Royalty Check Stub Decoder

Click Any Field on the Sample Stub for a Plain-English Explanation — and the Red Flags to Watch For

Quick answer: Every royalty check stub carries the same core fields — property, production month, product, volume, price, gross value, your decimal interest, deductions, severance tax, and your net. The annotated sample below explains each one in plain English, with the underpayment red flags owners most often miss. Everything runs in your browser: nothing is uploaded, no signup, no personal information.

The check stub (also called a revenue statement or remittance advice) is the only document most owners ever see from an operator — and it hides real money in its columns. Which interest are you paid on? (See royalty interest vs. working interest.) Is the decimal the one on your division order? Are the deductions even allowed by your lease? Click each highlighted field below to decode it.

ACME ENERGY OPERATING LLC — REVENUE REMITTANCE ADVICE OWNER: 004521   J. SAMPLE   TYPE: RI CHECK NO. 118842   DATE: 06/25/2026
PROPERTY / WELL PROD MO PROD VOLUME PRICE PROPERTY GROSS DECIMAL OWNER GROSS DEDUCTS SEV TAX OWNER NET
SAMPLE RANCH UNIT 1H (42-123-45678) 04/2026 OIL 1,234.56 61.75 76,234.08 0.00585938 446.68 -12.40 -20.55 413.73
SAMPLE RANCH UNIT 1H (42-123-45678) 04/2026 GAS 8,450.00 2.87 24,251.50 0.00585938 142.10 -18.62 -10.66 112.82
CHECK TOTAL 526.55

Click or tab to any highlighted field. Sample data only — figures are illustrative and internally consistent (a 20-acre interest in a 640-acre unit at a 3/16 royalty).

Pick a field to decode

Click any highlighted field on the stub above — the explanation and its red flags will appear here.

How to Audit Your Royalty Check in Four Steps

  1. Verify your decimal. Compare the owner decimal printed on the stub to your division order, and recompute it: net mineral acres ÷ unit acres × royalty rate. A wrong decimal repeats its error on every check. (Free helper: the royalty decimal calculator.)
  2. Sanity-check the price. Compare the per-unit price to benchmark prices for the production month (see oil prices today). You are paid a realized price — benchmark minus basis differential and contract terms — but a gap far beyond the local differential deserves an explanation.
  3. Review the deductions. Check each deduction code against your lease. If your lease provides a cost-free royalty, post-production deductions like gathering, processing, and transportation may not be chargeable to you. (Full guide: royalty deductions explained.)
  4. Confirm continuity. Line up stubs month over month per well. Missing months, sudden volume drops without a matching production change, or interests that disappear from the stub are the most common signs of underpayment or suspense.
Want this done for you — every month, every operator? Valor's royalty management team audits every check stub against division orders, leases, and state production data, recovers underpayments and suspended funds, and delivers clean reporting. Valor never buys minerals — audit and administration only. Have Valor audit your royalty checks →

Royalty Check Stub FAQ

Work left to right on each line: the property (well or unit), the production month, the product (oil, gas, or plant products), the volume produced, the price received, and the property's gross value. Your decimal interest multiplied by that gross gives your owner share; deductions and severance taxes come off to reach your net. Every operator formats stubs differently, but those elements appear on nearly all of them.

Your decimal interest is your fractional share of the well's revenue — typically net mineral acres ÷ unit acres × royalty rate, as confirmed on your division order. For example, 20 net mineral acres in a 640-acre unit at a 3/16 royalty is 20 ÷ 640 × 0.1875 = 0.00585938. If the decimal on the stub doesn't match your division order, every check is wrong by the same factor.

You are paid a realized price — the operator's actual sale price at the lease, which runs below headline benchmarks like WTI because of the local basis differential, quality adjustments, and contract terms. A modest gap is normal; a gap far beyond the typical differential for your area, or one that suddenly widens, is worth questioning.

Common post-production deductions are gathering, compression, dehydration, processing, and transportation, plus state severance taxes. Whether post-production costs are chargeable to you depends on your lease language and state law — a cost-free royalty clause can prohibit them. Severance tax is a state tax and applies regardless of lease terms.

The recurring ones: a decimal that doesn't match your division order, deductions your lease doesn't allow, realized prices far below benchmark with no explanation, volumes that don't match state-reported production, missing production months, and interests quietly moved into suspense. Each is visible on the stub if you know where to look — and each is auditable.

Key Takeaways