.50 percent. There is also no North Dakota estate or inheritance tax. Confirm the specifics with a CPA, since we are not tax advisors. ## Before you sign anything in North Dakota 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 North Dakota 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.