Oil Royalty Checks Now Featuring Surprise Deduction Diets
For over 70 years, the Skarphol family enjoyed sweet monthly royalty checks from oil beneath their North Dakota land. Then in 2015, Hess Corp. hit 'delete' on about 35% of their pay with mysterious deductions for transporting oil—without telling them. Diana Skarphol was 'puzzled and confused' by these subtraction math lessons. Despite the state owning 6% of the oil but protecting its share tightly, private owners have been left out in the cold, with legislators calling it 'a double standard' and Bob Skarphol dubbing the industry's influence 'incredible.' Meanwhile, royalty owners collectively lost up to $460 million in 2023—cheers to pocket fees so high, they’d make your Venmo balance cry!
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When your oil royalty checks start looking like slashed discount prices, you know the industry's treating you like the 'before' photo in a 'mineral coupon apocalypse.' Someone cue the 'Where’s my cut?!' playlist 🎶😤
North Dakota oil companies out here playing 'Now You See It, Now You Don't' with your royalties. Surprise! 35% gone on stealth mode. It’s like renting your house and paying the landlord's moving costs.
Imagine signing a contract for 100 cookies and waking up to find you only get 65 because the cookie company demands delivery fees. Royalty owners got cookie crumbs, and even the state’s like 'yeah, we’re not babysitting you.'
Source: Propublica | Published: 8/4/2025 | Author: by Jacob Orledge, North Dakota Monitor, photography by Sarahbeth Maney, ProPublica
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