Mineral Rights Buyers in 2023
Many mineral owners receive plenty of solicitations when it comes to those wanting to buy their minerals - phone calls, letters, etc. A simple Google search will offer you numerous options for companies that buy minerals. But these buyers are often just looking to acquire your valuable mineral assets for far less than they are worth in order to make a quick buck. LandGate can help you dodge ill-intentioned buyers by arming you with the knowledge of what your minerals are truly worth, so you don’t have to settle for buyers who offer less.
Who Buys Mineral Rights?
You may be approached by a few different classifications of mineral rights buyers, some willing to pay what your mineral rights are worth, others looking to make a quick buck. Mineral buyers include individuals, companies, operators, and flippers. It’s important to be able to identify a legitimate buyer so you aren’t paid less than market value for your oil and gas rights.
Individual Mineral Rights Buyers
Wealthy individuals who own a variety of assets may turn to investing in mineral rights as a way to diversify their portfolios. Others may be looking for oil and gas royalties as supplemental income.
Companies Who Buy Mineral Rights
Both private companies and private equity-backed companies invest in mineral rights ownership. Private companies often have an in-house team of experts that know how to buy mineral rights and will work on behalf of wealthy investors that don’t have the expertise to source mineral deals on their own. Equity-backed companies, on the other hand, get their funding from Wall Street or other private equity-backed funds and are generally focused on very specific locations.
Operators
An Operator is an oil and gas company that will be responsible for the exploration, development, and production of your mineral rights, essentially the boots on the ground. They will serve as the decision-maker on drilling operations. Operators may approach you to purchase your mineral rights and may actually be planning to drill very soon. Many of these operators may give you the option to either lease your mineral rights or sell your mineral rights. For example, they may offer to pay you $300/acre to lease or $800/acre to sell you minerals. Although $800/acre is very attractive, it could still be well below market value.
Flippers
Mineral owners: beware of the flipper. Flippers might seem like legitimate buyers when they approach you. Most flippers are looking to lock you into a contract paying the lowest possible price per acre for your mineral rights so they can turn around and sell that contract for more money to a legitimate buyer such as those mentioned above. That money should be yours.
Some Buyers Take Advantage of Mineral Owners
What do mineral buyers know that you don't know?
Mineral buyers know oil and gas pricing trends. But they are also aware of current and future drilling plans in and around your minerals. Most mineral rights owners do not live near their minerals and have no idea how many wells have recently been permitted by operators with plans to drill and produce in the near future. However, mineral buyers and LandGate know exactly what activity is soon to be taking place on your minerals. Mineral buyers will want to buy your minerals before future wells are drilled and watch the value of their newly acquired minerals increase exponentially. As we mentioned, not all mineral buyers are looking for a fair transaction, and it’s important mineral owners protect themselves from lowball offers. Mineral owners that are being lowballed often don’t know they are missing out on potentially millions of dollars because they aren’t informed when it comes to the value of their mineral rights.
The best weapon against this is knowledge. Know the value of your mineral rights, pay attention to what you are signing, and understand the mineral deed provisions and documents involved in mineral rights transactions.
Selling Mineral Rights with LandGate
LandGate wants to protect mineral owners from accepting less than their mineral rights are worth. With our LandEstimate™, we can provide an accurate estimate so you know if that letter in the mail offering you X amount for your mineral rights is worth paying attention to. Better yet, you can list your mineral rights on our leading property rights marketplace to immediately access thousands of mineral rights buyers willing to pay you what your minerals are worth. Why accept less? Simply locate your property on our map and generate your free Property Report to see your LandEstimate™. From there, it’s easy to list if you decide you want to lease or sell your mineral rights with LandGate.
