Buckhead Energy buys Indiana royalty interests, ORRIs, and NPRIs with our own capital — southwestern Illinois Basin oil and legacy Trenton Field production. Free written offer, zero fees or commissions, closing in 30–45 days.
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Get Your Free Indiana Royalty OfferQuick Answer To sell oil and gas royalties in Indiana: gather your division orders and recent check stubs, request a written offer from a direct buyer, and close by notarized conveyance recorded in the county where the minerals sit. Indiana's severance tax is a "greater of" calculation — 1% of value or a flat per-unit amount — so at any realistic price the 1% leg governs. The critical Indiana fact is its Mineral Lapse Act: an interest unused for twenty years is extinguished automatically, with no lawsuit and no notice. This is the statute the U.S. Supreme Court upheld in Texaco v. Short. Helpfully, paying the county property tax on your interest counts as "use."
There is no single "best" royalty buyer for every Indiana owner, but four filters separate a serious buyer from an intermediary. Is the buyer using its own capital? Will they put the offer and its reasoning in writing? Who pays title and closing costs? And has the buyer checked the 20-year clock? Indiana's lapse is self-executing, so a quiet interest may already have reverted. A buyer who has not run that analysis is not assessing what you own. Buckhead Energy is a direct buyer, buys with its own funds, and pays the title costs.
The classic royalty under a lease on your Indiana minerals — monthly checks from operator production, free of drilling and operating costs.
Carved out of the working interest — common for landmen, geologists, and dealmakers. ORRIs expire with their lease, which makes timing a real consideration. ORRI guide →
Royalty without executive rights or bonus — often inherited and misunderstood. Fully sellable. NPRI guide →
Producing or recently shut-in, whole or fractional, one well or many counties — including inherited interests still in an estate (we handle heirship).
In almost every state, your oil & gas royalty is set by your lease — not by statute. There is no government-set royalty rate for privately negotiated leases.
Indiana can force-integrate you as a cost-bearing participant who shares production after the operator recovers costs; the statute sets an "equitable share," not a fixed royalty (orders often use 1/8).
Source: IC 14-37-9-2 & -3
Typical negotiated lease royalty (market convention, not law): Across the U.S., negotiated oil & gas leases have historically run from 1/8 (12.5%) at the low end to 1/4 (25%) in the most competitive plays, with 3/16 (18.75%) and 1/5 (20%) common in active basins. Your actual rate depends on the play, the operator, the competition for your acreage, and when you signed — not on any state rate.
The petroleum severance tax is computed both ways per return, and you owe the higher. At any oil price above roughly $24 a barrel or gas above about $3.00 per Mcf, the 1% leg governs:
Source: Indiana Dept. of Revenue — Petroleum Severance Tax
Confirm your own position with a CPA — this is published reference, not tax advice.
Indiana defines real property to include an estate, right, or privilege in minerals including oil or gas where distinct from surface ownership, and prescribes a uniform valuation method: average daily production times a Board-established posted price times 365, divided by three to reach assessed value. Schedules are filed per lease with the assessor each year showing each taxpayer's proportionate interest. Notably, the regulation assigns royalty and overriding royalty interests a 1.50 factor over working interests because they bear no part of lease expense — an explicit regulatory acknowledgement that a royalty is worth more per unit of production. Paying this bill also counts as statutory "use" that resets the twenty-year lapse clock.
An interest in coal, oil and gas, and other minerals, if unused for twenty years, is extinguished and ownership reverts to the interest out of which it was carved, unless a statement of claim is filed. The lapse is self-executing: no lawsuit and no individual notice is required, and the U.S. Supreme Court upheld exactly this design in <em>Texaco, Inc. v. Short</em> (1982), holding that publication of the statute itself is constitutionally adequate notice. "Use" is defined broadly — production, injection or storage operations, rentals or royalties paid, operations on a pooled or unitized tract, and <strong>payment of taxes on the mineral interest by its owner</strong>. Because Indiana already assesses producing interests as real property, an owner who simply pays the county mineral tax bill each year is continuously resetting the clock.
Statute: IC 32-23-10
Indiana is a rectangular-survey state. The Second Principal Meridian governs the great majority of the state including all of the southwestern Illinois Basin oil counties, with the First Principal Meridian along the eastern edge. Three colonial-era overlays are described by tract and lot rather than section — the Vincennes Tract in Knox County, Clark's Grant in Clark and Floyd, and the Gore in the southeast.
The DNR Division of Oil and Gas permits Indiana wells and publishes the production records we check on every Indiana evaluation.
Indiana Department of Natural Resources, Division of Oil and Gas →
Predominantly sandstone reservoirs between roughly 1,000 and 3,000 feet, with more than 900 individual reservoirs recognized across roughly 500 fields.
The heart of Indiana oil activity since a 1938 discovery along the Wabash River.
The historic 1886 Ordovician limestone play — largely depleted by around 1910, but it still supports scattered stripper production and creates very old severed-mineral chains.
Devonian shale and CBM in southwestern Indiana, included in reported state gas totals.
Active Indiana royalty counties include:
The lapse is automatic: Indiana's twenty-year extinguishment requires no lawsuit and no notice. Trenton-era chains dating to the 1880s mean many Indiana interests have been quiet for a very long time.
Shallow, mature, stripper-rate: Illinois Basin production is long-lived but small. Steady, and going one direction.
Fractions split across heirs: Interests carved during the Trenton boom have divided many times over more than a century.
Before you sell — or decide not to — read your own income stream like a buyer would: your royalty statement line by line, the full royalty calculation chain, and your trend over the last year. Run your own numbers with our royalty calculator, ground-truth prices against live WTI & Henry Hub benchmarks. The more you know, the better our conversation.
Yes. Under IC 32-23-10, a mineral interest unused for twenty years is extinguished automatically and reverts to the interest it was carved from, unless a statement of claim is filed. No lawsuit and no individual notice is required — the U.S. Supreme Court upheld this design in Texaco, Inc. v. Short (1982). "Use" includes production, rentals or royalties, operations on a pooled tract, and paying the county property tax on the interest, so an owner who pays that bill each year keeps resetting the clock.
Indiana computes the greater of 1% of value or a flat per-unit amount — $0.24 per barrel of oil, $0.03 per thousand cubic feet of gas. At any realistic modern price the 1% leg governs, making Indiana one of the lighter severance states.
Yes, on producing interests, and it is worth paying promptly for two reasons. Indiana assesses minerals as real property using a uniform formula, and paying the bill counts as statutory "use" that resets the twenty-year lapse clock. Indiana regulation also assigns royalty and overriding royalty interests a 1.50 factor over working interests because they bear no lease expense.
Yes. Partial conveyances are routine — many owners sell a fraction for liquidity and keep the rest. The deed simply describes the portion conveyed.
A royalty interest is the income stream only; mineral rights include the underlying ownership with leasing (executive) rights. Both are sellable. ORRIs (carved from leases, expiring with them) and NPRIs (royalty without bonus or executive rights) are royalty-type interests Buckhead purchases regularly.
Often, yes. Small persistent checks — especially from long-lived stripper wells — carry real present value, and administrative burden frequently outweighs modest income for scattered or inherited interests. A written offer prices the whole remaining stream at once.
This page is educational and is not legal, tax, or financial advice. Statutory rates are quoted from the linked issuing agency as of 2026-07-21 and can change by legislative action. Consult a qualified attorney and CPA about your own interest before selling.
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