Selling mineral rights in Williams County, North Dakota starts with a free review of your legal description and production, followed by a written cash offer you can accept or decline. Once the title is verified, many sales close within several weeks.

This page is for owners, heirs and out-of-state families who hold minerals in the county. It covers current drilling, what drives value, how to confirm ownership, and how a sale works. Owners who want a clear starting point can request a free valuation, which estimates Williams County mineral rights value based on current production and nearby drilling activity.

Williams County Mineral Rights at a Glance

Here's a snapshot of current oil and gas activity in the county, drawn from North Dakota Industrial Commission (NDIC) records.

Fact Williams County

County seat

 Williston
Other towns Tioga, Ray, Epping, Wildrose, Grenora

Main formations

 Bakken and Three Forks
Active wells About 3,600
Oil produced (May 2026) About 6.4 million barrels, roughly 21% of the state total
Drilling rigs About 10 (mid-October 2026)
Operators reporting production 36

Williston gave the Williston Basin its name. North Dakota's first commercial oil well, the Clarence Iverson No. 1, was completed near Tioga in 1951.

Selling Mineral Rights in Williams County, North Dakota

A sale transfers your mineral interest, and the future royalties tied to it, to a buyer for one lump-sum payment. 1280 Royalties buys producing and non-producing interests here. You can sell everything you own or only a portion and keep the rest.

Owners who sell mineral rights in North Dakota usually do so for practical reasons. Some want cash for retirement or debt. Others are tired of checks that swing with oil prices, or of splitting small payments among several heirs.

Not Ready to Sell? Manage Your Williams County Minerals

With dozens of operators in the county, one owner may get statements from several companies, and payment errors are easy to miss. The 1280 Royalties mineral management platform keeps it in one place.
  • Royalty payment tracking that flags discrepancies
  • Lease management with alerts for key dates
  • Title verification and due diligence
  • GIS mapping of wells and permits near your tract
  • Secure storage for deeds, leases, and statements

You can start with a free trial or request a demo.

Williams County Mineral Rights Value: What Drives It

Two owners with the same acreage can receive very different offers. These factors explain most of the gap. Buyers weigh them together rather than one at a time, so a strong location can offset a lower royalty rate, while steep decline can outweigh a large acreage position. Their relative weight also shifts from county to county. The general methods behind North Dakota mineral rights value apply here, with Williams County's dense drilling shaping how each factor plays out.

Factor

Why it matters in Williams County
Location

Drilling is uneven across the county, so tracts near recent permits draw more interest than thinly drilled townships
Producing wells NDIC records show about 6,900 wells drilled in the county and roughly 3,600 still active, so most tracts sit in units with years of production history to price from
Decline Wells completed during the 2010s boom now produce far less than they did in year one
Royalty rate Your lease's royalty fraction scales every dollar you receive
Net mineral acres Your share of the spacing unit sets your slice of production
Spacing and pooling Bakken units often cover 1,280 acres or more, which spreads ownership thin
Nearby permits New permits signal future wells and future royalties

How Much Are Mineral Rights Worth in Williams County?

Mineral rights in Williams County are worth the present value of the royalties they're expected to pay, adjusted for location, decline, royalty rate, and oil prices. Producing interests near active drilling usually bring the strongest offers, while unleased tracts are priced on development potential.

Here's a simple, hypothetical example. Say you own 10 net mineral acres in a 1,280-acre unit with a 3/16 royalty. Your decimal interest is about 0.00146. If the unit's wells produce 20,000 barrels in a month at a $60 net price, your share is roughly $1,758 before taxes and deductions.

Buyers run that math across the wells' remaining life to build an offer.

Williams County Bakken Mineral Rights: Activity & Operators

Williams County is the second-largest oil-producing county in the Bakken region of North Dakota, behind only McKenzie County. The table below shows which operators produce the most oil here and which ones are drilling now.

Updated October 2026. Production is for May 2026.

Operator (current name) Oil, May 2026 Active wells Rigs, Oct. 2026
Continental Resources 1.4 million bbl About 680 2
XTO Energy (ExxonMobil) 1.3 million bbl About 180

1
Chord Energy (Oasis and Whiting records) About 880,000 bbl About 780 1
Chevron (formerly Hess Bakken Investments II) About 860,000 bbl About 470 3
Devon Energy About 560,000 bbl About 390 1
Kraken Operating About 420,000 bbl About 300 1

XTO produced nearly as much oil as Continental from about a quarter of the wells, a sign its program leans on newer wells. Chevron ran the most rigs in October.

Williams County Oil and Gas Mineral Rights: Who Owns What

In North Dakota, minerals can be owned separately from the surface. The person who farms or lives on the land may not own what lies beneath it. In Williams County, many minerals were split from the land generations ago, when families sold a farm but kept the minerals, or sold the minerals and kept farming. Wills and estates then divided those interests again and again. As a result, the surface deed alone rarely tells you who owns the oil and gas today.

Start with your legal description, written as township, range and section. You'll find it on your deed, lease or royalty statement. Then search deeds at the Williams County Recorder's office in Williston. You can check well production by location on the NDIC GIS map.

Need help? Send what you have for a free title review.

Inherited Mineral Rights in Williams County

Heirs usually need ownership moved into their names before they can sell. For inherited mineral rights in North Dakota, that transfer typically involves the following:
  • Probate, where the court confirms who inherits the minerals
  • Or, in many cases, an affidavit of heirship recorded in the county
  • Notice to the operator once the transfer is recorded, so royalty checks go to the right heirs
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How Selling Oil and Mineral Rights in Williams County Works

The mineral rights selling process follows five steps. It starts with a free review of your legal description and any recent royalty statements. Next comes a valuation based on production, nearby permits and lease terms, followed by a written offer you can review on your own time. If you accept, title is checked against county and state records. You then sign the mineral deed at closing and get paid.

What You Need to Sell Oil Rights in Williams County

  • A copy of your deed or the legal description (if available)
  • Recent royalty statements, if you receive them
  • Any lease documents

Williams County Mineral Rights FAQs

How much are mineral rights worth in Williams County, ND?
It varies too much for a reliable county-wide figure. Per-acre numbers found online usually mix producing and unleased tracts, so they can mislead in either direction. The quickest way to know your number is a parcel-level valuation.
Mostly specialized mineral acquirers like 1280 Royalties, plus private investors, funds and sometimes operators. Most sales are handled remotely, so out-of-state owners and heirs don't need to travel to North Dakota to close.

Nearby drilling can support values. Williams County has about 3,600 active wells and roughly 10 rigs running. But your own value depends on where your tract sits relative to producing wells and permits, whether it’s leased, and your net mineral acres. A free valuation looks at your specific tract.

They're mineral interests passed to you through a will or family estate. Yes, you can usually sell only your share. Other heirs don't have to sell theirs. Confirm details with an attorney.
Eight companies had rigs running in October 2026, including smaller names like Zavanna and Slawson alongside the larger operators listed above. Your royalty statement names the operator paying you on each well.
Besides searching county deeds, contact the operator's division order department. It keeps an ownership decimal for every owner in each well and can confirm whether you're on its pay records.

Get a Free Williams County Mineral Rights Valuation

Williams County sits near the center of Bakken drilling, and that activity is what buyers pay for. Whether you want to sell now or just know your number, a free valuation gives you a real figure to weigh against holding.

Values can shift as oil prices move and new wells come online near your tract. An offer built on your own production records and current NDIC data shows where things stand today. From there, you can decide on your own timeline with a clear number in hand.

Call 1280 Royalties at 303-770-6040 or fill out the form below. Send your legal description or a recent royalty statement, and the team will reply with a written offer. There's no fee and no obligation to sell.

Get a Free Offer to Sell Mineral Rights in Williams County

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