Mineral Rights vs. Surface Rights: What Owners Should Know

When it comes to oil and gas development, two important property interests come into play — mineral rights and surface rights. While they’re closely connected, and often confused, they represent very different forms of ownership. Understanding the distinction between the two is essential for landowners, investors and other players within the energy industry.

Keep reading to understand the key differences and learn more about the implications they have for property owners.

What Are Mineral Rights?

Mineral rights give you ownership of underground resources such as oil, gas, coal, and other minerals. If you own the mineral rights on a piece of property, you can lease them to an oil and gas company in exchange for royalty payments based on production.

A few important things to know:

• Mineral rights can be separated from the land. Someone else might own the minerals under your property, even if you hold the deed to the surface. This is called a split or severed estate.

• Mineral rights are considered the dominant estate. That means whoever owns or leases them has the legal right to access the surface to get to those resources, even without the surface owner’s consent.

• Mineral owners can see financial benefits from leasing and royalties, sometimes for decades.

What Are Surface Rights?

Surface rights cover everything above the ground. That includes farming, ranching, building homes and other structures, or any other type of land development.

Here’s where it can get tricky:

• If the mineral rights beneath your property are leased or owned by another party, you may have little control over how oil and gas companies handle extraction of resources on your land.

• Even though mineral rights are considered the dominant estate, surface owners still have rights. Mineral owners have to follow state requirements to accommodate surface owners by minimizing disruptions to the surface and compensating landowners fairly for any impact on their property.

• Often, these accommodations for surface owners are outlined in surface use agreements, which dictate drilling locations on a piece of land and any compensation for landowners. These agreements allow mineral owners, surface owners and energy companies to negotiate an extraction plan that benefits all parties.

Why This Matters

The division between mineral and surface rights often surprises landowners, especially those who discover they don’t own the minerals beneath their property. For investors and operators, the distinction shapes negotiations, revenue streams, and land use conflicts.

Understanding how mineral and surface rights interact helps all parties navigate agreements more effectively, reduce disputes, and ensure fair compensation.

Here’s the bottom line — mineral rights give control over the resources below, while surface rights govern the land above. In oil and gas, the two are deeply intertwined, and knowing where your ownership begins and ends can make all the difference.

Are you an owner with questions about mineral and surface rights? Our Land Team would love to answer those for you! Give us a call today!

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