# Oklahoma Pooling Election Calculator

> Free Oklahoma forced-pooling election calculator: enter the options in your OCC pooling order and your net acres to see each option’s cash bonus, royalty decimal and the response deadline. Educational, cited.

- URL: https://www.buckheadenergy.com/oklahoma-pooling-election-calculator
- Publisher: Buckhead Energy (https://www.buckheadenergy.com/)
- Format: full-content Markdown twin of the page (same content as the HTML; site navigation and footer removed)

Breadcrumb: [Home](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/) › [Owner Tools](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/tools) › Oklahoma Pooling Election Calculator

Quick answer — How do I compare the options in an Oklahoma pooling order?

For each bonus-and-royalty option, multiply the **bonus per net mineral acre** by your net acres for the cash bonus, and multiply your net acres ÷ unit acres by the option’s **royalty** for your royalty decimal in the unit (for a multiunit horizontal well, the decimal on that well is this times your unit’s allocation factor). Commission rules require the order to give you **at least 20 days from the date of the order** to respond, unless the Commission directs otherwise. If your order provides for it, an election mailed with a U.S. Postal Service postmark on or before the last day is timely; otherwise it must be delivered in time as the order provides. If you do not respond in time, the order says which option you are deemed to have chosen. Read your order: it controls.

Your interest

Your net mineral acres

Unit acres

Options in the order (bonus per net mineral acre and royalty)

Option 1 bonus per acre ($)

Option 1 royalty

Option 2 bonus per acre ($)

Option 2 royalty

Option 3 bonus per acre ($)

Option 3 royalty

**More options (4 to 6)**

Option 4 bonus per acre ($)

Option 4 royalty

Option 5 bonus per acre ($)

Option 5 royalty

Option 6 bonus per acre ($)

Option 6 royalty

Participation, deadline and default

Well cost the order allocates to your unit ($, optional)

Order’s “Done and performed” date

Days to respond

Option applied if you do not respond

Compare the options

## What each input means

**Your net mineral acres**

Net mineral acres you own in the unit, as listed for you in the order’s exhibit or your own records.

**Unit acres**

Total acres in the spacing unit named in the order.

**Options**

Each cash bonus per net mineral acre and the royalty that goes with it, as the order lists them (enter 0 for an option with no bonus). Up to six.

**Well cost allocated to your unit**

Optional: the estimated well cost the order allocates to your spacing unit, to see your share if you participate. For a multiunit horizontal well, the order should allocate the AFE costs to each unit by its allocation factor (OAC 165:5-7-7(d)); enter your unit’s allocated cost, not the whole well’s.

**Order date and response period**

The “Done and performed” date in the order, from which its periods run unless the order states another effective date (OAC 165:5-1-6(c)), and the number of days it gives you to respond (20 unless your order says otherwise).

**Deemed election**

Optional: the option the order says applies if you do not respond in time.

## The formula

- Cash bonus for an option = bonus per net mineral acre × your net mineral acres
- Unit royalty decimal for an option = (your net mineral acres ÷ unit acres) × the option’s royalty; for a multiunit horizontal well, the decimal on that well = the unit royalty decimal × the allocation factor for your unit
- Participating: your share of the unit = net mineral acres ÷ unit acres; share of the well cost = that share × the estimated cost allocated to your unit (for a multiunit horizontal well, the order allocates the cost by each unit’s allocation factor, OAC 165:5-7-7(d))
- Last day to respond = order date + the response period (the order date is not counted); a last day on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or Commission closing moves to the next business day, and a period of five days or less that would begin on one of those days begins on the next business day (the calculator applies weekends only)

## How to work through an Oklahoma pooling order

1. **Find the options.** The pooling order lists each election: one or more cash bonus and royalty combinations, and the option to participate in the well by paying your share of its cost.
2. **Enter your acres and the unit.** Enter your net mineral acres and the unit acres from the order.
3. **Enter each option.** For each option, enter the bonus per net mineral acre and the royalty. Add the estimated well cost the order allocates to your unit to see a participation share.
4. **Enter the order date.** Enter the date of the order and the response period it states, and which option it applies if you do not respond.
5. **Read the table and the deadline.** The table shows each option’s cash bonus and royalty decimal, and the result shows the weekend-adjusted last day; holidays and Commission closings are not applied. The order itself says how an election is made and to whom it goes (OAC 165:5-15-3(d)).

## Worked examples from official sources

### Two options, 10 net mineral acres in a 640-acre unit

Result: **Option 1: $5,000.00 bonus, unit decimal 0.00195313. Option 2: $3,500.00 bonus, unit decimal 0.00292969. Last day with weekends applied: Monday, November 23, 2026 (day 20 is Sunday, November 22).**

An illustration with round numbers, not taken from any order. The royalty decimal follows the unit-interest definition in 52 O.S. § 87.1(e); the deadline follows OAC 165:5-1-6(a), which omits the order date and moves a weekend last day to the next business day.

[Run this example in the tool](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/oklahoma-pooling-election-calculator?netAcres=10&unitAcres=640&bonus1=500&royalty1=1%2F8&bonus2=350&royalty2=3%2F16&orderDate=2026-11-02&responseDays=20&defaultOption=1#ot-result)

Source: [52 O.S. § 87.1(e) — pooling orders; unleased owners; royalty owner’s interest in the unit](https://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=80530) — Oklahoma State Courts Network (OSCN)

## What a pooling order is

When the owners in a spacing unit have not agreed to pool their interests and someone has drilled or proposes to drill a well, the Corporation Commission, on application and after a hearing, requires the owners to pool and develop the unit as a unit (52 O.S. § 87.1(e)). The Commission sets the options for participation when owners cannot agree (OCC royalty-owner booklet).

Until you elect, or are deemed to elect, not to participate, the statute treats an unleased owner as a lessee for a seven-eighths (7/8) interest and a lessor for the remaining one-eighth (1/8). Once you elect not to participate, you are a lessor to the extent of the full royalty percentage elected under the order (52 O.S. § 87.1(e)).

## The response period and the deadline

A pooling order must give respondents **at least 20 days from the date of the order** to communicate an election, unless the Commission directs otherwise. As the pooling order provides, an election is timely if it is mailed with a U.S. Postal Service postmark on or before the last day allowed in the order, or delivered in time as the order otherwise provides; it goes to the person the order designates (OAC 165:5-15-3(d)). Check which methods your order allows.

In counting the period, the day of the order is omitted and the last day is included; if the last day falls on a Saturday, Sunday, legal holiday or official agency closing, the period runs to the next day that is none of those (OAC 165:5-1-6(a)). The calculator moves a weekend last day for you. It does not know holidays or closings, so check the date against the Commission’s calendar.

You may generally still lease your interest until the 20-day election period in the order has run (OCC royalty-owner booklet).

## If you do not respond

The order provides that a party who fails to elect in time is deemed to have made a particular election, normally a specific cash bonus and royalty. If you elect to participate but do not pay your share of the estimated costs or make financial arrangements in time, the order usually voids that election and deems you to have taken a specific bonus and royalty (OCC royalty-owner booklet).

## Cash bonus, participation and the term of the order

If you elect a cash bonus and royalty, the order states how many days the company has to pay the bonus, and the bonus must be paid even if the well is never drilled or is a dry hole (OCC royalty-owner booklet). The order terminates if drilling operations do not begin within the time it designates, except as to the payment of cash bonuses (OAC 165:5-15-3(a)).

If you elect to participate, the order gives you a set number of days to pay your share of the estimated drilling costs or make satisfactory arrangements (OCC royalty-owner booklet). Costs the order charges are limited to actual, reasonable expenditures, and the operator has a lien on a participating owner’s interest and share of production for costs charged to it (52 O.S. § 87.1(e)).

Bonus, royalty and other payments to owners who are unknown or cannot be located are paid into an escrow account within 90 days after the order (OAC 165:5-15-3(e)).

## Frequently asked questions

### How long do I have to respond to an Oklahoma pooling order?

At least 20 days from the date of the order, unless the Commission directs otherwise (OAC 165:5-15-3(d)). Your order states the exact period. The order date is not counted, and a last day on a weekend, legal holiday or Commission closing moves to the next business day (OAC 165:5-1-6(a)).

### Does mailing my election on the last day count?

Yes, if the order provides for it: an election is timely when mailed with a U.S. Postal Service postmark on or before the last day allowed in the order, or delivered in time as the order otherwise provides (OAC 165:5-15-3(d)).

### What happens if I do nothing?

The order deems you to have made a particular election, normally a specific cash bonus and royalty (OCC royalty-owner booklet). Enter that option as the default to see its numbers.

### How is my royalty decimal under a pooling order calculated?

Multiply the royalty you elected by your net mineral acres divided by the unit acres. That is how 52 O.S. § 87.1(e) defines a royalty owner’s interest in the unit. For a multiunit horizontal well, the decimal on that well is your unit decimal times the allocation factor for your unit: the length of the completion interval in your unit divided by the whole completion interval, unless the Commission adjusts it (52 O.S. § 87.8(B)(1)).

### Is the cash bonus paid if the well is never drilled?

Yes. According to the Corporation Commission, a cash bonus must be paid to those who elect it even if the well is never drilled or is a dry hole, and an unpaid bonus is a debt collected in district court (OCC royalty-owner booklet).

### Does this calculator tell me which option is best?

No. It shows each option’s bonus, royalty decimal and cost share from the numbers in your order, and makes no forecast of production, revenue or value. Read your order and consult an Oklahoma oil and gas attorney before you elect.

## Sources

Each source was read on the publisher’s site on 2026-11-02.

- [52 O.S. § 87.1(e) — pooling orders; unleased owners; royalty owner’s interest in the unit](https://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=80530) — Oklahoma State Courts Network (OSCN)
- [52 O.S. § 87.8(B)(1) — multiunit horizontal well allocation factor](https://www.oscn.net/applications/oscn/DeliverDocument.asp?CiteID=463351) — OSCN
- [OAC 165:5-15-3 (pooling orders), OAC 165:5-7-7 (pooling applications) and OAC 165:5-1-6 (computation of time), Chapter 5 Rules of Practice effective August 13, 2026, as amended September 15, 2026](https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/occ/documents/ajls/jls-courts/rules/2026/Ch%2005%20-%20Rules%20of%20Practice%20-%20eff%2008-13-26-amended%209-15-26.pdf) — Oklahoma Corporation Commission
- [Basic Information for the Oklahoma Royalty Owner (rev. November 2020)](https://oklahoma.gov/content/dam/ok/en/occ/documents/og/pubasst/Royalty-Owners-Booklet-112020.pdf) — Oklahoma Corporation Commission, Oil and Gas Public Assistance

## Machine access

Software and AI assistants can run the same computation with `GET /api/v1/tools/oklahoma-pooling-election` (documented in [the OpenAPI spec](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/openapi.json)) or through the MCP tool `oklahoma_pooling_elections` at `/mcp`.

Educational arithmetic from the numbers in your pooling order; not legal advice and not a forecast of production, revenue or value. Your order controls its options, deadline and deemed election. Read your order and consult an Oklahoma oil and gas attorney before you elect.

## Related guides

- [Forced pooling](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/forced-pooling)
- [What is pooling?](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/what-is-pooling)
- [Force pooling explained](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/force-pooling-explained)
- [Division order decimal checker](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/division-order-decimal-calculator)
- [Compare mineral rights by state (pooling royalty floor)](https://www.buckheadenergy.com/compare-states)

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