In Ector County, Mineral Rights and Surface Rights Are Often Separate

A deed in Ector County can sell the house and surface while leaving the oil and gas with someone else. Texas treats the surface estate and mineral estate as separate rights, and those rights can be severed.

Texas also treats the mineral estate as dominant. A mineral owner, or a company with a valid lease, may use the surface as reasonably needed to explore and produce oil and gas. That can mean roads, pipelines, or well sites.

Before buying land, have the deed checked for a mineral reservation. Then use the Railroad Commission's Public GIS Viewer to look near the tract by address, survey, lease, or API number. The map is not a legal survey, but it helps show whether oil and gas activity is already close by.