Iraan grew up on top of the Yates Field, one of the most historically productive oil fields in Texas, and that legacy still shapes how the tract desk underwrites mineral interests in this part of Pecos County.

The Yates Field has been producing since the 1920s, and it's a different animal entirely from the newer horizontal shale plays the tract desk underwrites elsewhere in the Delaware Basin. If your family's interest traces back to Yates Field production, the tract desk is looking at nearly a century of history, waterflood and secondary recovery operations in places, and a decline profile that looks nothing like a five-year-old Wolfcamp well.

The tract desk also checks whether your family's Yates Field interest includes any deeper rights that have never been developed, since decades-old leases sometimes cover formations far below what was originally drilled.

A century of production history

Long-lived fields like Yates decline slowly and predictably compared to shale wells. The tract desk model that flatter curve honestly, which can mean a more stable, if less dramatic, royalty stream than a hot new horizontal unit elsewhere in the basin.

Secondary recovery and operating costs

Parts of the Yates Field have gone through decades of secondary recovery. That affects net revenue interest calculations differently than a primary-recovery well, and the tract desk factors operating cost trends into the offer rather than ignoring them.

Those undeveloped deeper rights can carry real value of their own, separate from the shallower production your family has been receiving royalty from for years.

Title chains that run generations deep

With production this old, most Iraan-area title chains have passed through several generations of the same family. The tract desk does the work of tracing that chain at the Pecos County courthouse before quoting a number, because the actual decimal interest a family holds today is often different from what an old deed implies on its face.

Fix the Property Line First

Every review begins with the county record, legal description, ownership fraction, lease position, producing status, wells, units, and paid decimal. Surface location can help find a tract, but it does not prove the mineral interest or participation in nearby development.

Place the Tract in the Producing Context

Formation, field, well vintages, spacing, operator acreage, offsets, permits, and development pace around a subject tract belong in separate evidence lanes. The property's own history carries more weight than activity that does not include the acreage.

Reconcile the Revenue Line

Statements, division orders, unit records, volumes, prices, taxes, deductions, downtime, adjustments, burdens, and decimal changes should reconcile before current revenue or remaining production is projected for the tract.

Write the Conveyance

The written purchase file should identify the right conveyed, county, legal description, fractions or acres, depths, products, wells, units, reservations, effective date, receivables, title standard, adjustment rights, funding, and recording sequence.

Texas owner file

Owner Questions for This Texas Property File

Resolve these owner questions before a Texas mineral purchase is reduced to a single dollars-per-acre number.

Is the Yates Field still producing?

Yes, it remains one of the longer-lived producing fields in Texas, though at a much flatter, more mature decline than newer shale wells.

Does old production mean lower value?

Not necessarily. Stable, long-lived production underwrites on its own terms and can carry real, predictable value.

What if the owner's family has never sold minerals here before?

Common with Yates Field interests. The tract desk will walk you through exactly what the title chain shows and what that means for value.

Is there Delaware Basin shale activity near Iraan too?

There's some activity in surrounding sections. The tract desk checks current permitting near your specific tract as part of underwriting.

Could there be undeveloped value below our current Yates Field production?

Sometimes, yes. The tract desk checks whether your lease and deed cover deeper formations that haven't been tested, since that can add real value beyond current production.

Buy Mineral Rights Texas

Put This Interest on a Tract File

Send the county, property description, producing status, operator or well name, and the documents already available.