Murphy Expl. & Prod. Co. - USA

The header: who paid you, and for which check

Look for the payor name, your owner number, the check number and the check date. Keep the owner number: every call or letter to the operator starts with it.

What we knowMurphy Expl. & Prod. Co. - USA is Railroad Commission operator 594675. The name on your check may be a parent company or a payment subsidiary.

The property line: which lease this is

Each lease you own in gets its own block, named as the operator names it. That name can be shorter than the state's, or carry a suffix such as a well number or unit letter.

What we knowMurphy Expl. & Prod. Co. - USA runs 246 producing leases across 4 counties, so one check can list many properties. Find yours in the table above by name, or search for the name printed on the stub.

Product and volume: barrels, mcf, and the month

The stub shows the production month (the production month, not the check month), the product and your share of the volume. Divide your volume by your decimal to get the lease total, then compare it with the lease page.

What we knowFor example, open JAMBERS, TURNER UNIT or KONE and read the “oil sold” and “gas sold” columns.

Price: what the operator says it got

Oil is usually close to the WTI benchmark for the month. Gas prices vary widely: they depend on where the gas is sold and on what the operator subtracts before it reports a price.

Deductions: gathering, compression, processing

Costs taken after the well. Some leases allow them and some do not; your lease and division order say which. A deduction that appears in one month and not the next is worth a question.

What we knowAbout 82% of the gas Murphy Expl. & Prod. Co. - USA reported in the last 12 months went straight into pipelines rather than to a processing plant. A processing fee on that gas is worth asking about.

Taxes: severance and ad valorem

Texas severance tax is taken from your share: 4.6% of oil value and 7.5% of gas value at market. Ad valorem tax may also appear. The rate on your stub should match these.

Net: gross, minus deductions and taxes, times your share

Check the arithmetic: volume times price gives gross value, then subtract deductions and taxes. If the net does not match your check, or a month is missing, that is the first thing to ask about.

What we know7.2% of the gas Murphy Expl. & Prod. Co. - USA reported was flared or vented. Flared gas pays no royalty, so a lease that flares heavily will show a smaller gas volume on your stub than on the state's production line.