Powder River
Basin

The Powder River Basin is one of the largest hydrocarbon basins in the United States, stretching roughly 250 miles north to south through northeast Wyoming and into southeast Montana. The basin is best known publicly for surface coal mining, where it produces the largest share of US coal output. For mineral owners, the more relevant story is the modern oil play developed at much greater depths through horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing.

Modern Powder River Basin development is focused on the southern portion of the basin, where stacked Cretaceous-age formations remain oil-charged. Converse County, Wyoming sits at the geological heart of this play and is the single most productive oil county in Wyoming. Campbell County to the north and Johnson County to the west also host active development, with operator overlap between counties common.

The basin’s principal horizontal targets are the Niobrara, Turner, and Mowry formations. The Niobrara is a calcareous shale at depths of roughly 9,000 to 10,500 feet, currently developed with two-mile horizontal laterals. The Turner is a tight sandstone above the Niobrara that responds well to modern hydraulic fracturing. The Mowry sits below the Niobrara and is increasingly being co-developed alongside it as completion design has improved. Other formations including the Frontier, Sussex, and Parkman provide additional development potential.

EOG Resources holds the largest single position in the basin’s modern pressure cell, with the bulk of its acreage in Converse County. Anschutz Exploration is the most active Niobrara developer in the basin and has reported some of the strongest 24-hour initial production rates in recent basin history. Continental Resources, Devon Energy, and Expand Energy also hold meaningful positions. Several private operators including Sage Butte Energy and OneRock Energy hold substantial acreage in the core.

In Wyoming, Powder River Basin oil development is overwhelmingly concentrated in three counties. Converse County sits in the basin’s geological heart and produces the majority of the state’s oil, with stacked Niobrara, Turner, and Mowry development across most of its area. Campbell County extends the play north and west, with significant horizontal activity on the same formations. Johnson County hosts more selective development on the basin’s western edge, with some legacy production from the older Frontier and Salt Creek areas.

In Montana, the Powder River Basin extends across Bighorn County and surrounding areas. Montana-side development is lighter than the Wyoming core, with horizontal activity concentrated in specific structural areas rather than blanket section-by-section drilling.

Mineral rights in the Powder River Basin’s core counties are typically valued substantially on Niobrara, Turner, and Mowry development potential. Owners with tracts in Converse County and the surrounding core often receive royalty income from multiple wells per drilling spacing unit, with stacked development continuing across multiple years.

The basin’s modern operator base is more concentrated than other basins, with EOG Resources, Anschutz Exploration, and a handful of others driving most activity. Royalty paperwork tends to be cleaner here than in basins with heavy operator consolidation history, but Continental Resources transitioned to private ownership in 2022 and several operators have shifted positions through smaller transactions in recent years.

Wyoming’s permissive regulatory framework matters for mineral owners. Forced pooling thresholds are lower than in some neighboring states, which means operators can move forward with development on spacing units that include your unleased minerals more quickly. The standard drilling and spacing unit is 640 acres, but modern PRB development routinely uses two-section (1,280 acre) and four-section (2,560 acre) units through voluntary pooling agreements. If you receive a pooling notice from the WOGCC, the most useful next step is usually to negotiate a voluntary lease before the hearing rather than letting the default order terms apply.

If you are considering selling mineral rights in the Powder River Basin, the modern oil play makes valuations relatively straightforward to establish. We pull operator activity in your specific spacing unit, identify nearby permits and active drilling, look at lease language, and produce a written analysis of what your interest is worth. We do significant work in the Powder River Basin and are happy to do this for any Wyoming or Montana tract regardless of size.