North Dakota: Where Oil Pays Less Than Your Therapist
In North Dakota, mineral owners thought royalties would be a payday, not a paycheck deduction mystery tour. They face 'no transparency' as companies like Hess Corp. withhold up to 42% of payments, leaving owners confused by 'hundreds of pages' with vague excuses. The state created a 'postproduction royalty oversight program' that gracefully dropped 'postproduction' from its name and competenceāit's so voluntary that oil companies aren't even required to cooperate. As Leverenz puts it, 'Thereās been no forward momentum.' Sounds like the only thing moving forward is the oil companiesā greed.
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North Dakota oil royalties are like a magic trick: now you see the money, now you don't. Meanwhile, the oversight program couldnāt oversee a kids' lemonade stand. Transparency? Only if you count black holes.
Royalty checks in North Dakota: 'We withhold 42% because... just because.' Even Houdini's jealous of that disappearing act.
North Dakotaās oversight program is about as enforceable as a polite email in a rap battleālots of words, zero punches.
Source: Propublica | Published: 8/11/2025 | Author: by Jacob Orledge, North Dakota Monitor, photography by Sarahbeth Maney, ProPublica
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