We recently began receiving royalty checks from Comstock. For the Hogue well (TRRC 298319) Comstock listed March 2025 production of 911,523 MCF on our check receipt; however, the TRRC website posted a figure of 979,483 MCF. In every month this year, the Comstock production figure is lower than the TRRC figure, but not always by the same percentage. Why the difference, and why does the difference vary month to month? Thanks ~
I’m not sure what is going on with these Comstock production figures.
I first looked at the numbers reported by Comstock in the Texas Comptrollers’ CONG system. The Hogue well production for March 25 is shown to be 979,483 MCF with total sales revenue of $2,910,369.01.
However, if I look up the Hogue well in the Texas RRC production reports by lease, I see these figures for March 2025:
Formation production: 948,512 MCF
Disposition to transmission line (code 2): 917,541
Disposition to underground storage (code 8): 30,971
If I add the 30,971 to 948,512, the total is 979,483, which matches with the CONG report.
Looks to me like Comstock has made an error in your royalty payment. It appears that they are not paying a royalty to you for the gas sent to storage. I don’t know if that is correct…you need to ask them about that.
However, even if that is correct, it appears that your royalty should be based on production of 948,512, not the lower number that they gave you.
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I was just fixing to post and Alan beat me to it. 
He put the same information I found.
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The volume on the check stub may be the gas sold at tailgate of the plant left after processing. While the report to CONG was for total production volumes. Do the gross sales revenues on the check match the total sales $2,910,369.01 reported to CONG? If so, then your royalties will be correct. You should reconcile your checks to the CONG reports. I am curious about the underground storage as articles suggest that the gas may be stored due to low prices and will later be removed and sold when price is higher.
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“Do the gross sales revenues on the check match the total sales $2,910,369.01 reported to CONG?”
Gross sales on the March royalty check was: 2,912,000.46 so I reckon that answers the question, but raises another one…how does one track royalties for when the stored gas is sold? Thanks!
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Also look at your lease agreement. For instance, our includes volume of gas sold, stored for later use, used in production,etc. Makes no difference “what happens to the gas” we are paid a royalty on gross volume from the well.
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Glad you posted about this issue. Definitely pays to keep track of everything. Do you mind me asking how long it took to get your division order from Comstock? We have some wells fixing to turn to sales soon so was just curious. I have been working on all the figures for division interest, etc so I hope I’m correct on that. Royalties should be pretty good for these larger wells…I hope. 
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As I recall, the D.O. for the Hogue well came sometime in late Feb. After turning them in, Comstock contacted us and said the R.I. was miscalculated and that they would send a correction for our signature. They did not. However, they did lower our R.I. figure about 10%. Sadly, the Leon Co. A.D. still sent us an appraisal notice with the higher original R.I. figure. AND we still have not received a D.O. for the Powell well, which means statutory interest will be due. Does anyone here think we should hire a lawyer to pursue these matters? Anyone have a good O&G attorney in the San Antonio area to recommend? Thanks ~
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Re the Storage terms, should storage be addressed in our leases in the future with storage time limitations and clarity on valuation. I dont see this issue as drastically different from a shut-in but I have not developed any knowlege base on the topic.
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Normally a lease provides for royalties to be paid when gas is sold. I have not seen gas storage volumes being reported, at least in Permian. It may be that the wrong box was selected and this was really flared or vented volumes. Gas may also have ben reinjected back into the wellbore for well pressure build to promote production volumes. In this case, no royalties are due until the injected gas is later produced and sold. I suggest the mineral owner contact the operator and ask about whether or not this was really storage gas. Then report can be corrected.
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Thanks y’all, good advice and cleared a couple of things up for me.
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It’s storage gas…Comstock began doing it in February for 12 of their Western Haynesville wells. They had previously disclosed that they had the capability to do this. Very minor amounts so far. The amounts sent to storage are a consistent percentage across the wells: 0.6% in February, 3.3% in March, and 0.6% in April.
The gas is being stored in a storage facility near the Bethel gas treatment plant in Anderson County.
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How interesting! I wonder if other companies will start doing this. Question as to whether Comstock has treated as if sold at same price as other gas or as if sold at zero value or if will report as sale when removed from storage.
I’m actually contacting Comstock as well. We have a lease that currently has 2 wells coming on line soon. I noticed on the 1st well that our units P-12 form doesn’t have “et al” after our Tract name. The 2nd well’s P-12 has “et al” included. Not sure it makes a difference but I’m contacting them just to make sure. Anyone have any issues with this or have any more clarification?
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As best I can tell (this is all still quite confusing to me) …it looks to me like Comstock went ahead and raised the price per unit of gas to cover the difference in the gas “stored”, so the royaty comes out the same…perhaps, in effect, paying the gas royalty at the (presumably lower) current sales price instead of a higher future sales price. e.g., CONG reported a unit price of $2.65 (extrapolated from data), and the check receipt shows a unit price of $2.75. The $2.65 unit price at CONG production stats & the $2.75 unit price at Comstock’s reported production result in equivalent royalty payments. Considering current gas prices, I am on the lookout for more shenanigans with the April royalties statement. … Someone mentioned checking lease terms upthread…our lease does specify royalty payments on gas sales.