Our family is seeking to consolidate a 417 acre mineral rights parcel in Jackson County WV which is divided by inheritance into about 30 small pieces. The relatives would all like to be treated fairly and wonder if anyone has an understanding of what mineral rights are selling for in Washington District? The Walter McCoy wildcat well, 035-03166, was drilled on the property to 17,500 feet by Exxon in the 1970s, but they did not produce anything. The property was leased to Chesapeake for 5 years about 25 years ago, but no wells were drilled and they did not renew the lease.
Hi @charlsmd
That is a great question! Mineral rights vary DRASTICALLY in value based entirely on location. There are numerous operators within WV, but none of them are in Jackson County at all at this time. It’s my understanding that no one is interested in vertical wells, and have focused on horizontal wells that involve fracking and a much higher return on investment.
From my searches, there are a handful of horizontal wells owned by Pillar Energy but there are no permits for new drilling, no storage areas, no new well pads, and all of WV operators are just entering into Ritchie and Gilmer County.
Jackson County also lies above the Marcellus and Utica shale formations, but towards the edge where there is less O&G compared to the more central areas.
When you add all of these factors together, plus the fact that it could take decades for an operator to consider developing Jackson, if they do at all, I would advise you to keep your expectations very realistic. The company’s I know of, would probably offer less than $100 per net mineral acre, but that doesn’t mean that a buyer could be out there that would pay more. Either way, I don’t suspect it would be too far off from my estimation.
Thanks so very much. That was very helpful information.