Sell mineral rights in Mississippi

Where Mississippi mineral rights buyers are most active

The southeast is the oil core. In the Oil and Gas Board's 2001 annual report, the county totals republished by the state's Office of Geology, Jasper County produced 4,181,608 barrels, Jones County 3,533,155 and Wayne County 3,413,806, with Clarke, Lincoln, Adams, Simpson, Lamar and Pike counties each above 600,000 barrels (Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality, 2001 data). Volumes have fallen since, but these counties are where Mississippi mineral rights draw the most offers.

The southwest corner is different. The Tuscaloosa Marine Shale is drilled horizontally, and nearly all of the active Tuscaloosa Marine Shale wells in Mississippi are in Amite and Wilkinson counties, with 58 of the play's 75 active wells on the Mississippi side as of 2021 (AAPG Wiki, IHS Markit 2021 data). The U.S. Geological Survey estimated mean undiscovered, technically recoverable resources of 1.5 billion barrels of oil and 4.6 trillion cubic feet of gas in the formation (USGS, 2018), so non-producing Mississippi mineral rights in Amite, Wilkinson and Pike counties carry drilling upside the rest of the state lacks. Natural gas is minor statewide: the state produces about 0.1 percent of U.S. marketed gas and its output in 2024 was less than half of 2014 (EIA, 2025).

What buyers check before a Mississippi mineral rights offer

Mineral rights buyers use the Mississippi State Oil and Gas Board's online tools: well search, permit search, production search, production charts by field and operator, section and township production, and a map-based data explorer. The Board also keeps a Tuscaloosa Marine Shale page with maps of wells being drilled, completed or producing and monthly production for the horizontal oil wells. A buyer will pull your wells, the operator and the production history before pricing Mississippi mineral rights.

For producing interests the buyer values the recent royalty stream and the field's decline. For shale acreage the buyer looks at permits, unit size and whether the operator is still drilling nearby. Mississippi's severance tax shapes those numbers: oil is taxed at 6 percent of value at the point of production, with 3 percent for approved carbon dioxide enhanced recovery and 1.3 percent for horizontally drilled wells for 30 months or until payout, a reduced rate scheduled to end in 2028 (Miss. Code 27-25-503).

Mississippi mineral rights records and ownership

Conveyances of land, including mineral deeds and leases, are lodged with the clerk of the chancery court of the county where the land is situated, and a conveyance is not good against a later purchaser for value without notice until it is filed there; after filing, priority runs by the time of filing (Miss. Code 89-5-1). Your chain of title to Mississippi mineral rights therefore runs through the chancery clerk's land records, and that is where buyers start.

Severed minerals are common in the older oil counties, and many interests have passed through two or three estates without a recorded probate. If you inherited an interest, record the judgment of heirship or the probate order with the chancery clerk before you ask for offers. An oil and gas attorney can confirm your decimal interest, which matters because if your Mississippi mineral rights sit in a unit, your share of that unit is what a buyer pays for.

Selling Mississippi mineral rights: closing and taxes

To sell mineral rights in Mississippi, gather the recorded deed or heirship judgment, any lease and your last 12 months of royalty statements. Buyers verify the well and unit names against Oil and Gas Board production records. Closing is a mineral deed recorded with the chancery clerk, payment, and a transfer order so the operator pays the new owner.

Mississippi has a state income tax, so the gain on a sale is taxed by the state as well as federally. Ask a tax professional how a stepped-up basis on inherited mineral rights affects that gain before you sign. Collect several written mineral rights offers and compare each one against a year of royalty income; the spread between buyers is often wider than owners expect.

How to get offers for Mississippi mineral rights

Tell us your county and what you own. We send your request to up to 3 buyers who purchase in that part of Mississippi. They review the public records and contact you with offers, and you choose whether to sell, sell part, or keep.

Last reviewed October 13, 2026. This page is general information, not legal or tax advice. Facts come from the official sources listed above; confirm anything that matters to your sale with a qualified professional.