Sell Austin Chalk Mineral Rights | Fayette, Burleson, Lee, Washington, Giddings

Sell your Austin Chalk mineral rights.

The Giddings Field made and ruined more Texas operators than any play in the state, and 4,329 wells are still producing across Fayette, Burleson, Lee and Washington County. Magnolia holds 2,405 of them. Operators are drilling and refracing the trend again, and the offers arriving there are still priced off the last bust.

The Austin Chalk is the play that made and ruined more Texas operators than any other, and it is still producing. 4,329 wells across the Giddings trend, and Magnolia Oil and Gas holds 2,405 of them.

County	Producing wells	Rigs
Fayette	893	2
Burleson	833
Lee	772	1
Washington	413	1
Brazos	351	1
Robertson	308	3
Grimes	258
Dimmit	119	3
Milam	77
Zavala	64	2

Fractures, not rock

Almost everything peculiar about valuing an Austin Chalk royalty comes from one geological fact: production comes from natural fractures, not from the rock matrix.

A well that intersects a good fracture network comes in strong, declines very steeply through its first year, and then flattens into a tail that can run for decades. A well a mile away can be ordinary. There is no smooth average.

That produces two specific valuation problems, and both of them run against the owner:

An offer made in the year after a strong first year is anchored to the least representative twelve months the well will ever have. The income multiple looks generous against a number that was never going to repeat.
An offer made deep in the tail treats a long flat stream as though it were still declining at shale rates, which underprices exactly the part of the well that has the most years left.

Ask any buyer, us included, where on the decline curve they think your wells sit and what decline rate they applied. On a Chalk interest that question is most of the answer.

The Eagle Ford underneath

The Eagle Ford lies directly beneath the Chalk across most of this trend. It is the source rock that charged it, and on a great deal of Giddings acreage it has never been drilled.

That makes it a separate location, and an offer built on your royalty income values it at exactly zero.

Two questions decide whether that matters to you: whether your lease and chain give you those depths, and whether a shallow Chalk well is holding them by production. Neither is answerable from your check stub. Both are answerable from the recorded chain, and we will pull it for you free whether or not you ever sell us anything.

Refracs restart checks

Alongside new drilling, operators have been going back into old Chalk wellbores and refracturing them.

For a mineral owner the important consequence is procedural rather than technical: a refrac requires no new lease from you, no new pooling, and no notice. The first you may hear of it is a check arriving again after years of nothing.

An offer priced off your last twelve months of income cannot see that possibility. It has no term for it. In a trend where refracs are an active part of what operators are doing, that is not a conservative assumption, it is a structural blind spot.

The stopped check problem

So many wells were drilled here in the 1990s, and so many operators have come and gone since, that a stopped Austin Chalk check is more often an administrative event than a geological one. The usual causes:

The Texas minimum payment threshold, holding balances under $100 until they accumulate or twelve months pass.
Suspense, from a title change, an unprobated death, or a decimal question.
An undeliverable address, after thirty years and a move or two.
A payor change nobody told you about.
The well genuinely declined, and even then the wellbore may be a refrac candidate.

The money in the first four accrues and eventually goes to the Texas unclaimed property division. We will tell you how to find it and you keep it. See unclaimed royalties and the royalty statement decoder.

Where to go next

Brazos, Robertson, Madison and Leon Counties
The Eagle Ford, directly beneath most of this trend
East Texas and the Western Haynesville to the north
Texas mineral rights: Fasken v. Puig, Van Dyke, and no state income tax on your gain
The Pugh clause, which decides whether a shallow well holds your deep rights
How mineral rights are valued and when not to sell

Well, rig and operator counts are sourced from Enverus and current as of August 2026. Rig counts are county totals and include wells targeting formations other than the Austin Chalk. Berlin Royalties is a mineral buyer and a landman shop in Tulsa, not a law firm or a tax advisor, and this page is general information rather than advice about your interest.

What's happening in Austin Chalk right now

Active Rigs

306

In the counties where we buy.

Permits, Last 90 Days

2100

New drilling permits in our counties.

Completions, Last 90 Days

106

New wells turned to sales.

Statewide totals for Austin Chalk. Source: Enverus, as of 2026-08-17. Rigs are currently active; permits are those approved in the last 90 days; completions are wells reporting first production in the last 90 days, which lags reporting by state. Activity like this moves mineral value. If it is happening near you, find out what your interest is worth before you take anyone's offer.

What is under an Austin Chalk tract

Austin Chalk

A naturally fractured chalk. Production comes from the fracture network rather than from the rock matrix, which is why Austin Chalk wells behave unlike shale wells: very strong initial rates, a steep first year, and then a long tail that can run for decades. It is also why results vary so much between tracts a mile apart.

Eagle Ford

Directly beneath the Chalk across most of this area, and the source rock that charged it. On a great deal of Giddings acreage the Eagle Ford is a separate undrilled bench, and it is frequently the larger half of what you own.

Buda and Georgetown

The limestones below the Eagle Ford. Older, less commonly targeted, and occasionally severed separately in chains that go back far enough.

Woodbine

Present on the northern end of the trend around Brazos and Robertson County, where it is a genuine separate target.

Where we're most active

Fayette County has the most producing Austin Chalk wells at roughly 893, then Burleson at 833, Lee at 772, Washington at 413, Brazos at 351, Robertson at 308 and Grimes at 258. The trend also runs southwest into Dimmit and Zavala County, where it sits above the Eagle Ford core.

Straight answers for Austin Chalk owners

Is anyone still drilling the Austin Chalk?

Yes, though it is a steadier programme than a boom. There are rigs running across the trend counties, three in Robertson, three in Dimmit, two each in Fayette and Zavala, and one each in Lee, Washington and Brazos. Alongside new drilling there has been renewed interest in refracturing older Chalk wellbores, which matters to you for a specific reason: a refrac requires no new lease, no new pooling and no notice to you, and it can restart a check that stopped years ago. An offer computed off your last twelve months of income assigns that possibility a value of zero.

Why do Austin Chalk wells behave so strangely?

Because production comes from natural fractures rather than from the rock itself. A well that intersects a well developed fracture network can come in at rates that look spectacular, decline very steeply through the first year, and then settle into a long shallow tail that produces for decades. A well a mile away can be mediocre. This has two consequences for valuation. First, an offer made in the year after a strong first year is anchored to the least representative twelve months in the well's life. Second, averages across the play are close to meaningless, and any buyer quoting you one is not looking at your tract.

Who operates in the Giddings Field?

Magnolia Oil and Gas is the dominant operator by a wide margin, at roughly 2,405 producing wells across the trend. Wildfire Energy follows with about 805, then Redbud E and P with 205, Northfield Enterprises with 143, Leexus Oil with 113 and CML Exploration with 90. Magnolia's position came out of the old EnerVest and Karnes County assets and it has been a steady, unflashy developer of the Giddings area rather than a company chasing headlines.

Do I have Eagle Ford rights under my Austin Chalk tract?

Very possibly, and it is the most valuable question on this page. The Eagle Ford sits directly beneath the Chalk across most of this trend and is the source rock that charged it. On a lot of Giddings acreage the Eagle Ford has never been drilled, which makes it a separate undrilled location that an income based offer values at nothing. Whether you hold those depths, and whether an old shallow Chalk well is holding them by production, depends on your lease and your chain. We will read both and tell you, free.

My Austin Chalk check stopped years ago. Is the well dead?

Not necessarily, and this trend has more stopped check confusion than most because so many wells were drilled in the 1990s boom and so many operators have come and gone since. A check can stop because the balance fell under the Texas minimum payment threshold and is being held until it accumulates, because a title or ownership change put the interest in suspense, because an unprobated death sits in the chain, because the payor could not deliver mail to you, or because the payor changed after an acquisition. Only the last reason on that list is the well itself declining, and even then a Chalk wellbore is a refrac candidate. Send us the last statement you received and we will tell you which it is.

What is my Austin Chalk royalty worth?

It depends on where in the decline your wells sit, whether the Eagle Ford beneath you is drilled or open, your decimal, and the price deck applied. Because Chalk wells decline so steeply and then flatten so completely, the single most important thing is which part of the curve your production is on. An interest three years into a long tail and an interest six months past first production can produce identical annual income and be worth very different amounts. Send what you have and we will show you the components separately rather than blending them.