A plain-English journal for mineral owners. Read it before you sell to anyone, including us.
$7.8 billion of Haynesville deals in 2026, 57 rigs, and a midstream shuffle. What consolidation, takeaway, and deferred turn-in-lines do to a royalty owner's check.
HB 1371 took effect November 1, 2026. Unpaid Oklahoma royalties can now leave the operator after 36 months. The three places to look, and the two habits that keep money home.
Arkansas approved a 2.5 percent lithium royalty plus $65.05 per acre per year. Here is the honest per-acre arithmetic for Smackover brine owners.
A running list of oil and gas operator acquisitions and name changes, and what royalty owners should check when a new name shows up on the check.
Probate and ancillary probate costs stop mineral heirs cold. Here is what they really cost, the shortcuts, and how Berlin pays for probate when we buy.
What a mineral auction actually nets after commissions, buyer premiums, and rushed diligence, and when a direct sale puts more in your pocket.
Mitsubishi bought Aethon's Haynesville business in July 2026 and renamed it Adamas Energy. What royalty owners should verify when the payor name changes.
HB 1371 moves Oklahoma's late royalty interest from 12% compounded to 15% simple on November 1, 2026. Higher is not always better, and here is where it flips.
Oklahoma had eight upstream deals in one quarter, the most in three years. Diversified is now the largest operator in the state. Thousands of royalty owners are about to get a name they do not recognize on a check.
Data centers are contracting for gas directly at the wellhead. That changes the long end of the forward curve, which is the only part of it that matters to a royalty you will hold for twenty years.
There are nine rigs running in Ohio and they are all in six counties. But EOG has filed twelve permits in a seventh county that has no rig at all, and permits come first.
Roger Mills County is tied for the most active county in Oklahoma. There are no headlines about it, and that is exactly the problem for mineral owners out there.
Grandpa said never sell. The guilt is real, and nobody in this business talks about it. A mineral buyer's honest answer to the question under the question.
What an Osage headright is, why it is not like other mineral interests, and why the honest answer about selling one is usually that you can't, at least not simply.
What an Oklahoma pooling order is, why the OCC named you a Respondent, the 20-day election deadline, and how to choose between the bonus and royalty options.
1. Confirm what you own (minerals vs royalty vs ORRI; net acres/decimals; location).
How to read an oil and gas royalty statement: production volume, sales price, deductions, decimal interest, and the red flags to check when payments look low.
Marketable versus defensible mineral title: why buyers pay more for marketable title, common defects that make it unmarketable, and how to fix them.
How selling mineral rights in Oklahoma works, step by step: proving ownership, evaluating an offer, title due diligence, closing, and operator notification.
Roger Mills County, Oklahoma leasing and pooling activity: 5,516 leases filed in the past year, with Mewbourne and Crawley leading the Cherokee Shale push.
How selling mineral rights can reduce countable assets to meet Medicaid asset limits, and how Berlin Resources handles the offer, the paperwork and the closing.
Oklahoma Senate Bill 212: Impact on Mineral Ownership and Guidelines for Mineral Buyers
Transfer on death deeds versus life estates for Oklahoma oil and gas minerals: how each avoids probate, who keeps control, creditor exposure, and tax tradeoffs.
The factors that erode mineral and royalty value over time: title problems, non-producing acreage, marginal HBP wells, steep declines, and low prices.
What to look for in a mineral buying company before selling Oklahoma oil and gas royalties: experience, financial stability, reputation, and fair offers.
Should an Oklahoma mineral owner hire an attorney to sell mineral rights? Pros and cons of lawyers versus dealing directly with a buyer, plus tips.
An AI-written case for selling Oklahoma mineral rights: a lump sum instead of waiting on royalties, less liability, less bookkeeping. A robot wrote it.
Berlin is back (she hopes). After a long hiatus, it is time to shake off the cobwebs and start writing again.
Two free calculators for Oklahoma mineral owners and landmen: net mineral acres from a check stub NRI decimal, and working interest in a multi-unit well.
Post-production deductions on Oklahoma royalties: what Mittelstaedt v. Santa Fe Minerals and Pummill v. Hancock say about which costs a lessor can be charged.
Riviera Resources sells its Arkoma Basin assets for $68 million. Berlin breaks down the production, 37,000 net acres at $189 an acre, and who the buyer may be.
An Ohio court ruled that negotiating oil and gas leases takes a real estate license. What Dundics v. Eric Petroleum means for landmen, and why Oklahoma differs.
Why the shale debt boom is not the next 2008. A reply to Bethany McLean's New York Times piece on money-losing oil companies and cheap debt.
Haynes & Boone reports 58% of 2018 E&P capital comes from debt. Berlin argues debt-funded shale drilling is sustainable, against Mike Shellman of Oily Stuff.
Not all mineral buyers are the same. The types working Oklahoma's SCOOP and STACK: opportunists, private mineral companies, aggregators, and private equity.
Hall v. Galmor, the Oklahoma Supreme Court case on shut-in wells and lease cancellation, and why the plaintiff's own testimony sank his top leases.
Why an unsolicited offer for your Oklahoma minerals feels suspicious, what the buyer may know, and when 4 to 7 years of cash flow up front is a fair trade.
What an Oklahoma well proposal contains, why it is non-binding unless you have a JOA, and why it usually means a forced pooling application is a few weeks away.
How the OCC's formation election rule splits the pooling bonus across formations, and why an unleased Oklahoma mineral owner may get a third of what he used to.
How an option to extend an Oklahoma oil and gas lease is exercised (certified mail and an affidavit of extension), and how a new lessee should protect itself.
Why Oklahoma operators spud wells before a forced pooling order issues, and what an unleased mineral owner should do once the order comes out, good well or dud.
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission proposed raising drilling permit fees from $175 to as much as $3,500. Why the OCC should cost out applications first.
Are you going to fill up the boat with acres of leasehold and Oklahoma mineral rights or worthless paper and wasted efforts?
A landman at the sale barn, plus assorted links: a Coursera course on learning, a negotiation book, and why steel tariffs will hit Oklahoma oil and gas.
How an Oklahoma mineral owner can check that a lease or purchase offer comes from a real company: Secretary of State, OCC bonding, county records, neighbors.
Why an Oklahoma oil and gas lease says "Ten and more Dollars" instead of the real bonus. The granting clause is industry standard, not a sign of a scam.
What a term mineral deed is and how a reversionary interest works. How Carter County, Oklahoma minerals deeded away for 50 years in 1967 came back to the heirs.
Lawrence 'Larry' Wolf was arrested for defrauding banks while posing as an oil and gas tycoon. Only one lender ran title on the Wyoming properties he claimed.
Tyler Cowen recently posted about the five smallest industries by firm size.
Pretty Boy Floyd looking awfully content with himself after cold drafting an Oklahoma oil and gas mineral owner.
Just a couple of war dogs, Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman toast to their partnership in the 1970s. Courtesy of Barbara Tversky
A buyer offered $700,000 for a 1% overriding royalty in a Continental well in Blaine County, Oklahoma. The math on the 27 bcf of gas it takes to pay out.
(This post originally appeared on www.oklahomaminerals.com on July 11, 2017)
Coal County, Oklahoma leasing and pooling activity in 2017: 1,739 leases filed in Coalgate, with Bravo Arkoma and Canyon Creek leading the Woodford push.
(This post originally appeared on www.oklahomaminerals.com on April 19, 2017)
(This post originally appeared on www.oklahomaminerals.com on December 3,2016)
(This post originally appeared on www.oklahomaminerals.com on November 8,2016)
Chesapeake's exit from the Barnett Shale: why it paid $334 million to escape a gas gathering agreement it negotiated with its own midstream affiliate.
The Golden Trend of Garvin and McClain Counties is active again, with Rimrock, Casillas, Citizen and Eagle buying in. Why old leases make horizontal units hard.
The types of oil and gas interests in Oklahoma explained: mineral interests, royalty and non-participating royalty, overriding royalty, and working interests.
Canadian County, Oklahoma leasing in 2016: 1,014 leases filed in El Reno, pooling orders by operator, and which STACK companies are likely to actually drill.
Why protesting Oklahoma Corporation Commission applications as a blanket company policy is a bad idea: frivolous protests waste money and time.
'My buy it now price is $1000 per acre and 1/4 because that's what my cousin got from Newfield in 2N-4W.'
Why showing up matters for an Oklahoma landman. The leases and units go to the one willing to drive to Minco before dawn, not the big company landman in Edmond.
A story about a Canadian County lease with cessation language, a well that had just died, and a $100k deal lost because the owner would not take a phone call.
Oklahoma operators are in a pinch: Chesapeake, Linn Energy, lower lease prices, more litigation, and why private equity and Wall Street never call prices right.
What a shut-in royalty clause does in an Oklahoma oil and gas lease, why it exists, and a lease provision that limits how long shut-in payments can hold it.
Forced pooling in Oklahoma, explained: how an operator pools a 640 acre unit through the OCC, what the hearing covers, and your 20 day election window.
The 3 + 2 oil and gas lease: why Oklahoma mineral owners should negotiate out the option to extend the primary term, or price it at 125% to 150% of the bonus.
Oklahoma's Surface Damage Act: the notice an operator must send before drilling, how damages are measured, and the appraiser and jury process if talks fail.
How section, township and range work in Oklahoma, how to read the legal description on your deed or division order, and the Indian and Cimarron meridians.
The Anadarko Basin is a geologic basin under nearly 50,000 square miles of western Oklahoma and the Texas panhandle, home to the Union City and Elk City fields.
The rule of capture for Oklahoma mineral owners: who owns oil and gas that migrates under property lines, and why states created conservation commissions.
What an undivided 1/7 mineral interest means in Oklahoma, explained with a swimming pool, and why heirs often sell small inherited interests.
Oklahoma's statutory Pugh clause, Title 52 O.S. 87.1(b), releases acreage outside a 160 acre unit but not deeper depths. Why you still need a depth clause.
Oil and gas lease clauses in plain terms: granting, shut-in, dry hole, cessation of production, surface damages, pooling, assignment, warranty, force majeure.
The basics of an Oklahoma oil and gas lease: lessor and lessee, cash bonus and royalty (1/8th or 3/16th), primary and secondary term, and the legal description.
Older commentary on the Oklahoma oil and gas business. Some of it aged well, some of it is a time capsule. All of it is honest.
OIPA, now OKOGA, backed House Bill 2150 to let mineral owners sue cities over drilling rules, a year after siding with a city against an independent operator.
Shale investors are demanding dividends, per Reuters. Why paying out cash instead of reinvesting it can push oil and gas companies back toward the debt markets.
Here are a few links that Berlin read over the weekend that will be of interest:
Tom Ward's Mach Resources has partnered with Bayou City Energy to buy and develop in Oklahoma and Kansas, which could mean higher lease bonuses for owners.
Mark Papa of Centennial Resource Development says shale production forecasts are too optimistic. Berlin picks apart his three claims and asks why he stays long.
OIPA filed an amicus brief in Canadian County backing the City of Mustang against Citizen Energy, an independent operator, despite its own 2015 drilling bill.
Somebody owns the oil and gas mineral rights beneath Lynyrd Skynyrds' feet.
Matt Levine on oil company share buybacks: Laredo, Noble and Gulfport buying stock back far below where they sold it, and why Berlin calls them a hustle.
The OIPA lobbies against higher production taxes while spending nearly half its revenue on salaries. Berlin's take on crony capitalism and Oklahoma teacher pay.
Linn, Sandridge and Chaparral in bankruptcy, American Energy Partners shutting down, and Newfield leaving Tulsa for Houston despite its top STACK position.
Chaparral Energy has hired restructuring advisers and delayed an interest payment. Berlin asks whether it is the next Mid-Continent operator to go bankrupt.
A short tribute to Aubrey McClendon of Chesapeake, who pioneered the modern lease play and drove Oklahoma lease bonuses higher than anyone in the last decade.
Linn Energy, operator of roughly 1,484 Oklahoma wells, expects to breach its debt covenants in 2016. What that means for offset operators and partners.
We are the boiling frog. Our liberty is evaporating before us and we are distracted by the promises of entitlements we cannot afford.
A failing Oklahoma City oil firm with billboards and Thunder signage sends a landman to haggle a higher lease bonus for the boss's mother-in-law's 0.38 acres.
Marathon Oil has owned its old TXO acreage in Oklahoma for over 20 years and still protests others at the OCC instead of developing it. If not now, when?