Free tool
When is my next royalty check?
What the check pays for
The date on the check or the deposit.
Your stub prints it as the production or sale month.
What the check paid, after deductions and tax.
Your next three checks show here
On your lease
The months the state has posted for your lease
A check can only pay for oil and gas that was sold. Pick your lease to see the newest months on the state record and the Texas deadline for each.
Your lease
Search by lease name, operator or county. We remember it in this browser, so you only search once.
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</script>How the dates are worked out
Your last check sets the pattern. Payors usually pay on about the same day each month, and each check usually pays for the month after the one before it. Texas law then sets the latest day each month can be paid.
The formula
- Should come
- your payor's day of the month, the month after your last check, give or take 3 days
- Pays for
- the month after the one your last check paid for
- Texas deadline
- the end of that month + 60 days for oil, + 90 days for gas
- Which way
- that month's price ÷ the price in the month your last check paid for
- Range
- your last amount × that ratio, with production 10% either way, 5 points wider for each later check
Prices are the EIA's monthly averages: WTI Cushing for oil and Henry Hub for gas. Until a month's average is out, the tool uses the average of EIA's daily prices once the month has 5 trading days, and EIA's forecast before that, and says which; a direction drawn from a month still under way or from the forecast is marked as an estimate. A month with neither shows the date only.
When a check doesn’t come
A check a few days late is common. One that misses its Texas deadline earns interest from that day, unless the law lets the payor hold it, for example over a title question or an unsigned division order. Checks that stop altogether usually follow a sale of the well, a new operator, a title question or a well that stopped producing. Here is what to check first.
Questions owners ask
Common questions
Short answers. Sources are at the end of the page.
When will my next royalty check come?
Most payors pay on about the same day each month, so the next check usually comes on that day next month. Unless your lease or another written agreement sets a different time, Texas law sets the latest day: oil proceeds within 60 days after the end of the month the oil was sold, and gas within 90 days. The first payment on a new well can take 120 days after the end of the month of first sale. This is Natural Resources Code section 91.402.
Which month does my next check pay for?
The month after the one your last check paid for. Your stub prints it as the production or sale month. A check that arrives in October is often for oil sold in August, because the operator sells the oil, is paid by the buyer and then pays the owners.
Will my next check be bigger or smaller?
Price and volume decide most of it. The tool compares the benchmark price in the month your next check pays for with the month your last check paid for: WTI for oil and Henry Hub for gas. For a month EIA has not averaged yet, it uses the average of EIA's daily prices (all of them once the month is over, else so far), or EIA's own forecast, and says which. Production moves too, and wells make a little less each month as they age, so the range allows for that. Your decimal and the deductions usually stay the same unless something changed.
Split a change between two checks into price, volume and deductions
Why is the gas direction only rough?
Henry Hub is the main U.S. benchmark for natural gas, priced at a hub in Louisiana. Gas from West Texas has often sold for far less, and gas sold with its liquids can be worth more. Your own statements show how your gas price follows Henry Hub.
What if my check doesn't come?
Give it a few days past your payor's usual day. Once the Texas deadline passes, the payor owes interest, unless the law lets it hold the money: for example a title dispute, a title requirement you haven't met, a division order you haven't signed, or a child support lien. Ask the payor's owner relations desk why the check is late.
Why do my checks come only once a year?
Texas lets a payor hold your proceeds and pay once a year when it owes you $100 or less in total, and hold less than $10 until production stops. Section 91.402(f) says the payor may do this, not that it must.
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