Sell Minerals
in Pecos County,
Texas.
Pecos County is one of the largest counties in Texas, straddling two Permian worlds: the southern Delaware Basin on the west, with active Wolfcamp and Bone Spring development, and the Central Basin Platform on the east, with deep gas and a century of conventional production. If you own minerals here, where they sit changes everything. Whether you want to sell minerals in Pecos County or simply get a clearer picture of what you own, we are happy to help you understand what you have.
Two Permians in
one county.
Pecos County sits in West Texas and is one of the largest counties in the state, big enough to contain two distinct Permian settings. The western part of the county lies in the southern Delaware Basin, where modern Wolfcamp and Bone Spring horizontal development is active. The eastern part lies on the Central Basin Platform, a structural high with a deep conventional history and its own set of plays. That split is the single most important thing to understand about minerals here.
The county seat is Fort Stockton, a historic crossroads town that has been a hub for ranching and oilfield activity for more than a century. Pecos County's oil and gas history runs deep: the Yates field, discovered in the 1920s on the eastern side near the Pecos River, was one of the most prolific conventional fields in Texas history and still produces today. The modern story adds horizontal Delaware development on the west, deep Ellenburger and Devonian gas plays, and the long tail of conventional production that has run continuously across the county for generations.
If you are reading this, you may own a piece of that. Maybe you inherited minerals through a chain that goes back to old West Texas ranching families or original land patents. Maybe you have been receiving royalty checks for decades from a Yates-area well. Maybe an operator just sent you a letter asking to lease unleased acreage on the Delaware side. This page walks through the rock, the operators, the sub-geography of the county, valuation, and the regulatory landscape including the significant role of University Lands.
Have minerals in Pecos County? Send us what you have and we will take a look.
From modern shale to
deep conventional.
Pecos County's productive geology depends heavily on which side of the county you are on. The western Delaware side carries the modern Wolfcamp and Bone Spring horizontal targets. The eastern Central Basin Platform side carries deep gas plays and a long conventional history, including the legendary Yates field. Many owners hold a stream that reflects this mix.
On the western, Delaware side of Pecos County, the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring are the primary modern unconventional targets, the same stacked-pay column that drives development in neighboring Reeves and Ward counties. Wolfcamp benches and the Bone Spring sands are developed with modern horizontal wells, and activity has extended into western Pecos as operators run programs south out of the Delaware core.
For mineral owners on the western side, this typically means multiple wells per spacing unit drilled over the life of development, with each well a separate revenue stream tied to the same minerals.
The eastern and central parts of Pecos County host deep gas plays, including the Ellenburger, Devonian, and Woodford intervals. These deep, often high-pressure gas reservoirs have been targeted by both legacy vertical wells and selective modern horizontal programs. The Gomez and adjacent fields produced significant deep gas, and the play continues to attract activity where the economics and infrastructure support it.
For mineral owners, deep gas streams carry their own economics, more sensitive to gas and NGL pricing and to processing costs, which makes lease cost-deduction language especially worth understanding.
On the eastern, Central Basin Platform side, Pecos County holds one of the great conventional oil legacies in Texas. The Yates field, discovered in 1926 along the Pecos River, has produced for nearly a century and remains active. Shallow San Andres, Grayburg, and other Permian carbonates produce across this part of the county, often from long-lived vertical wells.
The practical implication for mineral owners is that eastern Pecos minerals may carry decades of steady, mature conventional production rather than modern horizontal upside. Both have value; they are simply valued differently.
Who is drilling on your
Pecos County minerals.
The operator landscape in Pecos County reflects its split geology: modern Delaware drillers on the west, deep gas and conventional operators on the east. The operators below are among the most active, but there are many additional meaningful operators across this very large county.
We know how these operators develop in Pecos County. Happy to give you context on yours.
Not all Pecos County
minerals are built the same.
Pecos County covers roughly 4,700 square miles, one of the largest counties in Texas. The west-versus-east split between the Delaware Basin and the Central Basin Platform defines the mineral picture, and within each side, productivity varies meaningfully. Fort Stockton is the county seat. Where in this very large county your minerals sit shapes everything.
What your Pecos County
mineral rights are worth.
Valuation in Pecos County depends heavily on which side of the county your minerals sit. Western Delaware minerals carry modern horizontal upside; eastern Central Basin Platform minerals carry steady conventional income; deep gas interests depend on gas pricing. The four scenarios below cover what we see most often.
We would rather look at real facts than speak in generalities. Send us what you have.
Texas rules,
Permian realities.
Pecos County operates under the Texas oil and gas regime, administered primarily by the Texas Railroad Commission. The on-the-ground realities reflect the significant role of University Lands as a mineral owner in the county, the long history of Texas common law on mineral and royalty issues, and the practical workings of both the modern Delaware play and the legacy Central Basin Platform fields.
The Texas Railroad Commission and how spacing works
The Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) regulates oil and gas activity in Texas. Pecos County is large enough to span RRC Districts 8 and 8A, which cover the Permian. The RRC permits wells, conducts hearings on spacing and pooling, and maintains the public well database. Texas uses field rules that vary by reservoir, and modern horizontal development on the Delaware side typically uses larger units that match two-mile or longer laterals, while the legacy conventional fields operate under their own established field rules.
University Lands and institutional minerals
The University of Texas / Texas A&M University Lands system is one of the largest mineral owners in West Texas, and Pecos County contains a significant concentration of University Lands acreage. University Lands acreage is leased through a separate process and is held to fund the Permanent University Fund. If your minerals are adjacent to or interspersed with University Lands, the University leasing dynamics may affect timing of nearby drilling.
Texas mineral law and cost deductions
Texas common law treats the marketable-product question differently depending on lease language. Many older Texas leases allow post-production cost deductions for gathering, processing, transportation, and compression. This matters in Pecos given the deep gas and gassier western streams, which can carry meaningful processing costs. Newer leases sometimes include cost-free royalty or "no deductions" language. Reading your specific lease's royalty and cost-allocation language carefully matters in Texas.
Pooling, allocation wells, and PSA wells
Texas does not have compulsory pooling in the same way some other states do, which has led to creative legal structures for horizontal wells that cross multiple tracts. "Allocation wells" and "production sharing agreement wells" are increasingly common on the Delaware side. These structures affect how royalty is allocated to mineral owners along the lateral. Understanding which structure your wells use is worth the time.
The real questions
mineral owners ask.
We have been through these conversations hundreds of times. Below are honest answers to the things people actually want to know. For more, see our frequently asked questions.
Find out what your
Pecos County minerals
are actually worth.
Send us what you have, or what you think you have. We will pull Texas Railroad Commission records, check operator activity in your section, and walk you through what we see and how we arrived at the number. If it makes sense to go further, we move on your timeline. If not, you have a clearer picture you can take anywhere.