Sell Mineral Rights in Big Lake, TX

Big Lake is the town the original Permian boom built, and Reagan County minerals still carry that history into today's Midland Basin drilling.

Big Lake is the seat of Reagan County and sits a few miles from the Santa Rita No. 1, the 1923 discovery well that proved up the Permian Basin and funded the Permanent University Fund. That well is long gone into folklore, but the geology it found — thick, stacked Permian-age pay — is still what's under a lot of Reagan County ground today, now worked with horizontal Wolfcamp and Spraberry drilling.

A wrinkle here that doesn't show up in most Texas counties: a meaningful share of Reagan County acreage is University Lands, meaning the state, not a private family, holds the minerals. If your tract is private fee land near University Lands sections, your division order will tell you, and it's worth confirming exactly which acres are yours before comparing notes with a neighbor.

Southern Midland Basin Development

Reagan County sits on the southern flank of the Midland Basin, where Wolfcamp and Spraberry benches are still being infilled with horizontal wells, though development here has generally run a step or two behind the core counties further north like Midland and Martin. That's not necessarily bad for a seller — it can mean there's more undrilled upside left in your section than in a fully built-out area.

Check your unit's spacing and how many wells have actually been completed versus permitted. A section with permits but few completions still has drilling upside a buyer will pay for; a section that's fully drilled out is a different conversation.

Old Wells, New Wells, One Tract

Because Reagan County has produced since the 1920s, it's common to find old conventional wellbores — some plugged, some still marginally producing — sharing a section with a newer horizontal unit. Your royalty statement should separate these out, but if it doesn't, ask the operator's revenue department for a well-by-well breakdown before you value the interest.

Decline behavior differs a lot between an old stripper well doing a barrel or two a day and a new Wolfcamp horizontal in its first year. Lumping them together in a valuation conversation gets you a worse number than treating them separately.

Title Work at the Reagan County Courthouse

The county clerk's office in Big Lake holds deed and lease records, some going back to the 1920s boom itself. For a tract with that much history, expect multiple leases, releases, and re-leases layered on the same land. Get the full chain pulled, and if your interest ever bordered University Lands sections, double-check the survey lines — boundary confusion between fee and university acreage is a known headache in this county.