How AMR Research is checked

Evidence labels

Every consequential field carries its own label, because a source for one rule does not prove another. A linked dormant mineral statute says nothing about pooling, tax or surface damages.

Official text cited

AMR read the official text behind this field, whether statute, session law, agency guidance or court opinion, and the record carries a pinpoint citation and the operative words, quoted. It is reference research, not legal advice for a particular property.

Core rule cited

The main rule is cited to official text. One condition of it, such as a notice step, an exception or a later amendment, rests on an unofficial copy or turns on a reading the text alone does not settle, and the record names that condition.

Unofficial source cited

For this release the field rests on an unofficial code publisher or on published commentary, and the record names it. Confirm it against the official code before relying on it.

Pending review

The field is in the review queue for the next release. Values carried from earlier editions are not published as findings.

No statute found

AMR searched the official code and found no statute of this kind. The scope of the search is stated with the field, and other ways an interest can be affected, such as a marketable title act or a tax sale, sit outside it.

How the October 2026 review was done

1. Official text first. For each jurisdiction AMR went to the official code on the legislature or official publisher site, plus session laws, agency guidance and leading court decisions where interpretation changes the answer.
2. Archived official pages where needed. Where a state code site could not be read directly, the same official page was read through the Internet Archive, and the snapshot date is recorded next to the source. A field built on a snapshot says so, because later amendments may not appear in it.
3. Saved text and quoted excerpts. The text relied on was saved with its address and access date, and each source in the atlas quotes the operative words, 60 words or fewer.
4. Every finding traced to its text. Each field was checked against the saved text before publication, and the page shows what it rests on: the citation and pinpoint, the quoted words and the access date, or for a negative finding the scope of the search. Any reader can retrace a finding to its source.
5. Negatives keep their scope. “No statute found” records what was searched. Marketable title acts, tax sales, adverse possession, unclaimed property and title defects are outside this review unless a page says otherwise.

Coverage in this release: 51 of 51 jurisdictions reviewed; 152 of 153 consequential fields (dormant mineral rule, forced pooling and surface damages for 51 jurisdictions) checked against official text or searched in the official code.

How the deceased or unlocated owner review was done

From release 2026.10.1 each jurisdiction carries a record of what its law says when the owner of record has died (deceased), when the current owner’s identity is not known (unknown), and when an identified owner cannot be found (unlocated). It was added on October 6, 2026 after a reader asked what happens when a dormancy clock runs while an interest sits with unidentified heirs and notice goes to a dead owner’s last address.

For each jurisdiction AMR read the nonuse provisions the atlas already cites and searched the official code for mineral specific procedures for unknown, missing or absent owners, such as court appointed receivers, trusts and escrow. It records seven questions: how the nonuse rule treats these owners, heirs and successors, the search required, who must get notice and how, notice by publication, how an owner responds or preserves, and any special mechanism. Every answer is a list of propositions, each with its URL, pinpoint citation, a quoted passage of 60 words or fewer, the date it was read and its scope. Statutes and court decisions are separate propositions, and only decisions that control in the state are relied on; a federal decision applying state law is marked persuasive.

Each question carries one of six labels: Statute, Court decision, Statute and court decisions, Not addressed in the provisions read, Not yet verified or Requires case-specific review. “Not addressed” means only that the provisions read say nothing on the point; probate, quiet title, partition and other general procedures may still apply and were not reviewed. AMR does not assume that a death pauses, restarts or leaves running any period, does not carry one state’s rule to another, and does not calculate a deadline from these provisions. A jurisdiction is labeled Checked only when every question has a source or a stated search.

What the atlas fields mean

Dormant mineral statute (map letter D)

A statute under which an unused severed interest can lapse or be declared abandoned, subject to its conditions.

Prescription of nonuse (map letter P)

Civil law prescription: certain mineral rights end after a period of nonuse unless interrupted.

Tax or work forfeiture (map letter F)

An interest can be lost through unpaid taxes or a failure to work it, under a procedure the statute sets, such as a court petition or a tax sale.

Marketable title act (map letter M)

A title act can cut off older recorded interests unless preserved; treatment of minerals varies.

Registration or claim rules (map letter R)

Interests had to be, or must be, registered or claimed by deadlines the statute sets; loss follows only through the statute's own procedure, not a rolling nonuse clock.

Missing owner procedure (map letter O)

A procedure for unknown or unlocatable owners, such as a trust or receivership, rather than lapse.

No such statute found (map letter N)

A search of the official code found no statute of these kinds; the scope of the search is stated on the state page.

Under review (map letter ?)

Classification withheld until the current rule is confirmed in an official source.

Period

The nonuse period in the statute, where there is one. It is never a deadline by itself: what restarts it, what preserves the interest and who must act differ by state.

Ends without a surface owner step

“Yes” where the interest can end by the passage of time alone, as in Indiana or for Louisiana servitudes; “No” where a notice, a recorded claim or a court action by the surface owner is needed first.

Forced pooling statute

Whether the conservation statute lets the regulator pool or integrate separately owned interests in a spacing unit without everyone’s agreement. Narrow or partial tools are described on the state page.

Surface damages statute

Whether a statute requires oil and gas operators to compensate surface owners for damage. Notice only laws and general tort law are not counted; the state page names them where found.

Why there is no risk score

The June 2026 edition ranked jurisdictions on a 0 to 100 scale computed from category and period alone. It ignored who must act and what preserves an interest, and its ties were ranked alphabetically. Release 2026.10 retired it in favor of comparing the rules themselves. A score of 84 never meant an 84 percent chance of loss, and a score of 0 never meant an interest was safe. See the atlas and the change record.

Dates

AMR keeps different dates apart: the date a source was read, the date a field was reviewed, a statute’s effective date, a dataset’s reporting period, and the date a page was last modified. A redeploy or a design change does not change a review date. The June 2026 edition carried a review date of June 16, 2026 in its data and “July 2026” on its page; that inconsistency is recorded in the change register and does not carry forward.

Agency data

Production figures come from the U.S. Energy Information Administration’s published annual tables, kept with their series identifiers and release dates. Federal revenue comes from the Office of Natural Resources Revenue fiscal year disbursements file. AMR keeps values as published, marks a blank agency cell as not published rather than zero, and states every transformation. These are public domain U.S. government data; AMR’s license covers only its own compilation and text.

Calculators

The royalty calculator uses exact fractions and rounds only for display. The rule finder uses calendar arithmetic on the reviewed rules and never presents a date as a loss. Both run in your browser.

Corrections and updates

Report an error with the research message form, naming the page and the source you rely on. Accepted corrections are listed in changes and corrections with the old and new meaning, the reason and the source. Law records are rechecked at least once a year and when a change is reported; agency data are refreshed when the agency publishes. A release number identifies every published version, and earlier versions stay available.

Limits