Produced by Blackbeard Data to outline the demographics of Texas oil and gas ownership.
For the full annual 2025 Texas Petro-Wealth report in pdf click on the following link: 2025-Petro-Wealth-Report
Executive Summary
Texas petro-wealth is estimated to be approximately $247 billion in 2025, based on our calculations. Corporations hold the highest amount of petro-wealth at $192 billion, and individuals ranked second at $37 billion. Coming third are trusts at $8 billion, with the rest of the petro-wealth divided among non-profits, educational institutions, various governmental agencies, and religious organizations.
Overview
To get the total amount of petro-welth, we did a county-by-county comprehensive decline curve analysis. Texas has around $247 billion in proved producing reserves, and when we created this report, the price of oil was at $58.06 per barrel.
This report focuses on proven producing petroleum reserves and doesn’t include the non-producing, probable, or possible classed reserves.
Below the graph shows the wealth of the proved producing reserves based on the three main interest types: working interest, royalty interest, and override interest. If you have any questions about these terms, please refer to the definitions provided at the end of the report.
Ownership of Total Petro-Wealth by Entity Class
The distribution of petro-wealth has been grouped together by entity class. Below in the graph, the classes include royalty interests, working interests, and override interests.
Working interests held by corporations, on average, have the highest value of petro-wealth. Working interest is commonly a higher dollar value compared to other interest types.
Ownership of Royalty Interest by State
The next graph supports the theory that there is a higher ratio of Texans owning the interest of an asset located in Texas than people living in other states, based on geography.
A second graph that shows ownership of interest by state, but excludes the state of Texas. We can get a better glimpse of the distribution of Texas petro-wealth among other states in the second graph. Since petro-wealth is much higher in Texas than in other states, the initial graph makes viewing other states’ ownership hard to view.
Bulk of wealth owned by Texans
The highest percent of the total override and royalty interests of producing oil and gas property located in Texas are owned by Texans.
Oklahoma is the second highest state of ownership for Texas petro-wealth at only about 10 percent of the total petro-wealth, followed by Colorado.
Petro-Wealth by City
In the next set of graphs, we will see the top 20 cities of petro-wealth. All interest types have been included in the graph below. Many oil companies are located in Houston, Oklahoma City, and Midland. Working interest was factored into the graph. These cities have a higher concentration of petro-wealth because of the inclusion of working interest.
Texas Petro-Wealth by City – Royalties Only
We removed working interest from our totals for the graph below. There is a small shift in the top cities, but Houston and Midland are still two of the top cities.
Terminology
There are three types of ownership for oil and gas assets:
Working Interest – WI ownership is comprised of individuals or corporations who invest in oil and gas drilling. Typically, working interest owners receive 70-90% of the value of oil produced because of the risk assessed with working interest, the risk being having the financial responsibility to pay for all the operating costs.
Royalty Interest – RI ownership receives a risk-free payment. This payment is paid to the mineral owner by the operator. Typically, royalty owners combined receive between 10-25% of the value of the oil produced.
Overriding Royalty Interest – This interest is similar to a Royalty Interest, but the owner does not own the minerals. Overriding royalties disappear if the lease expires. Typically, 1-5% of the value of the oil produced.
A typical oil lease 20 years ago would be:
87.5% Oil Company (owns 100% WI)
12.5% Mineral Owner
These numbers represent the NRI or Net Revenue Interest which is the division of the revenues from the oil. The Oil company has to pay 100% of the bills, hence the 100% WI.
Modern leases are closer to:
80% Oil Company (owns 100% WI)
20% Mineral Owner
The higher royalty is due to lower risk using modern methods in drilling.
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