For those looking to sell oil and natural gas mineral rights or royalties, there can be tax benefits under 1031 provisions.  The 1031 provisions allow for tax free capital gains so long as a like kind property is purchased as a replacement.  The tax savings from this can be huge. Read more »

A coal utility plant in Western New York State is being considered as a switchover candidate to natural gas as it will save consumers about 5% on their power bill, based on a report from a consulting firm. According to an article in The Buffalo News, "Report Supports Converting Dunkirk Power Plant to Natural Gas," the plant could be closed down if it does not switch as natural gas is so much cheaper. Read more »

More and more city buses are switching to compressed natural gas mainly for the reason stated in the headlines, according to a story in USA Today by Larry Copeland. Read more »

While natural gas is displacing coal as a fuel for power stations and could be replacing oil in ships an trains soon, the motor vehicle market is still evolving.  But it is expanding, with Lehigh Gas Partners, based in Pennsylvania, announcing plans to open up to 20 publicly accessible compressed natural gas fueling locations over the next five years after just offering natural gas last year.  The initial station was opened just outside of Philadelphia. Read more »

Cyprus has been in the news lately, for all the wrong reasons.  It is the latest European economic basket case, joining Spain, Italy, et al....  But, according to an article on Google News, Cyprus has huge deposits of natural gas. Read more »

 The New York appeals court is hearing arguments over whether towns in the state have the legal right to ban oil and gas development.  This would be a terrible blow to personal property rights as owners could not sell mineral rights, royalties or leases for oil and natural gas.  Here is an article about the case from Google News. Read more »

 The exchange traded fund for natural gas, United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG), finished the week strong, up on Friday.  For the last five days of market action, the UNG is up by 1.98%.  For 2013, the UNG is trading higher by 14.23%. Read more »

There was a great article in The Washington Post detailing how venture capital money is now going towards oil and natural gas clean tech plays.  That shows how valuable oil and natural gas mineral rights and royalties are, and why it is such a great time to sell or lease these assets. Read more »

To check out how the outlook for natural gas, it is always useful to see how the exchange traded fund for natural gas, United States Natural Gas (NYSE: UNG), is faring.  Trading under the symbol "UNG" on the New York Stock Exchange, the UNG is up 17.47% for the month.  Any selling of a natural gas mineral rights would certainly be going into a bull market, that is for sure. Read more »

With the outlook so bullish for oil and natural gas, it is understandable why many are hesitant to sell mineral rights, royalties, or leases.  But it is very easy to do this and still profit from the growth in the oil and natural gas industry. Read more »