What the law says a stub must show
Texas does not leave the stub to the operator’s taste. When a royalty owner is paid from the sale of oil or gas under a division order, lease or other agreement, the payor must put twelve items on the check stub, an attachment or another remittance advice that comes with the payment NRC §91.501 NRC §91.502. The codes on your stub are shorthand for those twelve.
| Item | The stub must show |
|---|---|
| 1 | The lease, property or well name, any identification number the payor uses, and the county and state |
| 2 | The month and year of the sales being paid |
| 3 | The total barrels of oil or the total amount of gas sold |
| 4 | The price per barrel or per Mcf |
| 5 | The total state severance and other production taxes paid |
| 6 | The windfall profit tax paid on your interest |
| 7 | Any other deductions or adjustments |
| 8 | The net value of total sales after deductions |
| 9 | Your interest in sales from the lease, as a decimal |
| 10 | Your share of the total value of sales before any tax deductions |
| 11 | Your share of the sales value less deductions |
| 12 | An address and telephone number for questions |
If you are paid by paper check in the mail, the payor may not move this information somewhere else, such as a website, unless you agreed to it §91.506(b).
Tap a code on a stub
The stub below is made up, but the July 2026 volumes are the state’s figures for a real Midland County lease, multiplied by a sample owner’s decimal. Tap any boxed code or figure to read what it is and where the definition comes from.
ROYALTY CHECK STUB
CHECK 118204 · 09/25/2026
Payor
Owner no.
Property
RRC lease
Sale month
OIL
Interest
Decimal
Volume
Price
Gross
Sev tax
Deduct
Net
GAS
Product
Decimal
Volume
Price
Gross
Sev tax
Deduct
Net
THIS CHECK
Adjust
Held
Interest
Total
Tap any boxed code or figure.
Notice what repeats. The decimal is the same on the oil line and the gas line, because it is your share of the whole lease. The tax is a percentage of the gross: 4.6 percent on the oil line, 7.5 percent on the gas line. The deductions column is where the two lines differ most.
RI, ORRI, WI and NRI: which one are you?
Four abbreviations say who owns what in a lease. A royalty interest (RI) is a share of production or its proceeds that carries no duty to operate the property and normally none of the costs of exploring, developing and operating it EIA glossary. If you own minerals and lease them, or inherited them, this is you.
A working interest (WI) is the right to explore, drill and produce, with the duty to pay a matching share of the costs SLB, working interest. An overriding royalty interest (ORRI) is a slice of production, free of the cost of production, created by the working interest owner and paid out of its share SLB, overriding royalty. Net revenue interest (NRI) is what a working interest owner actually receives once royalty and overriding royalty are taken off SLB, net revenue interest.
RI Royalty interest: 1/4, 25%
Paid to the mineral owner. This is the line on a royalty stub.
ORRI Overriding royalty interest: 1/16, 6.25%
Carved out of the working interest, so it comes off the working interest's share.
NRI Working interest's net revenue interest: 11/16, 68.75%
What is left for the working interest after both. The working interest also pays its share of the costs.
A made-up split: a 1/4 royalty and a 1/16 overriding royalty, each measured against the whole lease. The net revenue interest is what remains: 1 minus 1/4 minus 1/16 is 11/16.
The decimal is your slice. The code says what kind of slice.
If your stub shows a kind of interest that does not match what you own, ask the payor which interest it has on file for you. A wrong code can mean the wrong decimal or the wrong costs.
Barrels, Mcf and MMBtu
Oil is counted in barrels, 42 U.S. gallons each. Gas is counted in Mcf, one thousand cubic feet, and sometimes converted to MMBtu, one million British thermal units EIA glossary. The conversion needs the gas’s heating value, in Btu per cubic foot:
Mcf to MMBtu, an example
Gas sold100 Mcf
Heating value, for example1,050 Btu per cubic foot
100 × 1,050 ÷ 1,000105 MMBtu
The heating value is yours to ask for. Send a certified-mail request and the payor has 60 days to give you a copy of its Form G-1 or a statement with the figure §91.504(b). The Henry Hub price that gas is often compared with is quoted in dollars per MMBtu EIA, Henry Hub.
Glossary: find a code
Search by the code as printed, or narrow by kind. Each entry names its source, and the shorthand is the way stubs commonly print it.
30 terms
Owner number
OWNER NOOWNER #
Who and what
The payor's account number for you. It sits beside your name and taxpayer ID on the division order. Quote it in every call and letter.
On the stub: Top of the stub, beside your name.
Property, lease or well name and number
PROPERTYLEASEPROP NO
Who and what
Where the money comes from. The stub must show the name, any identification number the payor uses, and the county and state (§91.502(1)). The payor's number may not be the Railroad Commission's; you can ask for a report that lists both, by certified mail (§91.504(c)).
On the stub: Under the payor's name, or at the start of each line.
RRC lease number or gas ID
RRCLEASE NOGAS ID
Who and what
The number the Railroad Commission uses. An oil lease number is assigned by the Commission and is unique within its district; a gas well has a six-digit gas well ID. With the county, it finds the lease in the state's production data.
On the stub: Sometimes on the stub, often only in the report you can request from the payor.
Sale month
PROD MOSALE MOSALES DATE
Who and what
The month and year the oil or gas was sold (§91.502(2)). It is not the month you were paid. Unless your lease or another written agreement says otherwise, oil is due 60 days after the end of that month and gas 90 days (§91.402(a)).
On the stub: At the top or beside each line. Check dates come later.
Payor
PAYOROPERATOR
Who and what
The party that pays you: the purchaser of the production, the operator, or the lessee, as §91.401 defines it. When the payor changes, the new one must send you written notice, with its phone number (§91.407).
On the stub: The name at the top of the stub.
Royalty interest
RIROY
Your interest
A share of production or of the proceeds from it. EIA describes it as an interest that carries none of the rights and duties of operating the property and normally bears none of the costs of exploring, developing and operating it, apart from production taxes.
On the stub: The interest or type column. Stubs abbreviate it in different ways.
Overriding royalty interest
ORRIORROR
Your interest
A share of production or its revenue, free of the cost of production, created by the lessee or working interest owner and paid out of the well's revenue by that owner (SLB).
On the stub: The interest column, when you own one.
Working interest
WI
Your interest
Ownership in a lease that gives the right to explore, drill and produce, and the duty to pay a matching share of the costs. After royalties are paid, it shares in production revenue (SLB).
On the stub: The interest column. A royalty stub does not show one.
Net revenue interest
NRI
Your interest
A working interest's share of production after burdens such as royalty and overriding royalty are taken off. It is the percentage of production each party actually receives (SLB).
On the stub: Beside a working interest, not a royalty.
Decimal interest
DECIMALDECINT
Your interest
Your interest in sales from the lease, written as a decimal (§91.502(9)). For a royalty it is the royalty fraction times your net acres, divided by the unit acres. It multiplies every volume and dollar on the line.
On the stub: A long number with eight places, like 0.00097656.
Division order and transfer order
DOTO
Your interest
A division order is an agreement signed by the payee that directs the payor to distribute proceeds. A transfer order is signed by a payee and the new payee, directing the payor to pay another person a share (§91.401).
On the stub: Not on the stub. Your decimal should match it.
Barrel
BBLBBLS
Units
A barrel of oil is 42 U.S. gallons (EIA). Oil volume is in barrels; the stub must show the total barrels sold (§91.502(3)).
On the stub: The volume column of an oil line.
Mcf and MMcf
MCFMMCF
Units
Mcf is one thousand cubic feet of gas; MMcf is one million (EIA). Gas volume is in Mcf, and the stub must show the total amount of gas sold (§91.502(3)).
On the stub: The volume column of a gas line.
Btu and heating value
BTUBTU FACTOR
Units
A British thermal unit is the heat needed to raise one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit (EIA). A gas's heating value, in Btu per cubic foot, turns volume into energy. You may ask by certified mail for the heating value of the gas from your lease; the payor has 60 days to send a copy of its Form G-1 or a statement with the figure (§91.504(b)).
On the stub: A factor near the gas volume, when the gas is priced by energy.
MMBtu
MMBTUDTH
Units
One million Btu (EIA). The Henry Hub benchmark is quoted in dollars per MMBtu. To turn Mcf into MMBtu, multiply by the heating value in Btu per cubic foot and divide by 1,000.
On the stub: The price or volume column of a gas line, on stubs that price gas by energy.
Casinghead gas
CSHDCH GASOIL WELL GAS
Oil, gas and liquids
Gas or vapor native to an oil stratum and produced from it with oil (Natural Resources Code §86.002(10)). EIA also calls it oil well gas.
On the stub: The product column of a gas line from an oil lease.
Gas well gas
GWGGAS
Oil, gas and liquids
Gas produced from a gas well. The statute defines a gas well as one that produces gas not blended with oil at the time, or more than 100,000 cubic feet of gas to each barrel of oil from the same producing horizon (§86.002(5)).
On the stub: The product column of a gas line from a gas well.
Condensate
CONDCNDS
Oil, gas and liquids
Light liquid hydrocarbons recovered from lease separators or field facilities at natural gas wells; it normally enters the crude oil stream (EIA). The Comptroller taxes condensate at 4.6 percent of market value, the oil rate.
On the stub: Its own line, or folded into oil.
Natural gas liquids
NGLNGPLPLANT PRODUCTS
Oil, gas and liquids
Hydrocarbons such as ethane, propane, butane and natural gasoline (EIA). Those separated at a gas processing plant are natural gas plant liquids. A plant-products line pays you for them.
On the stub: A separate line under a gas well, when the gas goes through a plant.
Residue gas
RESIDUERES GAS
Oil, gas and liquids
Natural gas from which the plant liquids, and sometimes other components, have been removed (EIA). It is the gas that goes to the pipeline.
On the stub: The gas line on a plant-processed lease.
Price
PRICEPRC$/BBL$/MCF
The money lines
Dollars per barrel or per Mcf of what was sold (§91.502(4)). Oil can be compared with the month's WTI average and gas with Henry Hub, both from EIA. The payor's own price will differ, so watch whether the gap stays steady.
On the stub: Beside the volume.
Gross value
GROSSGROSS VALUE
The money lines
Your share of the total value of sales before any tax deductions (§91.502(10)): your volume times the price.
On the stub: Left of the tax column.
Severance tax
SEVSEV TAXPROD TAXTAXES
The money lines
State severance and other production taxes paid (§91.502(5)). The rates are 4.6 percent of the market value of oil and 7.5 percent of gas. The Tax Code treats an owner of a royalty interest as a producer for both taxes, and the stub must show the taxes paid.
On the stub: A column or line between gross and net.
Oil-field cleanup fee
O&G REGCLEANUP
The money lines
A small per-unit fee the Comptroller collects with production tax: $0.00625 per taxable barrel of oil and $0.000667 per 1,000 cubic feet of taxable gas. A few cents beside the tax on a stub may be this fee.
On the stub: Next to the severance tax.
Deductions
DEDUCTDEDGATHCOMPPROCTRTTRANMKT
The money lines
Amounts the payor takes out. The stub must show other deductions or adjustments (§91.502(7)). If it does not explain them, you may ask in writing, by certified mail, and the payor has 60 days to answer (§91.504(a)). The short codes usually name the step: gathering, compression, processing, treating, transportation, marketing.
On the stub: A column between tax and net, or several lines under a gas line.
Adjustment
ADJPPAPRIOR PERIOD
The money lines
A change to an amount already paid, or a charge that belongs to another month. The stub must show adjustments (§91.502(7)), and you can ask the payor to explain one the way you would a deduction (§91.504(a)).
On the stub: A line with a different sale month than the rest.
Net value
NETNET PAID
The money lines
Your share of the sales value less deductions (§91.502(11)). The net values of all the lines add up to the check.
On the stub: The right-hand column.
Suspense
SUSPHOLDON HOLD
Holds and interest
Money the payor holds and does not pay. Texas lets it hold, without interest, past the deadline for a title dispute, reasonable doubt about your title or that you authorized the sale of your share, an unanswered title-opinion request, or a child support lien or withholding order (§91.402(b)).
On the stub: A held amount or a message beside a month.
Interest on late payment
INTINTEREST
Holds and interest
If payment is late for any reason other than those in §91.402(b), the payor must pay interest from the end of the time limit at two percentage points above the New York Federal Reserve rate on loans to depository institutions, unless a written agreement sets a different rate (§91.403).
On the stub: A separate line on the month that was paid late.
Under the minimum, accrued
ACCRUEDBELOW MINNO CHECK
Holds and interest
A payor that owes you $100 or less in total may pay once a year, for up to 12 months of accumulated proceeds, and may hold under $10 until production ceases. You can ask in writing for annual payment when the amount owed is under $10, and for monthly payment when it is over $25 but under $100 (§91.402(f)).
On the stub: A stub with an amount but no check.
Three checks once you can read it
- Is the decimal the same on every line for the lease? It should also match your division order. Our guide to decimal interest shows how to rebuild it.
- Is the tax the right percentage of the gross? Oil is 4.6 percent of market value and gas 7.5 percent Tax Code §202.052 Tax Code §201.001. The severance tax check does the division for you.
- Does volume times price equal the gross? Item 10 is your share of sales before tax, so the arithmetic on the line has to close. Walk one line through in how Texas oil royalties are calculated.
When a code is not on the list
Operators can invent abbreviations, so you will meet some that no glossary lists. You do not have to guess. If the stub does not explain a deduction or adjustment, ask the payor to. The request must be in writing and sent by certified mail, and the payor has 60 days to answer by certified mail NRC §91.504. For any other question about a payment, the same kind of request gets an answer within 30 days NRC §91.505. At least once every 12 months the payor must also remind you that you have this right.
A letter to send
Please explain the code “GAS PROC ADJ” and each other deduction or adjustment on the statement for sale month July 2026, property INTERSTATE 8-32 C, owner number 0044817, as provided in Natural Resources Code section 91.504(a).
Keep the certified mail receipt. If 60 days pass with no answer, section 91.507(d) lets you bring a civil action, in which the prevailing party recovers court costs and attorney’s fees NRC §91.507. The guide to Texas royalty owner rights covers the steps. To see whether your stub lines up with the state record, use the Texas royalty audit.