Wood County, Texas
Sell Mineral Rights in Wood County, Texas
Long-producing county with a mix of shallow oil history and Cotton Valley gas.
Producing formations: Cotton Valley
Where Wood County sits
Dry gas country, the Haynesville, Bossier and Cotton Valley run underneath this county. All twenty-three counties we buy in are shaded; click one to open it.
The history of oil and gas in Wood County
Hawkins: a billion barrels from a county nobody talks about
Wood County found oil ten years after the East Texas Field and had produced nearly a billion barrels by 1984, most of it from Hawkins. It is one of the most productive counties in Texas, and one of the least talked about outside the industry.
1940 and 1942
The Hawkins field was discovered in December 1940. Hawkins is one of the significant oil fields in Texas history. The Quitman field followed in 1942.
The timing matters. This was wartime. Every barrel out of Hawkins went into an economy that could not get enough of it, at a moment when the Railroad Commission's proration fights of the thirties had finally settled into a working system. Wood County came in under adult supervision, which the East Texas Field never did.
The scale
By 1948 the county was producing nearly 25 million barrels a year. By 1984 cumulative production was approaching a billion barrels.
For comparison: Marion County, producing since 1910, has made about 55 million barrels total. Wood County was making half that every two years at its peak.
Why Hawkins lasted
Hawkins is a field geologists write papers about. It has a gas cap over an oil column, which means producing it badly, pulling oil too fast and letting the gas cap expand into the oil zone, would have destroyed a huge share of the recoverable reserves. It was developed with pressure maintenance and unitized operation rather than the every-man-for-himself drilling that characterized 1931.
That is the difference eleven years and one Railroad Commission made. The East Texas Field was drilled by hundreds of operators racing each other. Hawkins was engineered.
The modern county
Cotton Valley gas is what is being worked now, by operators including TTK Energy and Montare Operating. The shallow oil is deep into its tail.
What to know if you own here
- Royalty interests created in the forties are now four generations old, and because the fields were unitized, a Wood County interest is often a unit decimal rather than a tract-by-tract royalty. That is a different, and usually cleaner, thing to buy.
- A long-lived field means a long-lived check. Hawkins has been paying since the war. That predictability is worth more per dollar of current income than a new well is.
- Ask whether your interest is in the unit or outside it. In unitized fields this determines everything.
Sources: Handbook of Texas (Texas State Historical Association) county and field entries; American Oil & Gas Historical Society; Texas Almanac; Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas energy research; Railroad Commission of Texas permit and completion records as published through texas-drilling.com and the weekly drilling reports of the Longview News-Journal and Tyler Morning Telegraph. Verified August 2026.
Who is operating in Wood County
These operators have filed permits or completions in Wood County with the Railroad Commission. If your check comes from one of them, we already know the wells.
- TTK Energy
- Montare Operating
What we buy in Wood County
Mineral rights, royalty interests, overriding royalty, non-participating royalty, non-operated working interest, and non-producing minerals. There is no size limit in either direction. We buy a single interest in one unit and we buy whole family positions.
If your piece feels too small to bother with, call anyway. Small interests in the same tract usually belong to relatives, and we would rather work with the whole family at once.
How an offer gets made
You call or fill out the form. We pull the county records, the appraisal district roll and the Railroad Commission production history ourselves. Within three business days you get a specific cash number in writing and a plain explanation of how we got there. If we think you should hold, we say that too. We cover title, recording and closing, and you keep every royalty check until the day we close.
Call or text (936) 289-3438 Or email offers@longleafmineralco.com
Wood County questions
What formations produce in Wood County?
The producing formation we track in Wood County is the Cotton Valley. In short: dry gas country. The Haynesville, Bossier and Cotton Valley run underneath this county. Ask your operator or check your division order to see which formation your own check comes from.
Who operates wells in Wood County?
Operators that have filed permits or completions in Wood County with the Texas Railroad Commission include TTK Energy and Montare Operating. If your check comes from one of them, we already know the wells. You can also look up any well yourself in the Railroad Commission's public records.
What should I check before selling minerals in Wood County?
Royalty interests created in the forties are now four generations old, and because the fields were unitized, a Wood County interest is often a unit decimal rather than a tract-by-tract royalty. That is a different, and usually cleaner, thing to buy. A long-lived field means a long-lived check. Hawkins has been paying since the war. That predictability is worth more per dollar of current income than a new well is. Ask whether your interest is in the unit or outside it. In unitized fields this determines everything. If any of that is unclear, call or text us and we will look it up with you for free. We also buy in the counties that border Wood County: Franklin County, Camp County, Upshur County and Smith County.
Other counties we buy in
Own minerals next door too? We also buy in the counties that border Wood County: Franklin County, Camp County, Upshur County, Smith County.