Mineral rights in Alabama are governed by Alabama property and oil and gas law and regulated by the State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama (OGB). Whether a severed interest can lapse from non-use, how oil and gas production is taxed, and how land is legally described all follow Alabama-specific rules — set out below with the Alabama authorities that govern them.
The State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama regulates oil and gas in the state, and its records are the corroborating source we check on every Alabama evaluation. OGB.
A severed Alabama mineral or royalty interest does not lapse, revert, or vest in the surface owner from non-use, however many decades pass, and there is no statutory notice-and-claim preservation filing to make. Alabama also has no general marketable record title act. Severed minerals can in principle be lost by adverse possession of the mineral estate itself, which requires actual, notorious, exclusive, continuous, and hostile possession of the minerals for the statutory period — surface use alone does not suffice.
See which states do have a dormancy deadline.
Alabama collects a privilege tax and a production tax together on one return. Most onshore production carries 6% privilege plus 2% production for 8% combined; the statutory onshore maximum is 10%. The tax is levied on producers in proportion to their ownership at severance, so a royalty owner bears a proportionate share:
Reduced 3% and 2% privilege tiers apply to wells permitted in defined statutory windows, and an 8% privilege rate applies to categories outside the post-1988 onshore rules. Offshore rates are separate and are not stated here because the Department publishes conflicting figures for deep-offshore production. Confirm your own position with a CPA — this is published reference, not tax advice.
Alabama inverts the bargain mineral owners know from Texas and Oklahoma. Producing mineral rights, leases in production, and oil or gas under producing properties are exempt from all state, county, and municipal ad valorem taxation, and the exemption extends to an entire Board-established drilling unit on production from any one well. Non-producing severed interests — including royalty interests — are separately exempted from all state, county, municipal, school-district, and other district ad valorem tax. The trade is a one-time mineral documentary tax paid at recording, running a few cents per mineral or royalty acre depending on the primary term.
Alabama is a rectangular-survey state, but unusually for its size it is surveyed from two principal meridians: the Huntsville Meridian governs the northern district and the St. Stephens Meridian the southern. The two systems abut across mid-state, producing an irregular junction where closure gaps and odd fractional sections should be expected. Metes-and-bounds calls should be anticipated inside the Spanish and British colonial land grants along the Mobile-Tensaw and lower Tombigbee corridor.
Oil and gas activity in Alabama is concentrated in these plays and basins:
The facts above — who regulates, whether an idle interest can lapse, how production is taxed, and how land is described — are the Alabama-specific rules that shape what you own and how it is protected. For the doctrines behind them see oil and gas law and the rule of capture; to compare states, see mineral rights by state. Buckhead Energy buys Alabama mineral and royalty interests and prices them on the same regulator and production records described here. This is educational background, not legal advice; Alabama oil and gas law is fact-specific, so consult a qualified Alabama attorney about your interest.
Alabama Mineral Rights & Counties
Oil & Gas Encyclopedia — all terms
Educational information only — not legal, tax, or investment advice. Consult a qualified attorney, CPA, or landman about your specific situation.
Buckhead Energy buys mineral and royalty interests in Alabama — producing or non-producing — and prices them on the same public regulator and production records described here. Buckhead Energy is a direct buyer, not a broker: a free written offer, buyer-paid closing, and no commission.
A severed Alabama mineral or royalty interest does not lapse, revert, or vest in the surface owner from non-use, however many decades pass, and there is no statutory notice-and-claim preservation filing to make. Alabama also has no general marketable record title act.
State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama. The State Oil and Gas Board of Alabama regulates oil and gas in the state, and its records are the corroborating source we check on every Alabama evaluation.
Alabama collects a privilege tax and a production tax together on one return. Most onshore production carries 6% privilege plus 2% production for 8% combined; the statutory onshore maximum is 10%.
Alabama is a rectangular-survey state, but unusually for its size it is surveyed from two principal meridians: the Huntsville Meridian governs the northern district and the St. Stephens Meridian the southern. The two systems abut across mid-state, producing an irregular junction where closure gaps and odd fractional sections should be expected.
Buckhead Energy buys mineral and royalty interests across all 50 states and has completed acquisitions in 33 states. Buckhead Energy is a direct buyer, not a broker — we purchase mineral and royalty interests with our own capital. Buckhead Energy has been buying mineral and royalty interests since 2006. Buckhead Energy holds an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau.
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