Bill > SB2353

This bill establishes a new rule for mineral rights in Mississippi, stating that if mineral rights have been separated from the ownership of the land's surface and there has been no actual production of minerals or a genuine effort to drill for them for a continuous period of ten years, those mineral rights will automatically return to the current owner of the surface estate. This ten-year clock can be reset if there is any drilling or production activity, or even if shut-in rental payments are made in lieu of production, though the clock will restart after the rental period ends if production doesn't resume. The bill also clarifies that for oil, production is only considered active if the well is on the specific quarter-quarter section of land where the mineral rights were severed, and for gas, it's considered active if the well is within the half-section containing the mineral interest. This legislation, which applies to mineral rights separated after January 1, 2025, will become effective on July 1, 2026.

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https://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2026/pdf/history/SB/SB2353.xml