Your Year-End Oil & Gas Checkup

Royalties, Lease Terms, and Questions Worth Asking

By Christopher M. White, EQUES Law Group

Your royalty check is smaller than it was last month. Was less gas sold? Did the price drop? Did the company add a charge or change the share it pays you? Start with two things you may already have on hand, your royalty statements and your signed lease.

Gross or net? Start with what your lease says

A royalty is a share of the oil or gas produced, or of the money it brings in. The royalty rate is only part of the math. The lease also tells you what amount the rate applies to.

A gross royalty generally starts with the full amount the lease uses to value the sale, before the costs at issue are taken out. A net royalty is based on what’s left after costs allowed by the lease are taken out.

Say a sale brings in $1,000 and your share is 20%. In this simple example, the gross royalty is $200 before taxes. If the net lease allows $100 in costs to come out first, the royalty is 20% of $900, or $180 before taxes.

Read the full royalty section and any changes made to it. Words like “at the well” can affect where the oil or gas is valued. The lease may also have separate rules for taxes or for costs like moving gas by pipeline or processing it for sale. If a fee appears for the first time, ask what it covers, how it was figured, and which part of your lease allows it. Ohio Supreme Court’s Lutz decision

Who owns the minerals, and who gets the check?

Owning the land, owning the oil and gas beneath it, and having the right to a royalty check are three different things. A mineral owner can usually lease the oil and gas rights, subject to any lease already in place. The lease may give that owner a share of the proceeds. But a deed can also let someone sell the minerals and keep a share of future royalties. That person may still get checks after the sale. Ohio appeals court decision on a separate royalty right

Before setting up or changing payments, the company that pays you may check recorded deeds, leases, and court records showing who inherited an interest. It may send you a division order, a form that lists the share it plans to pay you for a well or group of wells. That share often appears as a small decimal. The form shows what the company has on its books. The deeds, leases, and other records are what you need to check whether that share is right.

What to ask the company

If a check stops after a death or sale, ask the company’s owner relations team whether money is being held, how much is on hold, and what records it needs to release it. If the decimal changes, ask the company to show its math in writing. Gulfport owner relations guide

What changed in Ohio in 2026?

Through November 8, 2026, Ohio’s highest court had yet to set a new statewide rule on which costs can come out of a landowner’s lease royalty. The wording of your lease still matters.

A case about costs is still open. In June, the Ohio Supreme Court heard Gateway Royalty v. EAP Ohio. The case asks whether a company can deduct costs it incurs after oil or gas comes out of the ground when the agreement says nothing about those costs. It deals with an overriding royalty, which comes out of the oil and gas company’s interest in the lease. A landowner’s lease royalty comes from a different part of the deal. Ohio Supreme Court docket

An old deed settled how royalties were split. In October, an Ohio appeals court upheld a ruling that a 1921 deed let the sellers keep half of the royalty set by the lease. One side had argued for a fixed share of one-sixteenth of production. The court also held that, under the leases in that case, reducing later checks to account for earlier overpayments did not count as demanding a refund. EQUES Law Group represented the Ward heirs in the appeal. If you see a large adjustment, ask which months it covers and what led to it. Marty v. ODMA Resources

A settlement followed a ruling on specific lease terms. In August, a federal judge approved a settlement for a group of Antero royalty owners. In a related case in 2025, a federal appeals court ruled that the lease terms at issue did not let Antero charge those owners for certain costs of processing and separating raw gas. If you spot a similar charge, pull out your own lease and look for what it says about those costs. 2025 appeals ruling  ·  Signed 2026 settlement order

Put your year-end records in one place

·       Sort your statements by well and by the month the oil or gas was produced. Compare the amount sold, price, payment decimal, taxes, and fees. Circle missing months, new charges, and changes to past payments. Ohio law lets natural gas royalty owners ask for certain price and volume records. Ohio Revised Code § 1509.30

·       Read this year’s notices with your lease in hand. Look for changes to which wells or acres are grouped together, lease extension dates, and requests for your signature. Check what the lease requires of you and the company. Mark any deadline, where a reply must go, and how it must be sent.

·       Write down what’s still wrong on the land. If an access road was damaged, a gate was left open, or a field still won’t drain, take dated photos. Mark the spot on a map. Save the surface-use agreement or easement, any repair promises, and the dates you called or wrote.

If a payment still doesn’t add up or a land issue remains open, bring an oil and gas attorney your signed lease and any changes, relevant deeds or inheritance records, division orders, statements, and letters or emails from the company. Include photos or maps if the issue is on the land. A short timeline helps. Start with the last check that looked right or the date the problem began. Flag any deadline near the top.

EQUES Law Group helps Ohio landowners review royalty payments, lease terms, and surface-use concerns. EQUES Oil & Gas