Buckhead Energy buys Pennsylvania royalty interests, ORRIs, and NPRIs with our own capital — northeast dry-gas Marcellus, southwest wet-gas and NGL acreage, and legacy northwestern oil. Free written offer, zero fees or commissions, closing in 30–45 days.
19 years buying royalties · A+ BBB · funds wired at closing
Get Your Free Pennsylvania Royalty OfferQuick Answer To sell oil and gas royalties in Pennsylvania: 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. Pennsylvania royalty economics are unusual at both ends — there is no state severance tax and no county property tax on the mineral or royalty interest itself, so gross royalty is not eroded by either. What does erode it is post-production cost deductions, which are taken more aggressively in Pennsylvania than almost anywhere else. The deduction language in your lease is the single largest determinant of your net check.
There is no single "best" royalty buyer for every Pennsylvania owner, but four filters separate a serious buyer from an intermediary. Is the buyer using its own capital? If closing depends on them finding a third party, you are working with a broker. Will they put the offer and its reasoning in writing? Who pays title and closing costs? Fees come out of your proceeds. And does the buyer actually read your lease? In Pennsylvania that matters more than anywhere — two identical-looking royalty decimals can be worth very different amounts depending on how post-production costs are allocated. A buyer who prices your interest without reading the deduction language is guessing. Buckhead Energy is a direct buyer, buys with its own funds, and pays the title costs.
The classic royalty under a lease on your Pennsylvania 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.
In Pennsylvania you cannot be force-pooled for a conventional or Marcellus well — the Conservation Law only reaches rare deep sub-Onondaga wells — so if you don't sign, your royalty is entirely a matter of the lease you negotiate.
Source: Oil and Gas Conservation Law § 3(b) (58 P.S. § 403)
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.
Pennsylvania is the only major gas-producing state with no severance tax. Instead, Act 13 of 2012 imposes an <strong>unconventional gas well impact fee</strong> — a flat annual dollar amount per shale well, paid by the producer to the Public Utility Commission for up to fifteen years of the well's life. The amount varies with the well's age and the average annual price of gas. Because it attaches to the well rather than to production value, it is generally not deducted from royalty checks the way a severance tax is in Ohio or West Virginia.
Multiple attempts to enact an actual severance tax have failed, but this is an active legislative topic — confirm the current position before relying on it. Consult a CPA about your own situation; this is published reference, not tax advice.
Pennsylvania is the rare producing state where the royalty interest itself carries no annual county property tax. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in Independent Oil and Gas Association v. Board of Assessment Appeals of Fayette County (2002) that the General County Assessment Law precludes counties from taxing oil and gas reserves that remain in the ground. Note that an earlier Commonwealth Court decision held the opposite and is still widely miscited — it was reversed.
Pennsylvania's Dormant Oil and Gas Act is frequently misdescribed as a deadline. It is not one. There is no lapse period and no forfeiture, and the Act expressly does not vest the surface owner with title. What it does is allow a court to place the interest of an unknown or unlocatable owner into a court-supervised trust so a well can proceed, with bonus and royalty attributable to that owner held by a trustee until the owner is identified and paid. Your title is preserved; only the money waits.
Statute: 58 P.S. §§ 701.1–701.7
Pennsylvania is one of the original thirteen states and was never surveyed under the federal rectangular system. Tracts run in courses and distances from a point of beginning, referenced to monuments, watercourses, and adjoining owners, and are commonly identified by warrantee name and warrant number from the original land grants. There is no township-range-section grid, acreage recitals are often approximate, and older severance deeds may describe a tract only by its neighbors — which is why Pennsylvania title work leans on runsheets and chain reconstruction.
PA DEP permits and regulates Pennsylvania oil and gas and publishes the production reporting we check on every Pennsylvania evaluation.
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, Office of Oil and Gas Management →
The state's dominant play — the northeast dry-gas fairway through Susquehanna, Bradford, Wyoming, and Lycoming, and the southwest wet-gas and NGL fairway through Washington, Greene, and Fayette.
Deep, high-pressure dry gas beneath the Marcellus, principally in southwestern Pennsylvania — often a separate deep-rights value.
Burket/Geneseo, Venango, and Bradford Group objectives, frequently co-developed with the Marcellus.
Venango, Warren, McKean, and Crawford — home of the 1859 Drake well and still thousands of shallow stripper wells.
Active Pennsylvania royalty counties include:
Post-production deductions dominate: Pennsylvania is where deductions bite hardest. Two owners with the same decimal on the same pad can net very different amounts depending on lease language, and a lease with broad deduction rights caps the value of the stream you are holding.
Almost pure gas-price exposure: Pennsylvania royalties are overwhelmingly dry gas, and northeast basis differentials can widen sharply when takeaway is tight. Selling converts that basis and price risk into a fixed number.
Marcellus decline is front-loaded: The best checks arrive early. A strong current statement reflects a well's first years, not its average.
Fractions split across heirs: Northwestern Pennsylvania interests trace back to the 1800s and have divided many times, leaving small decimals with outsized paperwork.
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.
Gather your division orders, three to twelve months of check stubs, and your lease — in Pennsylvania the lease matters more than usual because post-production deduction language drives net value. Request a written offer from a direct buyer, review the purchase and sale agreement, then close by notarized conveyance recorded in the county where the minerals sit. Buckhead Energy handles and pays for the title work and typically closes within 30 to 45 days.
No. Pennsylvania is the only major gas-producing state without one. Instead, Act 13 of 2012 imposes an unconventional gas well impact fee — a flat annual amount per shale well paid by the producer to the Public Utility Commission, varying with the well's age and the average annual gas price. Because it attaches to the well rather than to production value, it is generally not deducted from royalty checks the way a severance tax is elsewhere.
No. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held in 2002 that counties may not tax oil and gas reserves remaining in the ground, so the royalty interest itself carries no annual county property tax. Be aware that an earlier Commonwealth Court decision reached the opposite conclusion and is still widely miscited — it was reversed on appeal.
No. Pennsylvania's Dormant Oil and Gas Act does not transfer dormant minerals to the surface owner and imposes no deadline on owners. A court can place an unknown or unlocatable owner's interest into a supervised trust so a well can proceed, with royalties held by a trustee until the owner is found — but title is preserved.
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.
Sell royalties — national overview · Compare Pennsylvania to another state · Pennsylvania mineral rights · Sell minerals in Pennsylvania
Free written offer with the reasoning explained — no fees, no commissions, no obligation.
Sell Your Pennsylvania Royalties — Free Offer