Selling Part of Your Mineral Rights: Ways to Sell Some and Keep the Rest

Selling part of your mineral rights is possible because ownership of mineral rights may be divided in many ways, including by percentage or by certain rights (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Sep 2018). An owner can sell an undivided share such as half, some tracts, some depths, or the royalty alone. Of 148 buyer, broker and listing sites in a public directory of mineral buyers, 68 say an owner can sell part of an interest and 31 word it as their own offer (AMR buyer ledger, Oct 2026).

This page covers what each structure keeps, who leases the part kept, deed wording that carried more than an owner meant, and when a severed interest can lapse, then quotes buyer sites and gives a worksheet for offers on different shares. The legal points come from Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Ohio sources and differ by state. American Mineral Registry, which publishes this page, also buys mineral interests and is not listed.

What are the ways to sell part of your mineral rights?

There are four ways to sell part of a mineral interest: an undivided share, chosen tracts, chosen depths or formations, or the royalty alone. Extension and Real Estate Center guidance covers shares and royalty deeds; selling by depth is described only on buyer sites.

Can you sell a percentage and keep the rest?

Yes. A share sold this way is an undivided part of the whole, so buyer and seller then own the tract together in proportion. The net mineral acre and net royalty acre reference shows how such a share is measured.

• Oklahoma State University Extension says Tenants in common own an undivided interest in the property respectively. They may own equal or unequal shares. (Oklahoma State University Extension, Feb 2017).
• Any co-owner in common can force a division: any cotenant may ask a court to partition or divide the property. This is an absolute right even if the other tenants in common do not wish to have the property divided. (Oklahoma State University Extension, Feb 2017).
• Where owners hold as joint tenants instead, the transfer of a share without transferring all of the shares destroys the joint tenancy concerning the share transferred. (Oklahoma State University Extension, Feb 2017).

Can you sell some tracts and keep others?

Yes, when the deed describes only the tracts being sold. The deed's land description, not the offer letter, sets which tracts pass. AMR's guide to comparing mineral rights offers covers the Texas rules for mailed offers.

• Berlin Royalties, a buyer, says Yes. Plenty of our sellers keep a portion, sell one county out of several, or sell producing interests and keep non-producing acreage. (Berlin Royalties, Oct 2026).
• The Texas A&M Real Estate Center found mailed offers where the cover letter named one lease while the mineral deed accompanying the offer letter conveys all the seller’s mineral interest in the entire county. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).

Can you sell some depths and keep others?

Buyer sites say so; no government or extension guide we found explains selling by depth or formation. Both statements below are from buyers.

• Oklahoma Minerals says You can also sell your interest in specific formations or depths while retaining rights to others, though this type of “depth severance” is less common and more complex. (Oklahoma Minerals, archived FAQ, May 2026).
• Pointer Minerals says you can sell a portion of your ownership or a specific formation while retaining the rest (Pointer Minerals, Oct 2026).

What does selling only the royalty keep?

A royalty deed sells a share of production and leaves the right to lease, the bonus, the delay rentals and the right to enter with the seller. How large a share the buyer receives depends on how the deed words the fraction.

What stays with you under a royalty deed?

The right to lease and the bonus and rental payments that come with it, unless the deed provides otherwise.

• The Texas A&M Real Estate Center says Royalty deeds involve the purchase and conveyance of all or a part of the royalty interest. The other four rights remain with the seller, assuming the seller owns all the minerals. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).
• NARO defines a nonparticipating royalty interest as A royalty interest carved out of the mineral estate that does not share in bonus or rental payments and has no executive rights. (NARO, Oct 2026).
• NARO adds: A Non-Participating Royalty Interest is created or reserved by an instrument and normally carries a share of production without the right to lease or receive lease bonus or delay rentals, unless the instrument provides otherwise. (NARO, Oct 2026).

Is it a fraction of royalty or a fractional royalty?

The wording decides whether the buyer's share moves with each new lease. A fraction of the royalty floats with the lease royalty; a fractional royalty is a fixed share of production.

• Under a fraction of royalty deed, If the seller reserves a one-fifth royalty in a lease, the seller receives one-tenth of the production and the purchaser the other one-tenth. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).
• Under a fractional royalty deed, The recipient of a fractional-royalty deed has the right to receive the specified amount of production from the property regardless of the size of royalty negotiated in the lease. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).
• Texas A&M AgriLife calls the first kind a floating royalty: a floating royalty is calculated by multiplying the royalty fraction by the royalty rate agreed to in an oil and gas lease. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Aug 2015).
• It calls the second a fixed royalty: A royalty based upon a fixed fraction of total production (“fixed royalty”) is based upon a set fraction of production of minerals produced from the land, regardless of the percentage royalty that may be negotiated in a subsequent oil or gas lease. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Aug 2015).

Does a sold royalty last forever?

Not always. One form is tied to the present lease and one lasts beyond it; read the deed to see which you are being offered.

• One form of royalty deed sells income from the present lease: One is an assignment of the right to receive future income (or royalty) from the present lease. When the lease expires, the assigned interests may revert to the owner, depending on the wording of the deed. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).
• The other form does not end with the lease: The second type of royalty deed conveys a permanent royalty, which extends beyond the present oil and gas lease. (Texas A&M Real Estate Center, Jul 2005).

Who leases the part you keep?

Under the general Texas rule each co-owner of an undivided interest leases its own share. Where the executive right has been split off, one holder signs the lease for everyone and owes the others a duty of good faith.

Does each co-owner lease its own share?

In Texas, yes, unless the executive right has been severed. Other states set their own rules.

• Texas A&M AgriLife says The general rule is that each A, B, and C hold their own executive rights and can lease their portion to an oil or gas company as they wish. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Apr 2015).

What if the executive right is split off?

Then one holder leases for all, and Texas courts hold that holder to a duty owed to the others.

• Sometimes, however, these rights can be severed such that one person holds the executive right for all mineral owners in the tract who will receive the royalty negotiated by that executive rights holder. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Apr 2015).
• Texas courts have long recognized that an executive rights holder owes a duty of “utmost good faith and fair dealing” when negotiating or signing a lease agreement. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Apr 2015).
• In a 2019 case a trial court awarded $867,654.32 against an executive holder that refused a lease the other owners wanted, and the Texas Supreme Court affirmed; its standard is that the holder is prohibited from engaging in acts of self-dealing that unfairly diminish the value of the non-executive interest. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Apr 2019).

How does the deed keep the part you meant to keep?

The deed, not the offer letter, decides what is sold. Texas sources show three ways deed wording has carried more than an owner meant: silence about minerals, a description covering a whole county, and old fractions read in their historical sense.

What if the deed says nothing about the minerals?

In Texas the minerals pass with the land unless the deed reserves them, so a share meant to be kept has to be written into the contract and the deed.

• Remember that under Texas law, where a property is transferred without reference to the mineral rights, the conveyance includes all real property that the grantor had, including all mineral rights held by the grantor. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, May 2014).
• Texas A&M AgriLife advises: It is critical that any mineral reservation be set forth in both the contract and deed in a clear and unambiguous language. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, May 2014).

How are old fractions read?

By what the words meant when they were written.

• In a dispute over a 1924 reservation, the Texas Supreme Court held that an accurate construction of the 1924 text requires us to accept that the equation ‘one-half of one-eighth’ equals one-half of the mineral estate. (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Feb 2023).

Can the part you keep lapse?

In some states a severed mineral or royalty interest can end if it goes unused, and that applies to a share sold and a share kept alike. Louisiana sets ten years of nonuse for both servitudes and royalties.

What does Louisiana provide?

Ten years of nonuse ends both a mineral servitude and a mineral royalty. Production can interrupt that clock; an attorney can say whether it has.

• La. R.S. 31:80 says A mineral royalty is the right to participate in production of minerals from land owned by another or land subject to a mineral servitude owned by another. (La. R.S. 31:80, Oct 2026).
• La. R.S. 31:27 provides A mineral servitude is extinguished by: (1) prescription resulting from nonuse for ten years; (La. R.S. 31:27, Oct 2026).
• La. R.S. 31:85 provides A mineral royalty is extinguished by: (1) prescription resulting from nonuse for ten years; (La. R.S. 31:85, Oct 2026).

What happened to a half royalty sold in Ohio in 1902?

Ohio's highest court held that either of two statutes could end it, depending on the facts. AMR's reference on whether mineral rights expire covers the lapse rules state by state.

• In 1902 an Ohio couple sold one half of the royalty under 66 acres in Monroe County, and the surface later changed hands without mentioning it (Ohio State University Extension, Jan 2021).
• Ohio State University Extension reports on the case: The Court ultimately held that a mineral interest holder’s interest may be extinguished by the Marketable Title Act or deemed abandoned by the Dormant Mineral Act, depending on the surrounding circumstances. (Ohio State University Extension, Jan 2021).

Do mineral buyers buy part of an interest?

68 of the 148 directory buyer sites read say an owner can sell part of an interest. 31 word it as their own offer to buy part, 37 say only that an owner can sell part, and 80 say nothing about it on the pages read.

Which buyers say they buy part of an interest?

31 sites word partial purchase as the firm's own offer or practice. Each quote is from the firm's own site, cut at 30 words.

Which sites say only that an owner can sell part?

37 sites say an owner can sell part, or recommend it, without saying the firm itself buys part.

Which buyers name a unit, a term or a typical share?

Five sites name a unit, a term or a typical share. None publishes how often its sellers choose it.

• Overland Minerals & Royalties says You can sell a portion of your oil and gas royalties either by percentage or by net mineral acres. (Overland Minerals & Royalties, LLC, Oct 2026).
• RRIG Energy says We offer customizable solutions including full or partial interest purchases, term-limited options, and opportunities to participate in future development (RRIG Energy (Recurring Revenue Investment Group), Oct 2026).
• Buckhead Energy says Partial sales (25%, 50%, 75%) allow you to access significant capital while retaining some ongoing royalty income. (Buckhead Energy, LLC, Oct 2026).
• Blue Mesa Minerals says Absolutely. You can sell any percentage of your mineral rights (it is common to sell 50%). (Blue Mesa Minerals LLC, Oct 2026).
• Haystack Minerals says Absolutely you can sell a portion. It’s common for folks to sell 50% to diversify and retain the other half for the future. (Haystack Minerals, Oct 2026).

How do you compare offers for different shares?

Divide each written offer by the percent of the interest it buys and by the months of income it replaces. That shows whether a buyer pays more or less per share for a smaller part.

What does the worksheet calculate?

Cash now, the royalty kept each month, the offer per 1% sold, and the offer as months of the income sold. It assumes every part pays the same, which holds for an undivided share of the same wells but not for tracts or depths sold apart, and it leaves out discounting, fees and tax, which the sell or keep worksheet, the fee reference and the tax questions page cover.

• In the worked example, a $400 monthly royalty with offers of $9,000 for 25%, $19,200 for 50% and $40,800 for 100% gives 90, 96 and 102 months of the income sold (American Mineral Registry, partial sale worksheet, Oct 2026).
• Royalty kept falls from $300 to $200 to nothing a month across the three offers (American Mineral Registry, partial sale worksheet, Oct 2026).
• The worksheet runs in the browser, and nothing typed into it is sent or stored (American Mineral Registry, partial sale worksheet, Oct 2026).

How is a part priced against the whole?

No public guide we found sets a rule for it, so the price for a quarter share cannot be assumed to be a quarter of the price for all of it. Most sites that offer partial purchases publish no pricing method.

• Magnolia Minerals Trust says Magnolia can purchase either all or a prorated portion of your interest for a mutually agreed-upon price per net mineral acre. (Magnolia Minerals Trust, LLC, Oct 2026).
• Berlin Royalties lists partial sales among the questions to ask any buyer: Can I sell part of my interest instead of all of it? All-or-nothing pressure serves the buyer. (Berlin Royalties, Oct 2026).

Methodology and Sources

Legal points come from university extension services, the Texas A&M Real Estate Center, NARO and the Louisiana Mineral Code, each read in full on October 8, 2026 and quoted word for word. Texas points rest on Texas A&M AgriLife summaries of court opinions; the opinions themselves were not read. The Louisiana articles and the Oklahoma Minerals FAQ were read from Internet Archive captures because the live pages did not load. Buyer counts come from AMR's census of the 289 entries in Valor's public mineral buyer directory, of which 148 had a reachable site of a firm that buys, brokers, auctions or lists mineral interests; each site was sorted by what its own quote says, under rulings written before counting. American Mineral Registry also buys mineral interests and is not listed.

Glossary

• Undivided interest: a share of the whole tract, such as one half, owned in common with the other owners rather than a marked off part.
• Tenants in common: co-owners who each hold an undivided share, in equal or unequal parts.
• Joint tenancy: co-ownership in which a surviving owner takes a deceased owner's share.
• Partition: a court ordered division of co-owned property, in kind or by sale.
• Executive right: the right to sign an oil and gas lease for a mineral interest.
• Mineral deed: a deed that conveys the minerals with all the rights that go with them.
• Royalty deed: a deed that conveys a share of production and leaves the other rights with the seller.
• Nonparticipating royalty interest: a royalty that shares in production but not in bonus, rentals or the right to lease.
• Floating royalty: a deed fraction multiplied by whatever royalty the lease sets.
• Fixed royalty: a set share of production that does not change with the lease royalty.
• Depth severance: a sale of some depths or formations while the seller keeps the others.

Sources

• American Mineral Registry: Mineral buyer disclosure ledger, CSV
• Aegis Energy Partners, LLC
• Alamo Mineral Buyers
• Allegro Mineral Partners LLC
• America's Choice Royalty Services
• American Land and Minerals LLC
• American Mineral Registry: Partial sale worksheet
• American Mineral Solutions
• Appalachian Mineral Partners, LLC
• Arbuckle Resources
• Aspen Grove Royalty Company, LLC
• Aspen Royalty, LLC
• Atlas Royalties LLC
• Berlin Royalties
• Berlin Royalties: Questions to ask
• BHCH Mineral, LTD
• Black Hawk Mineral Partners, LLC
• Blue Flame Minerals
• Blue Mesa Minerals LLC
• Bridge Minerals, LLC
• Buckhead Energy, LLC
• Caple Royalty Services, LLC
• Carrollton Mineral Partners
• Cavallo Mineral Partners, LLC
• Clear Fork Royalty, LLC
• Community Minerals II, LLC
• Country Roads Minerals, LLC
• Elk Range Royalties, LP
• Enfield Minerals, LLC
• Expedition Royalty Company
• Flat River Minerals
• Flatland Minerals
• Fort Worth Royalty Company
• Gateway Royalty, LLC
• GRP Energy Capital LLC
• Haystack Minerals
• Kimbell Royalty Partners, LP
• Longhorn Mineral Partners LLC
• Louisiana Mineral Code, La. R.S. 31:27
• Louisiana Mineral Code, La. R.S. 31:80
• Louisiana Mineral Code, La. R.S. 31:85
• Magnolia Minerals Trust, LLC
• Maxima Minerals
• Miller Energy Group, LLC
• Mineral Auction LLC
• Minerals Guy, LLC
• Morningstar Minerals, LLC
• NARO: How to Estimate Your Royalty Decimal
• NARO: Mineral Rights vs. Royalties
• Nickel River Royalties, LLC
• Oak Tree Minerals, LLC
• Ohio State University Extension, Farm Office: Mineral Rights: The Underlying Legacy, Part II (reporting West v. Bode)
• Oklahoma State University Extension: Real Estate Ownership in Oklahoma (fact sheet)
• OklahomaMinerals.com
• OneMap Mineral Services LLC
• Overland Minerals & Royalties, LLC
• Paint Rock Royalty, LLC
• Permico Royalties, LLC
• Pheasant Energy, LLC
• Pointer Petroleum, LLC d/b/a Pointer Minerals
• Potomac Royalty Partners
• Reserve Royalty Company
• Retama Minerals
• Royalty Buyers USA LLC
• Royalty Exchange
• RRIG Energy (Recurring Revenue Investment Group)
• San Saba Royalty
• Silverheels Investments LLC
• Springbok Energy
• Stone Hill Minerals
• Ten Point Minerals
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog (reporting KCM Financial LLC v. Bradshaw, Tex. 2015)
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog: Cases Illustrate Care Needed in Reserving Mineral Rights
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog: Fixed v. Floating Royalty Clauses
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog: TX Supreme Court Addresses Duty of Executive Rights Holder
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, Texas Agriculture Law blog: When 1/2 of 1/8 Not Equal 1/16 (reporting Van Dyke v. Navigator Group, Tex. 2023)
• Texas A&M AgriLife Extension: Determining Mineral Ownership in Texas (EAG-057, Lashmet)
• Texas A&M Real Estate Center: Mineral Sales by Mail (Fambrough), Tierra Grande pub. 1728
• The Taurus Corporation
• Tigerhorn Royalty
• Titan Energy Partners
• Universal Royalty Company
• Venergy Momentum Oil & Gas, LLC
• West Bend Energy Partners
• YMC Royalty Company LP