Energy

The energy holdings

The energy division holds oil and mineral interests in Kern County, California and in Texas. Out there, land is measured in survey sections: one square mile at a time.

Every interest is described the way the records describe it — by section, township and range under the federal Public Land Survey System in California, and under the original land surveys kept by the Railroad Commission in Texas — and each one is recorded at the county where it sits.

Royalties and mineral interests

A mineral interest is ownership of what sits beneath a tract of land, held separately from the surface above it. When an operator drills and produces, the owner of that interest is paid a royalty: a fixed share of the value of every barrel that comes out of the ground, off the top, before the operator’s costs.

That structure is why the division fits the group. A royalty carries no rig crews, no drilling budgets and no debt; the cheque rises and falls with production and price, and the interest itself does not expire. It is bought once, recorded at the county, and held — the same way the group holds everything else.