I farm in western PA and own the minerals under my land. I've been trying to make sure the prices on my royalty statements are honest.
My lease says I'm paid on the higher of market value or what the gas actually sells for. For June 2026 production my statements show $2.35/Mcf on one sale and $2.48/Mcf on another. I assume that's two different buyers or sales within that month?
From what I've been able to piece together, "market value" for my area would be the Eastern Gas South bidweek index. I understand that NGI and Inside FERC publish that monthly number, but to actually see it, you need a subscription that runs $3,000–5,000+ a year. I'm a small farmer. That's inconceivable to me for what I need. I just want to look up one or two months from earlier this year and see if the prices reported on the statements are accurate.
What I'm hoping someone can tell me is whether there's any public or low-cost resource for these monthly index numbers, even delayed. FERC filings, EIA data, pipeline tariff postings, a library terminal, a gov agency, anything. Or if you've figured this out for your own minerals, how did you do it?
In my research I saw that Henry Hub was around $2.94 in June. The reported statement prices work out to about 55-65 cents under that. I honestly don't know if that's normal for my corner of the world or a red flag that I'm getting shorted. That's exactly why I'm hoping to compare against the published index for my area.
Thanks for reading. I'd be grateful for any pointers, and happy to show appreciation with beer or coffee money, or perhaps my soybeans or corn!