Sell mineral rights in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, valued like we live here.
Pennsylvania is two Marcellus plays in one state: the liquids-rich southwest around Washington and Greene counties, and the bone-dry, high-rate northeast around Susquehanna and Bradford. They pay on different math — and neither looks anything like a Rockies oil check.
The lay of the land
Owning minerals in Pennsylvania.
Southwest Pennsylvania — Washington, Greene, Westmoreland, Fayette — is the wet window, where the Marcellus produces natural gas alongside valuable liquids like ethane and propane. The Marcellus was first cracked commercially in Washington County, and a deep Utica bench sits beneath much of the same ground. A tract here can carry liquids uplift and stacked-zone potential that a plain-gas offer quietly ignores.
Up in the northeast — Susquehanna, Bradford, Wyoming, Tioga — the gas is dry but the wells are among the most prolific onshore in America. Value here lives and dies with two things: the price of Appalachian gas, which trades at its own discount to the national benchmark, and the pipeline capacity to move it east. We price your window off the forward curve, not last month’s check.
Pennsylvania title is its own world. There’s no township-and-range survey here — tracts trace to colonial-era warrants and metes-and-bounds descriptions, and after generations of inheritance the interests fractionalize and scatter. Reading that chain is the work, and we do it against the state’s public well records at our own cost before any number goes on paper.
Worth knowing
What’s different about Pennsylvania.
Owner education, not legal or tax advice — your attorney and CPA should bless any decision.
The Dunham Rule
Under long-standing Pennsylvania law, a deed reserving “minerals” is presumed not to include oil and gas unless it says so plainly. Whether your family actually owns the gas can turn on century-old wording — worth an attorney’s read before you sell or sign anything.
Guaranteed minimum royalty
Pennsylvania law guarantees oil and gas lessors at least a one-eighth royalty, but how post-production deductions interact with that floor has been heavily litigated. What your lease says about deductions can meaningfully change what you actually net.
Impact fee, not a severance tax
Pennsylvania charges an unconventional-well “impact fee” rather than a percentage severance tax. It’s a different system from West Virginia or the Rockies, and it factors into the after-tax math your CPA should see before you decide.
On the map
Counties we see most.
Where our Pennsylvania conversations usually start — though we read every county we buy in.
- Washington
- Greene
- Westmoreland
- Fayette
- Susquehanna
- Bradford
- Lycoming
- Tioga
- Butler
- Allegheny
The geology underneath
Your basin sets the economics.
State law sets the rules; the rock sets the value. Read how your basin actually pays.
Or anchor on a number first: the free value estimator covers Pennsylvania — no email required.
Common questions
Asked by Pennsylvania owners.
My Pennsylvania deed just says “minerals.” Do I even own the gas?
Maybe not — and that’s the Dunham Rule at work. Pennsylvania courts presume a bare “minerals” reservation excludes oil and gas unless the language clearly includes them. It’s exactly the kind of question we (and a Pennsylvania oil-and-gas attorney) sort out before anyone talks price, because we only buy what genuinely conveys.
Why are my northeast PA checks so different from my cousin’s in Washington County?
Because they’re in different windows. Northeast Pennsylvania is dry gas — paid on volume — while southwest Pennsylvania is wet, paid on gas plus liquids. Same state, same shale, very different economics. We value each on its own window rather than assuming one number fits both.
There’s no section number on my Pennsylvania minerals. How do you even find them?
Pennsylvania uses metes-and-bounds and old warrant names instead of township-and-range, so we work from your deed, the tax-parcel records, and the operator’s unit filings to locate exactly what you hold. It takes a little more reading than a PLSS state — which is precisely the homework we do at our cost.
Educational content, not legal, tax, or investment advice. Pennsylvania law and tax treatment depend on your specific facts — involve your attorney and CPA before deciding anything, and we’ll gladly work with them.
No pressure, ever
Whenever you’re ready — even if that’s never.
A county and a family name is enough — we’ll do the Pennsylvania homework at our cost and explain 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