Oil & Gas Royalty Nightmares

What is an oil and gas royalty owner's worst nightmare?  For some, it is being denied the money they are owed.  For others, it is the fear of losing their mineral rights without knowing it.  The rest fear something even worse.

America is the only nation that allows any private person or entity to own mineral resources, known as mineral rights.  In other nations, natural resources are owned only by the government.  Mineral rights include the right to receive a royalty on oil and gas produced from the owner's land.  An estimated 8,000,000 people own mineral rights in America, a low estimate according to analysis of industry data.

The division order analyst is the oil industry professional who most often decides which owners get paid royalties every month.  Their decision is based on legal documents, mostly the ones recorded in the courthouse.  A division order analyst encounters a wide range of owner problems, questions, and unethical behavior in this line of work.  Some of those experiences stand far out from the rest.

This book is a collection of experiences with royalty owners by one division order analyst over a career spanning 40 years.  In it are hair-raising stories of things royalty owners have actually done.  Also in it are stories setting straight some common misbeliefs by some royalty owners.  These are unique, sometimes very personal, stories about royalty owners, their struggles, and oil company misbehavior hidden behind "company policy."

These are true stories that every royalty owner should read.  They should hope that none of these stories happens to them.

58,511 words.