Free Mineral Rights Search by State: 12 Official Tools and Every State's Databases

1. The county recorder or clerk, where ownership is recorded

Every deed, mineral deed, lease and probate order is recorded in the county where the land lies, indexed by the names of the parties. Following that chain back to the point where the minerals were split from the land is the only way to prove who owns them now.

Use it for

Who owns the minerals under a tract, and every deed, lease and probate order that moved them

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There is no statewide or national index of private mineral owners; records are county by county, and many counties keep older books offline

Many counties put recent indexes and images online free; older records are often only in the courthouse. AMR’s ownership flowchart takes you through the search step by step.

2. Your state’s oil and gas regulator, for wells and production

Every producing state licenses wells through one agency, such as the Railroad Commission of Texas or the Oklahoma Corporation Commission. Its public search is where a well’s location, operator, permits and, in most producing states, production are published.

Use it for

Which wells are near a tract, who operates them, and what they produce

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Shows wells and operators, not mineral owners; the detail and the download options differ widely between states

The state table below lists the agency and its search for all 50 states and D.C.; on October 5, 2026, 36 of them published their well records online.

3. BLM Mineral & Land Records System, for federal minerals

The Bureau of Land Management manages about 700 million acres of federal subsurface mineral estate. Its Mineral & Land Records System lets anyone research land status and mineral and land activity on a map, and register to do more.

Use it for

Federal oil and gas leases, their status and the land records behind them

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Covers federal minerals only; private and state minerals are not in it, and some research needs a free account

Read on October 5, 2026: mlrs.blm.gov

4. BLM General Land Office Records, for original patents

The General Land Office records portal gives image access to more than five million federal land title records issued from 1788 to the present. A patent that reserved the minerals to the United States explains why a private tract has federal minerals under it.

Use it for

The original federal patent for land in the public land states, and any minerals it reserved

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Shows how land left federal hands, not who owns it today, and covers only the public land states

Read on October 5, 2026: glorecords.blm.gov

5. State land offices, for state owned minerals

Several producing states own large mineral estates, usually school or trust lands, and lease them through a land office or trust land agency. 17 of the 51 jurisdictions put their state owned minerals or the leases on them online; the state table below links each one.

Use it for

Minerals owned by the state itself, such as school trust lands, and the leases on them

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Only state owned minerals; the search tools and their names differ by state

6. RBDMS WellFinder, wells across participating states

WellFinder, from the Ground Water Protection Council’s Risk Based Data Management System, is a free app for iOS and Android and a web app. It shows well name, status, type and location from participating states on a map or as a list.

Use it for

A quick look at wells on a map across several states at once, on a phone or the web

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Only states that take part, with normalized fields; the state regulator stays the record

Read on October 5, 2026: rbdms.org/products/wellfinder and wellfinder.net

7. FracFocus, for hydraulic fracturing disclosures

FracFocus is the national hydraulic fracturing chemical disclosure registry, building its database since 2011. Anyone can find a well in their area, and the full database can be downloaded as SQL.

Use it for

The chemicals used to complete a well, its operator and its API number

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Completion chemistry only, for wells that were hydraulically fractured; no ownership or production

Read on October 5, 2026: fracfocus.org

8. ONRR Natural Resources Revenue Data, for federal and tribal production

The Office of Natural Resources Revenue collects the bonuses, rents and royalties companies pay to produce on federal and tribal land and offshore, and publishes the production, revenue and disbursements. AMR’s federal revenue by state reproduces the state disbursements.

Use it for

Production, revenue and disbursements on federal lands, Native American lands and offshore

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Federal and tribal leases only, reported by state, county or offshore area, never by private tract

Read on October 5, 2026: revenuedata.onrr.gov

9. Unclaimed property programs and MissingMoney, for royalties held

When an operator cannot find an owner, it holds the royalties and eventually reports them to the state’s unclaimed property program. Every state runs a free search, and MissingMoney.com, from the national association of state programs, searches many states at once. The state table below links each official program.

Use it for

Royalty money an operator could not deliver and turned over to the state

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Finds money held for a name, not the minerals; search every state where the owner lived or the operator is based

Read on October 5, 2026: missingmoney.com

10. State geological surveys, for older wells and well logs

In several states the geological survey keeps the deepest well archive. The Kansas Geological Survey, for example, publishes a master list of oil and gas wells in Kansas, and is moving that search to a new tool in 2026.

Use it for

Historic wells, logs and records that predate the regulator’s online system

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Coverage and tools vary by state, and some surveys are moving to new systems

Read on October 5, 2026: Kansas Geological Survey well database

11. EIA, for state and national production

The U.S. Energy Information Administration publishes crude oil and marketed natural gas production for every producing state. AMR’s production by state reproduces the 2024 and 2025 tables with each state’s share.

Use it for

How much oil and gas a state produced, by year and month

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State totals only; nothing about any well or tract

Read on October 5, 2026: eia.gov

12. AMR Mineral Rights by State, for the law on unused minerals

AMR’s Mineral Rights by State classifies the rule on unused minerals in all 50 states and D.C., with forced pooling and surface damages statutes, every field labeled with its evidence and downloadable under CC BY 4.0. It is the source AMR publishes; it is listed last for that reason.

Use it for

Whether a state’s law can end or transfer a severed mineral interest, with the statute quoted

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A law reference, not an ownership search: it tells you the rule, not who holds the minerals