Sell Your North Dakota Mineral Rights for Cash

Selling My Mineral Rights buys mineral rights, oil and gas rights and royalty interests across North Dakota’s Bakken, from McKenzie and Dunn counties to Williams, Mountrail, Divide, Burke and Stark. Send a legal description or a royalty statement and get a written offer in 3 to 5 business days.

If you want to sell your mineral rights in North Dakota, we buy producing Bakken and Three Forks royalties, unleased minerals, overriding royalties and inherited fractions. No commissions, no fees, and if you inherited the interest and live out of state, we explain the probate and tax withholding steps before we price it.

Get My Free Offer

Call or Text Us: 347-345-4547

MINERAL RIGHTS & ROYALTIES

What could your mineral rights be worth?

Tell us a little about your interest. Get a free, no-obligation review from Selling My Mineral Rights.

By submitting, you agree to be contacted by phone, text, or email about your mineral rights. Message/data rates may apply. You may opt out at any time. Privacy Policy.

Prefer to talk? Call 347-345-4547

Quick answer: We buy Bakken and Three Forks royalties, unleased minerals and inherited interests across western North Dakota, where McKenzie, Dunn, Williams and Mountrail counties produced about 93% of the state’s oil in 2025. A written offer usually follows within 3–5 business days, with no fees or commissions.

Free, no-obligation review: Selling My Mineral Rights evaluates producing and non-producing mineral rights, royalty interests, and inherited or fractional interests across North Dakota. You can request an offer without paying fees or committing to sell.

Nearly All North Dakota Oil Comes From the Bakken and Three Forks

North Dakota produced about 427 million barrels of oil in 2025, roughly 1.17 million barrels a day, which made it the third-largest oil-producing state according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. In July 2026, 97.6% of the state’s oil came from the Bakken and Three Forks formations. Production is concentrated in four counties: McKenzie produced about 31% of the state’s oil in 2025, Dunn about 22%, Williams about 21% and Mountrail about 19%, with Divide a distant fifth.

The Bakken lies about 10,000 feet down across the deeper part of the Williston Basin, and the Three Forks sits directly beneath it, thicker and extending farther east, with its thickest section under Mountrail, Dunn and eastern McKenzie counties. North Dakota’s first oil came from the Clarence Iverson No. 1 near Tioga in 1951, but the modern boom started when EOG proved horizontal drilling and large fracture treatments in Mountrail County in 2005 and 2006. By 2008 operators were completing wells in the Three Forks as a separate target.

Development has changed since the 2012 peak of 218 rigs. Activity now runs in the mid-20s to mid-30s rigs, yet production holds steady because laterals keep getting longer: roughly half of recent permits are for three-mile wells, some reach four miles, and the average completed lateral hit a record 13,798 feet in the third quarter of 2026. Longer wells can require new, larger spacing units laid over acreage that was drilled years ago, so an older section can still see new wells.

The operator on your check may not be the company that drilled the well. Hess is now part of Chevron, Whiting and Enerplus are part of Chord Energy, Marathon Oil was acquired by ConocoPhillips, and Devon bought Grayson Mill’s Williston position. North Dakota Industrial Commission records often still show the older company name, so the name on the state record may not match the company that pays you.

North Dakota Minerals Can Be Lost After Twenty Years of Nonuse

Unlike Texas, Colorado or Oklahoma, North Dakota has a dormant mineral statute. Under Chapter 38-18.1 of the Century Code, a severed mineral interest that has gone unused for twenty years before a surface owner publishes notice is deemed abandoned and can vest in the surface owner, unless the mineral owner has recorded a statement of claim.

“Use” is defined broadly. Production counts, and so does a recorded lease, mortgage, assignment or conveyance of the interest, a recorded pooling or unitization order, or a recorded statement of claim. Royalties held in suspense for an owner who cannot be found do not count. The surface owner must publish notice once a week for three weeks, mail it within 10 days if the owner’s address is of record or can be found by reasonable inquiry, and then quiet title in district court; the mineral owner can still save the interest by recording a statement of claim within 60 days of the first publication. In Nelson v. McAlester Fuel Co. (2017), the North Dakota Supreme Court held that the notice must go to the most recent address of record.

If your family owns North Dakota minerals that have not been produced, leased or conveyed of record in many years, recording a statement of claim with the county recorder is one way to protect them; a North Dakota attorney can confirm what your situation requires. If you are selling, a buyer will check this history before making a firm offer.

Pooling, Royalty Payments and Deductions in North Dakota

If owners in a spacing unit do not agree, the North Dakota Industrial Commission pools every interest in the unit after notice and a hearing. An unleased owner pooled after July 31, 2009 receives a cost-free royalty equal to the average royalty of the leased tracts in the unit, or 16% if the operator elects, and if the owner does not participate, the rest of the interest bears a risk penalty of 50% of its share of drilling and completion costs. A leased owner who declines to participate faces a 200% penalty.

Royalties are due within 150 days after the oil or gas is marketed; after that, the operator owes 18% annual interest without the owner having to ask, and the prevailing party recovers attorney fees. A division order cannot change your lease, and royalties cannot be withheld because you have not signed one.

Deductions are another matter. In Bice v. Petro-Hunt (2009) the North Dakota Supreme Court applied the “at the well” rule to gas, and in Blasi v. Bruin E&P Partners (2021) it held that a common oil royalty clause sets the valuation point at the well, so transportation and other downstream costs can be deducted under that language. No statute bars deductions on private leases, although a 2023 law created a royalty oversight program run by the Agriculture Commissioner. Your lease language is what decides it.

Taxes on North Dakota Royalties and Sales

North Dakota oil carries two severance taxes, a 5% gross production tax and a 5% oil extraction tax, both on the gross value at the well, and royalty owners bear their share. The gross production tax is levied in place of property tax on producing wells. Gas pays a flat rate per thousand cubic feet that resets each July; it is $0.0655 for July 2026 through June 2027.

North Dakota’s income tax rates are 0%, 1.95% and 2.5%. Non-residents are taxed on North Dakota-source income, and operators generally withhold 1.75% of the gross royalty paid to non-resident owners. Selling your whole interest is usually a capital transaction for federal purposes, and inherited minerals typically take a stepped-up basis at the date of death. A CPA should confirm how the sale is taxed in your state and in North Dakota.

Federal, Tribal and State Minerals

Not every mineral acre in western North Dakota is privately owned. The Fort Berthold Indian Reservation covers parts of Mountrail, McLean, Dunn, McKenzie, Mercer and Ward counties, and its trust and allotted minerals are leased and paid through federal agencies and probated by Interior Department Indian probate judges rather than state courts, so they cannot be bought and sold like fee minerals. The Little Missouri National Grassland holds about a million acres of federal minerals in Billings, Golden Valley, McKenzie and Slope counties, and the state Board of University and School Lands manages nearly 2.6 million acres of state-owned minerals.

Ownership under Lake Sakakawea has also been contested. A 2017 state law limited the state’s claim to the historical Missouri riverbed, the North Dakota Supreme Court upheld it in Sorum v. State (2020), and the Interior Department’s current position, issued in March 2026, is that the original riverbed within Fort Berthold passed to the state at statehood.

What We Check on a North Dakota Interest

  • The deed, probate record or conveyance that put the minerals in your name, recorded with the county recorder and, in most counties, searchable through the North Dakota Recorders Information Network.
  • Whether a statement of claim has been recorded and whether any abandonment notice under Chapter 38-18.1 has been published against the interest.
  • Every spacing unit covering the tract, including newer two-, three- and four-mile units laid over older ones, and any pooling order.
  • Lease royalty and deduction language, since North Dakota courts allow deductions under common “at the well” clauses.
  • Unit wells, whether each is a Bakken or Three Forks completion, completion dates, production history and your net decimal.
  • Whether the tract is fee, federal, tribal trust, state trust or affected by the Lake Sakakawea ordinary high water mark.
  • Heirship and probate, non-resident withholding, and any royalties held in suspense or turned over to the state as unclaimed property.

Where North Dakota Mineral Records Are Kept

Deeds, leases, mineral deeds and probate decrees are recorded with the county recorder in the county where the minerals lie, and 50 of North Dakota’s 53 counties participate in the North Dakota Recorders Information Network for online searching. McKenzie, Williams and Mountrail counties are not members and offer online records through their own systems. Well files, production, spacing and pooling orders, hearing case files and hearing audio going back to 1983 are kept by the Industrial Commission’s Department of Mineral Resources in Bismarck.

Every royalty payment must come with a statement showing volumes, price, total production taxes, each deduction and its purpose, and your decimal, and the operator must answer a certified-mail question within 30 days. Royalties that sit unclaimed for three years go to the state’s unclaimed property program at the Department of Trust Lands, where heirs can still claim them.

North Dakota Mineral Rights FAQs

Can I sell my oil and gas rights in North Dakota?

Yes. Whether you want to sell your oil rights, sell your gas rights, or sell your oil and gas royalty rights together, in North Dakota they are all mineral or royalty interests, and we buy them for cash. That includes the full mineral estate, royalty and overriding royalty interests, unleased acreage, and fractional shares inherited from family. If your interest covers only certain depths or formations, we value exactly what you own.

How do I sell mineral rights in North Dakota?

Start with the county and whatever paper you have: a check stub, a lease, a deed or a probate decree. We confirm the chain of title in the county recorder’s records, check for any abandonment notice, pull the spacing units and wells from the Industrial Commission, and send a written offer. If you accept, we prepare the mineral deed, record it and pay you at closing.

How much are mineral rights worth in North Dakota?

It depends on the county, the bench and the wells. Royalties in the core of McKenzie, Dunn, Williams and Mountrail counties are valued on Bakken and Three Forks wells already producing and the locations still undrilled, while acreage on the edges of the play depends more on whether longer laterals will reach it. Your lease royalty, deductions and decimal finish the calculation, so a recent statement is the best starting point.

How much can I sell my mineral rights for?

For a producing royalty, a buyer projects what the wells will pay over their remaining life, subtracts severance taxes (10% on most oil) and any allowed deductions, and discounts for risk. Bakken wells decline steeply in their first years, so the age of the wells matters as much as today’s check. Compare written offers and ask each buyer to show its assumptions.

Is it worth selling mineral rights?

It can be. Selling often fits heirs who share a small fraction with many relatives, owners whose wells are several years into their decline, or families settling an estate from out of state. Holding often fits owners whose section is still being developed with new, longer wells. We will tell you honestly which way we think your interest leans.

Do I have to pay taxes if I sell my mineral rights?

Usually, on the gain. Selling your whole interest is generally a capital transaction for federal purposes, and inherited minerals often take a stepped-up basis that keeps the gain small. North Dakota’s income tax rates are 0%, 1.95% and 2.5%, and the state taxes non-residents on North Dakota-source income, so check with a CPA where you live and in North Dakota.

Could we lose North Dakota minerals that have not been used?

Yes, it is possible. Under Chapter 38-18.1, minerals unused for twenty years can be claimed by the surface owner after published and mailed notice and a quiet title action in district court, unless a statement of claim has been recorded. Production, a recorded lease or conveyance, or a recorded pooling order all count as use, and an owner who receives notice can still record a claim within 60 days of the first publication.

Can my North Dakota minerals be pooled if I never signed a lease?

Yes. The Industrial Commission pools all interests in a spacing unit after notice and a hearing. An unleased owner pooled after July 31, 2009 receives a cost-free royalty equal to the unit’s average lease royalty, or 16% if the operator elects, and if you do not participate, the remaining interest is subject to a 50% risk penalty before it shares in production.

Why is North Dakota tax withheld from my royalty check?

If you live outside North Dakota, operators generally withhold 1.75% of the gross royalty toward your North Dakota income tax, and you may need to file a North Dakota return. Your statement should also show the state severance taxes, which are separate from income tax withholding.

Are there fees to get an offer?

No. There is no broker commission, appraisal fee or listing expense, and we pay the recording fee and the cost of preparing the mineral deed. If probate is needed first, we explain what is required before you spend anything.

Get a Free, No-Obligation Offer

Send a legal description, a check stub, a division order or an old deed. We will identify the spacing units and wells that affect the interest, check the title for abandonment notices and federal or tribal status, and provide a written cash offer when the interest is marketable.

Records and Sources We Use

We use deed, lease and probate records filed with the county recorder, and well, production, spacing and pooling records from the North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources. The rules on this page come from the North Dakota Century Code: Chapter 38-18.1 (abandoned minerals), Chapter 38-08 (spacing and pooling) and Chapter 47-16 (royalty payments), along with the North Dakota Tax Commissioner.

Last reviewed October 2026. Sources: North Dakota Department of Mineral Resources 2025 production statistics and Director’s Cut (September 2026); U.S. Energy Information Administration state rankings (2025); North Dakota Century Code; North Dakota Tax Commissioner; U.S. Department of the Interior Solicitor’s Opinion M-37088 (2026). This page provides general information, not legal or tax advice. A qualified North Dakota attorney or CPA should advise you about your facts.

Header photo: Bureau of Land Management Montana/Dakotas / Wikimedia Commons, public domain.

Explore Mineral Rights Guides by State

Mineral ownership, title history and drilling patterns often continue across county lines. These related guides provide useful comparisons:

Why Mineral Owners Contact Us

No Fees or Commissions

There is no cost to request an offer, and we cover normal closing costs.

A Simple Process

Share the information you have. We research the interest and explain the offer clearly.

No Obligation

You decide whether selling fits your goals. There is no pressure to accept.

How the Offer Process Works

  1. Tell us about your mineral rights. Send the owner name, county, and any lease, well, or royalty information you have.
  2. We review the interest. Our team researches ownership, production, and nearby activity.
  3. Receive a cash offer. We explain the offer and answer your questions.
  4. Choose what works for you. If you accept, we coordinate the paperwork and closing.

Get Your Free North Dakota Offer

Tell us a little about your interest. We’ll get back to you within 1–2 business days with a free, no-obligation review.

By submitting this form, you agree to be contacted by phone, text, or email regarding the sale of your mineral rights. Message/data rates may apply. You may opt out at any time. See our Privacy Policy.

Prefer to talk? Call or text 347-345-4547.

Questions About Selling Mineral Rights?

Call or text 347-345-4547, review our Privacy Policy, or use either form above to request a free review.