How to check if your Texas royalty check is right using RRC production

Many royalty owners never check their statements. Errors do happen, though: a wrong decimal, a missed month, volumes that do not match what the lease reported. You can test a check in about fifteen minutes with your stub and the public production records.

1. Read the stub

Texas law requires each check stub to show, among other things, the lease or well name and ID with its county, the month of sale, the barrels or MCF sold, the price, the production taxes, any other deductions, and your decimal interest (Tex. Nat. Res. Code §91.502). If any of that is missing, you can ask for it. Under §91.504 you can also request an itemized list of deductions and the RRC lease ID (RRC Royalties FAQ).

2. Compare volumes with the RRC

Operators report monthly lease production to the Railroad Commission. Find the lease on Extrxct through Find my lease or its county page, or run the RRC Production Data Query (how). The volume sold on your stub for a month should be close to what the lease reported for that month. Small gaps are normal: sales lag production, tanks carry inventory, and some gas is used on the lease or shrinks in processing. A month that is missing entirely, or volumes that are far apart month after month, is worth a letter.

Two things to keep in mind. RRC reports production per lease, not per well, so if your unit and the RRC lease are not the same thing, the numbers will not line up. And the last two months on RRC are provisional and often rise as late reports arrive.

3. Sanity-check the price

Compare the oil price on your stub with the monthly WTI Cushing average from the EIA, and the gas price with Henry Hub. Field prices normally sit somewhat below these benchmarks after quality, transport and processing adjustments, so expect a discount, not a match. A price that sits far below the benchmark for months is a reason to ask how it is calculated.

4. Check the math and the taxes

Gross value is volume × price × your decimal. Texas production tax is 4.6% of market value for oil and condensate and 7.5% for gas (Comptroller, oil; gas). Some wells qualify for reduced rates. Other deductions, such as gathering or processing, depend on your lease wording; some leases forbid them.

A worked example with real production

Take Woods, an oil lease in Reeves County operated by CRESCENT ENERGY OPERATING, LLC. RRC shows it produced 101,141 BBL of oil and condensate in May 2026. The EIA monthly average WTI Cushing spot price that month was $102.13 (EIA).

Suppose an owner's decimal were 0.001953125 (that is 1/512, a figure we picked for illustration only). The gross oil value for that owner would be 101,141 × $102.13 × 0.001953125 ≈ $20,175 before taxes and deductions. Subtract the 4.6% oil production tax (about $928) and you get roughly $19,247. The purchaser's actual price is usually below WTI after quality and transport adjustments, so a real check for that month would land somewhat lower. A check near that figure is plausible; one at half of it deserves a question.

5. Use the estimator

Our royalty estimator takes production, price and your decimal and shows every step. Enter the lease's volumes for one month and the price from your stub, then compare the result with the gross on your statement.

If something is off

• Write to the payor's owner relations address on the stub, cite the month, and ask for the volume, price and deduction detail.
• Check that your decimal matches your division order.
• Payments made after the statutory deadlines in §91.402 generally carry interest under §91.403.
• If a payor has stopped paying altogether, search ClaimItTexas.gov in case the money was turned over as unclaimed property.

Not legal or tax advice. This is a range check, not an audit.