Texas Oil Rights: Ownership, Rules, and Benefits
Most Texas landowners do not actually own the oil and gas under their property. That sounds dramatic. It is also true. Somewhere in your title chain, often decades before you bought the land, the minerals were severed. They became a separate property interest with a separate owner, separate rules, and separate consequences for you. You own the surface. Someone else owns what is underneath. They have rights you cannot see in your deed and cannot fully appreciate until those rights start affecting your property. This article explains how mineral ownership works in Texas, where landowners get blindsided, and why situations that look simple from your kitchen table look very different from inside an oil company’s title department. In This Article: Why Mineral Rights in Texas Are Their Own Universe The Three Categories of Mineral Ownership Fee Simple Mineral Ownership Executive Rights Royalty Interests Where Landowners Get Hurt The Royalty Accounting
