Oil and Gas Royalties In this article, we are going to focus on 4 things, namely; what a royalty and mineral rights is, how is it calculated and what is it based on? Let us begin with a small description of mineral rights. We all know in most countries all the mineral resources belong to the government. This may include: valuable rocks, minerals, oil, gas, etc. The various organizations in those countries have no rights to sell or extract those minerals without the consent of the government. However, some countries give the property owner the legal rights to those minerals that may be present underneath it. This is called, ‘mineral rights.’ At times a company is not willing to buy the property because they are not certain that it may contain any minerals. In such cases, the company will lease the mineral rights or a portion of those rights. When the production of oil and gas begins, the landowner is eligible for some part of that production. This money is known as a, ‘royalty payment’. The amount that the owner will receive will depend on the lease agreement that was signed earlier. Oil royalties can be paid as oil. In this case, the landowner may receive the oil from the lesser (company owner) and market it. The landowner has to understand that receiving the royalty in terms of oil is purely a disadvantage. The better way would be to receive cash at the posted