Buckhead Energy buys Michigan royalty interests, ORRIs, and NPRIs with our own capital — Antrim Shale gas, Niagaran pinnacle reef production, and legacy shallow oil. Free written offer, zero fees or commissions, closing in 30–45 days.
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Get Your Free Michigan Royalty OfferQuick Answer To sell oil and gas royalties in Michigan: 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. Michigan trades one tax for another — 6.6% on oil and 5% on gas at the wellhead, but that severance tax is in lieu of all state and local property taxes on the minerals. The urgent Michigan fact is the other direction: an unused severed oil or gas interest is deemed abandoned after 20 years and vests in the surface owner automatically — no lawsuit, no notice required.
There is no single "best" royalty buyer for every Michigan 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? This is the first question in Michigan, not the last — a quiet inherited interest may already have vested in the surface owner on paper, and neither of you would necessarily know. Buckhead Energy is a direct buyer, buys with its own funds, and pays the title costs.
The classic royalty under a lease on your Michigan 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.
Michigan can force-pool you, and pooling orders in practice grant a 1/8 cost-free royalty — but the statute itself fixes no number, guaranteeing only a "just and equitable share."
Source: MCL 324.61513(4)
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 tax is withheld at the wellhead by the purchaser and remitted to Treasury:
Source: MCL 205.303
Source: MCL 205.303
Source: MCL 205.303(2)
Production attributable to the State of Michigan or the United States is excluded, and a 4% rate applies to qualifying carbon-dioxide enhanced recovery projects. Certain Antrim and Devonian shale production tied to a state-sold royalty interest is exempt. Confirm your own position with a CPA — this is published reference, not tax advice.
Michigan statute makes the severance tax in lieu of all other state or local taxes upon the oil or gas, the property rights attached to or inherent in them, all leases or rights to develop, and the values created by them. Two carve-outs remain: machinery, pipelines, tanks, and other operating equipment are still taxable, and the exemption does not relieve corporations from franchise or privilege taxes.
This is the harshest dormancy structure in the country and the reason Michigan deserves attention before anything else. An interest in oil or gas owned by someone other than the surface owner, which has not been sold, leased, mortgaged, or transferred by recorded instrument for twenty years — absent a drilling permit, actual production from the land or from lands pooled or unitized with it, or gas storage use — is <strong>deemed abandoned and vests in the surface owner</strong>, unless the owner records a claim of interest within that period. No lawsuit by the surface owner is required and no individual notice is given. The Michigan Supreme Court upheld the statute in 1980. Note it is limited to oil and gas interests and is not a general all-minerals lapse act. A quiet, inherited, never-leased Michigan interest is the one most likely to have already been lost on paper.
Statute: MCL 554.291
Michigan is a rectangular-survey state surveyed wholly under the Michigan Meridian, with its base line across the southern Lower Peninsula. Both peninsulas key to that one meridian, so Michigan calls do not carry a meridian qualifier the way multi-meridian states do. Private claims survive along the Detroit and St. Clair rivers and around Mackinac from the colonial period and are described by claim number rather than section.
EGLE's Geologic Resources Management Division — formerly the Oil, Gas, and Minerals Division — permits Michigan wells and holds the records we check on every Michigan evaluation.
Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy →
Shallow biogenic gas across the northern Lower Peninsula — long-lived, water-heavy, and the source of thousands of small persistent royalty checks.
Northern and southern reef trends — small, sharply defined, high-rate reefs where spacing and unitization matter enormously to a royalty decimal.
The deepest gas-producing formation in Michigan, across the central Lower Peninsula, producing high-BTU liquids-rich gas.
Older shallow oil pays, with casinghead gas reported separately.
Active Michigan royalty counties include:
The clock runs silently: Michigan's twenty-year abandonment is self-executing — no one has to sue you or tell you. Owners of quiet inherited interests should establish where they stand regardless of whether they intend to sell.
Antrim is mature: Antrim Shale development is decades old and well past peak. Long-lived, but declining, and water handling costs weigh on operator economics.
Fractions split across heirs: Michigan interests carved during the Antrim boom have divided across generations into small decimals scattered over several counties.
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, and more easily than almost anywhere. Under MCL 554.291, a severed oil or gas interest not sold, leased, mortgaged, or transferred by recorded instrument for twenty years — with no drilling permit, production, or gas storage use in that period — is deemed abandoned and vests automatically in the surface owner unless you record a claim of interest. No lawsuit and no individual notice is required. The statute was upheld by the Michigan Supreme Court in 1980.
6.6% of gross cash market value on oil and 5% on gas, withheld at the wellhead by the purchaser, with a 4% rate for stripper and marginal oil and for qualifying carbon-dioxide enhanced recovery. Production attributable to the state or federal government is excluded.
No. MCL 205.315 makes the severance tax in lieu of all other state and local taxes on the oil or gas and the property rights in them. Operating equipment such as machinery, pipelines, and tanks remains taxable, and the exemption does not cover corporate franchise or privilege taxes.
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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