Compute your decimal interest and estimated monthly royalty from your own acreage, lease, and production numbers — with live WTI and Henry Hub benchmarks prefilled (editable). Your numbers, your math: this is income arithmetic, not a valuation.
Quick answer — How do I calculate my oil and gas royalty?
Looking for what your mineral rights could sell for? The mineral-rights value guide explains the factors a royalty calculation does not capture. To discuss your interest, start an inquiry.
Enter your numbers above — results update instantly. Gross figures, before severance taxes and any lease-permitted deductions.
This is arithmetic, not a valuation. It computes gross royalty from the numbers you enter. Actual checks subtract severance taxes and lease-permitted deductions and use your operator's realized prices. What your minerals are worth also depends on decline, undrilled inventory, and operator — request a free written offer for that number. Educational only; not financial advice.
A written offer prices the whole asset — decline, inventory, lease terms — not just this month's check. Free, no obligation.
Get a Free Written OfferDecimal = (NMA ÷ Unit acres) × Royalty rate × Perforation %
Monthly gross ≈ Decimal × (Oil bbl × $/bbl + Gas MCF × $/MCF)
On a conventional single-section well the perforation factor is 100% and drops out. On a multi-unit horizontal that crosses several sections, it is your section's share of the wellbore's perforations — the piece owners most often miss.
Full walk-through with verification steps: How royalties are calculated →
Decimal interest = (your net mineral acres ÷ the producing unit's acres) × your lease royalty rate. Example: 40 NMA in a 640-acre unit at a 25% royalty = (40 ÷ 640) × 0.25 = 0.015625. It should match your division order.
The calculator estimates gross royalty from your inputs. Real checks subtract state severance taxes and any lease-permitted post-production deductions, and use the operator's realized price (benchmark minus regional basis), which differs from quoted benchmarks.
Use the rate in your lease: commonly 1/8 (12.5%), 3/16 (18.75%), or 1/4 (25%). If you are modeling a new lease, 25% is the owner-favorable target in competitive areas.
Common causes beyond production decline: prior-period adjustments (operators restate earlier months when volumes or prices are corrected, which can cut a check months later), minimum-check thresholds that hold small balances until they accumulate, and wells offline for workovers. If checks stopped entirely, suspense or an operator change is usually the reason — not a dead well.
When an operator discovers it overpaid you in earlier months — a metering correction, a price restatement, a decimal fix — it recovers the overpayment by deducting it from later checks, often shown as negative line items. It is legal and common, but you are entitled to the detail: ask the operator for the adjustment support if the recoupment is large or unexplained.
Post-production deductions — gathering, compression, processing, transportation — come out of royalties when the lease allows them, and older leases often allow a lot. Gas checks in basins far from the benchmark hubs carry both deductions AND a basis differential, which together can take a startling share of the headline price. Your lease language controls; a cost-free royalty clause is what protects the net.
When a horizontal well crosses more than one section, only part of it produces from under your section — so your decimal picks up one more factor: your section's share of the well's perforations. The formula becomes (net mineral acres ÷ unit acres) × royalty rate × your section's perforation percentage. Enter that percentage in the "Perforations in your section" field; leave it at 100% for a conventional single-section well. Ask the operator for the allocation schedule to confirm your section's percentage.
Net royalty acres = net mineral acres × (your royalty rate ÷ 1/8). At a 1/8 (12.5%) royalty, 40 net mineral acres = 40 NRA; at 3/16 (18.75%), 40 NMA = 60 NRA; at 1/4 (25%), 40 NMA = 80 NRA. Buyers quote NRA — normalized to a 1/8 royalty — so acreage compares across different lease terms. That normalization is why a per-acre offer can look low when your royalty is above 1/8: the buyer is pricing your net royalty acres, not your net mineral acres.
No — it computes income arithmetic from your own numbers, not a valuation. What minerals are WORTH also depends on decline, undrilled inventory, operator, and market conditions. For a real number, request a free written offer.
Tired of shrinking checks and mystery deductions? See what a lump sum looks like — a free written offer prices the whole stream, deductions and all.
Buckhead Energy, "Oil & Gas Royalty Calculator" — free decimal-interest and royalty-income calculator with live WTI & Henry Hub benchmarks. https://www.buckheadenergy.com/royalty-calculator
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