Free tool
Who pays from this old company now?
Type the name from your oldest statement.
We follow the company’s name changes, sales and mergers in our record to the company that carries on today, with the source for each step, its Railroad Commission status and how to reach its owner relations desk.
How an oil company changes hands
- A new name. The same company, renamed. Your lease and your decimal do not change.
- A purchase or a merger. Another company takes over the whole business, wells and all.
- A sale of wells. The company sells some or all of its wells to one or more buyers. The buyer of your wells is the one that matters, and only the lease can tell you which it was.
Each step in an answer above carries its source: a company’s own announcement, a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or a state record. Where the record splits or loops, we stop and say so.
The lease is the surest guide
The Railroad Commission records who operates every lease, month by month. If you know your lease, pick it in the tool: we compare the end of the chain with the operator on the lease record. Our stopped-checks checker goes further and ranks the likely reasons a payment stopped.
What to send the new company
Write to its owner relations department with your name and address, your owner number from the old company, the lease or property name, and a copy of your last statement. Ask whether it now pays the royalty on your interest, and for a division order if it needs one.
Questions owners ask
Common questions
Short answers. Sources are at the end of the page.
My royalty checks came from a company that no longer exists. Who pays me now?
Usually the company that took over the wells, after a sale, a merger or a new name. Type the old name above to follow the record to the company that carries on today. Then check the lease itself: the Railroad Commission's record shows who operates it now.
Is the operator the same as the company that pays me?
Often, but not always. The payor named on a statement can be the purchaser of the oil or gas, or a company the operator hired to pay owners. The name on a recent check stub or division order is the one to write to.
What if the old company sold its wells to more than one buyer?
Then the name alone cannot tell you who has your wells, and we say so rather than guess. The lease decides: look it up to see who operates it today, and ask that company who pays the royalty.
What does P-5 status mean?
Every company that operates oil or gas wells in Texas files a P-5 Organization Report with the Railroad Commission each year. Active means the filing is current. Inactive or delinquent means it is not, which is worth knowing before you write to the company.
No company took over and my money is missing. What now?
Royalties that go unpaid for years can end up with the Texas Comptroller as unclaimed property. Search your name and the old company's name on the state's unclaimed property site.
Free check
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Upload it. We compare every month with the Railroad Commission record and give you the questions to ask.