Texas has as much as $140 billion in "petro-wealth" in producing petroleum reserves, a new analysis from Austin, Texas-based company Blackbeard Data Services reveals.
According to the report, Texans hold about four-fifths of the state's total petro-wealth. Meanwhile 3.7 percent of the petro-wealth belongs to owners in Oklahoma, 1.5 percent to owners in Colorado and 1.3 percent to Californians.
The bulk of the petro-wealth in Texas — approximately 80 percent, or $112 billion — belongs to corporations. Individuals own about $20 billion worth of the wealth, while the remainder is owned by trusts, non-profit organizations, educational and religious institutions and the government.
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The largest proportion of the petro-wealth in Texas is concentrated in Houston — $47 billion. It stands way ahead of the second richest city in terms of petroleum wealth, Midland, with $14 billion.
Blackbeard Data Services, which specializes in oil lease information, also revealed that traditionally over 85 percent of oil lease revenues in Texas would go to oil companies, while mineral owners got the rest in the form of royalties. This is because, from a historical point of view, oil companies have taken all the risk in operations. However, over the past two decades technology has improved and risks have become lower, which is reflected in a declining percentage of revenues going to oil companies, the report concluded.
