What software does everyone recommend for tracking mineral and royalty interests?
btw, I work for a non-profit. We have approx. 200 sections of royalty/mineral interests mostly in Oklahoma. Have no idea at this point how many are leased! Need to be able to track leases, royalty payments, and well production.
Dear Kelly,
I consult for a non-profit. What I did was create a database for leases and a database for ownership and linked them.
We keep a map up to date (digital map),
I keep all the revenues on spreadsheets. They have worked amazing well.
I was in much the same situation as you 3 years ago. Over 150000 mineral acres and no idea how any one well was doing. Now we are on top of things.
After looking at software costs, it was cheaper for me to build my own rather than buy (lease) a package.
Spreadsheets are my answer.
I keep track of two things, income and assets.
The assets are what you likely think they are , mineral rights, brokerage accounts, mutual funds, stock holdings, cash. This doesn't have to be super accurate as to value (but is it nice). Once you have done this is doesn't change to much. I would recommend doing this at year end , say as of Dec 31 20xx.
Income is more involved. List all sources of income, then sort the amounts into columns as to type, ie, cash flow, NoDak Taxable, Fed Taxable etc ... Items can be in more than one column . This is very handy to see where you are vis a vis estimated tax and which returns need to be filed. Update monthly or quarterly as you need to.
After completing tax returns , compare the figures to the spread sheet, if they differ find out why.
I also find it handy to do a similar table of my Mother-in-Laws expenses . Try to keep the cash flow
somewhat matched to expenses. That's why the cash flow column mentioned above. You live on cash flow
but pay taxes on income, they differ usually. A tax deduction column can also be added here.
We keep a map up to date (digital map),
Can you expand on this a bit?
I’ve been looking for a digital map(s) of Oklahoma countys.
Hi everyone,
I am currently doing research on making royalty payment tracking easier, along with managing oil and gas mineral rights.
As mineral rights owners, what are the biggest problems you face on a day-to-day basis?
This is not spam and I am not going to try and sell you anything, I would just like to learn about the pain points mineral owners experience in their lives related to mineral rights and royalty payments.
I would love to hear back from you, even if it is only one sentence!
Keeping up with income per well, when sometimes there is more than one well per royalty interest (property, acreage, taxable entity - in the state where this is located), and sometimes more than one company sending checks for the same royalty interest (because separate wells operated under different leases), and perhaps same company sending checks for multiple royalty interests (different properties). For tax purposes, income from each royalty interest needs to be separated, but the royalty checks don't come that way sometimes.
The best service I've heard of is www.shaletrak.com. They have an iPad/iPhone app, software for your PC, and monitoring/consulting services. You would have to talk directly with them about what services they offer that may be right for you, and what their costs are.
Disclaimer: I am not in any way affiliated with ShaleTrak, nor is this a solicitation. This is merely a recommendation of services rendered by an unrelated party.
Hi Buddy,
What software do you use to create you database?
Thank
Elenaor
Buddy Cotten said:
Dear Kelly,
I consult for a non-profit. What I did was create a database for leases and a database for ownership and linked them.
We keep a map up to date (digital map),
I keep all the revenues on spreadsheets. They have worked amazing well.
I was in much the same situation as you 3 years ago. Over 150000 mineral acres and no idea how any one well was doing. Now we are on top of things.
After looking at software costs, it was cheaper for me to build my own rather than buy (lease) a package.
Best,
Buddy Cotten
BBA-PLM UT
I used Access.
However, with no problem you could use Excel spreadsheets.
Buddy
Eleanor Davis Casler said:
Hi Buddy,
What software do you use to create you database?
Thank
Elenaor
Buddy Cotten said:Dear Kelly,
I consult for a non-profit. What I did was create a database for leases and a database for ownership and linked them.
We keep a map up to date (digital map),
I keep all the revenues on spreadsheets. They have worked amazing well.
I was in much the same situation as you 3 years ago. Over 150000 mineral acres and no idea how any one well was doing. Now we are on top of things.
After looking at software costs, it was cheaper for me to build my own rather than buy (lease) a package.
Best,
Buddy Cotten
BBA-PLM UT
Hello, My problem is keeping track of the numbers and verify they match with the state information. I also have a problem getting information. None of the Energy companies want to answer questions. They are told not to answer tax questions. I also have tax issues bc my address is in CA but energy income is in OK.
Not sure if this is what you are looking for. [email protected]
Bret Wagner said:
Hi everyone,
I am currently doing research on making royalty payment tracking easier, along with managing oil and gas mineral rights.
As mineral rights owners, what are the biggest problems you face on a day-to-day basis?
This is not spam and I am not going to try and sell you anything, I would just like to learn about the pain points mineral owners experience in their lives related to mineral rights and royalty payments.
I would love to hear back from you, even if it is only one sentence!
Owners/operators are notorious for delaying payments and being inconsistent with payments. You have to hound and hound and hound them. They still remain behind on their payments. Unless you have lawyer in your hip pocket, they have the edge up on mineral owners.
Bret Wagner said:
Hi everyone,
I am currently doing research on making royalty payment tracking easier, along with managing oil and gas mineral rights.
As mineral rights owners, what are the biggest problems you face on a day-to-day basis?
This is not spam and I am not going to try and sell you anything, I would just like to learn about the pain points mineral owners experience in their lives related to mineral rights and royalty payments.
I would love to hear back from you, even if it is only one sentence!
I was lucky to have an oil company that had our lease for over 10 years that was a great pleasure to talk to and answer any and all questions we had, but another oil company now has acquired our lease and they are trying to underpay, break leasing terms, change percentages, not talk to us and on and on.... I have spoke with a lawyer and the cost of litigation is crazy. I am sorry for your woes and it seems like a uphill battle of David and Goliath. All we can be is a thorn in their sides, but I will be the biggest thorn I can. Good luck to you and all the mineral right owner getting screwed over.
I use a software package purchased from a company in Dallas, TX. I track working interest for 760 wells by property and 1,000 plus royalty interest by company. The software has capability of tracking leases etc. I set up a working interest property with the well # the company paying the revenue uses. Let me know if you want additional information. I do the oil and gas bookkeeping for investors and individuals.
Pamela Riddle
1 Like
Hello Pamela,
I am interested in this software. Recently a software company contacted me about tracking royalty interest. I have a few questions: I am also interested in finding royalty interest inheritance in CO records. Do you have any recommendations on how to go about doing this online? On this site they state there's an annual 15% depletion allowance on royalty income but my IRS Enrolled Agent says this is not the case. My brother's tax person deducted this amount from his taxes. Where can I get more info on this? Finally could you recommend some books for learning about this?
Hi Buddy! I would like to talk to you about this again. Could you message me please?
Thanks,
Kelly Coker
Mineralsoft.com , I have used them now for almost 1 and a half, these guys are awesome at breaking down my check stub. My check had so many lines and adding and subtracting to the same wells 5 or six times on the same stub, I really appreciate this software. If something is wrong with my check I have the facts and exact info I need to make it right.
Don't know if you're still looking or wanting to change but I recently researched this for a small family company and found three options:
DrillingInfo - great company but to expensive for smaller owners unless they setup and maintained the data themselves
MineralSoft - another great company but for the size of the company I was checking for their product was still too expensive.
MineralWare - Bingo! Affordable and awesome. They do all setup for very reasonable cost not to mention and very economical monthly fee. Easy to use and track whatever the status is regarding minerals or working interest. They have both land and revenue tracking. Very pleased with this company! https://www.mineralware.com/