Where we buy
San Juan Basin
The San Juan Basin powered the Southwest’s gas supply for most of a century. Its royalties are the opposite of shale-oil checks: modest, remarkably durable, and routinely lowballed by buyers who price every basin the same way.
The rock, in plain English
How the San Juan really works.
Two systems dominate: conventional sandstone gas (Mesaverde, Dakota, Pictured Cliffs) produced since the mid-1900s, and the Fruitland coal — one of the largest coalbed-methane fields ever developed. Both decline gently; wells here are measured in decades, not years.
Most San Juan owners inherited their interests from leases signed generations ago, often spread across many old wells with small individual decimals. The checks are modest, but they’ve outlived every prediction of their demise — durability is the basin’s defining economic trait.
In the basin’s southern oil window, horizontal Mancos and Gallup wells have added a newer chapter. It’s real but localized: whether your acres participate is a township-level question, not a basin-level one, and we’ll answer it for your tract specifically.
What moves the money
What a fair offer in the San Juan accounts for.
These are the lines we’ll walk you through before any number goes on paper.
The durability premium
Gentle declines mean San Juan royalties carry more of their value in the out-years. Buyers using shale-oil discount habits systematically underprice them.
Gas and the deductions line
Value tracks natural gas prices, and San Juan stubs often carry heavy gathering and processing deductions. Your lease language matters.
Many small decimals
Inherited San Juan interests are often scattered across dozens of wells. Small decimals add up — bring the whole stack and we’ll total it honestly.
Oil-window optionality
Southern-basin tracts may carry horizontal oil potential the legacy checks don’t hint at. We’ll tell you if yours is one of them.
On the map
Counties we see most.
Where the San Juan files usually come from — though we read every county in the basin.
- San Juan (NM)
- Rio Arriba (NM)
- Sandoval (NM)
- McKinley (NM)
- La Plata (CO)
- Archuleta (CO)
By state
Selling rules differ by state line.
Pooling, title quirks, and taxes follow the state — our state guides cover them.
Want a number to anchor on first? The value estimator has the San Juan’s rule-of-thumb ranges built in, and the hold vs. sell comparator uses its decline assumptions. No email required for either.
No pressure, ever
Whenever you’re ready — even if that’s never.
Tell us a county and a name — we’ll do the the San Juan homework at our cost and walk you through what you own, whether or not you ever sell.
No automated calls. No mailers with sight drafts. No follow-up unless you ask for it.
Rather talk to a person? (970) 444-7374or email hello@eldoradomp.com