Oil and gas have shaped Starr County for nearly a century

A Starr County deed can sell the brush, fence line, and house pad without selling every oil-and-gas right below it. Texas law treats the surface estate and the mineral estate as separate rights. A past owner can sever the minerals from the surface in the deed chain.

When the minerals are leased, the operator may be able to use the surface as needed for exploration and production. Roads, well pads, pipelines, water use, and injection or disposal work can all become surface issues after closing. A deed, lease, or surface-use agreement may limit some of that, but you have to read it.

This is not just a title-law idea in Starr County. The Railroad Commission puts Starr in Oil and Gas District 04, served through Corpus Christi. Its Public GIS Viewer maps oil, gas, and pipeline data. The viewer is updated nightly and includes contacts for wells, pipelines, drilling permits, and production questions. The deed and lease answer ownership. The RRC map answers nearby activity.