The Addendum for Reservation of Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals (TREC No. 44-3) is dated 11-07-2022 on the form and replaces TREC No. 44-2. Its own notice is blunt about when to use it: "For use ONLY if Seller reserves all or a portion of the Mineral Estate." If the seller is conveying everything, this addendum doesn't attach at all.
What "Mineral Estate" actually means on this form
Paragraph A defines it precisely: "all oil, gas, and other minerals in and under and that may be produced from the Property, any royalty under any existing or future mineral lease covering any part of the Property, executive rights (including the right to sign a mineral lease covering any part of the Property), implied rights of ingress and egress, exploration and development rights, production and drilling rights, mineral lease payments, and all related rights and benefits."
It draws a specific line on what's excluded: water, sand, gravel, limestone, building stone, caliche, surface shale, near-surface lignite, and iron are NOT part of the Mineral Estate — but the Mineral Estate DOES include the reasonable use of those surface materials for mining, drilling, exploring, operating, developing, or removing the oil, gas, and other minerals.
Two ways to reserve, one checkbox
Paragraph B gives the seller exactly two reservation options (check one):
- Reserve all of the Mineral Estate the seller owns.
- Reserve an undivided interest — a blank for a specific percentage or fraction. The form adds a direct note here: if the seller doesn't own the entire Mineral Estate to begin with, the seller reserves only that percentage or fraction of whatever interest the seller actually has.
Surface access — a separate election with a default
Paragraph C asks whether the seller does or does not waive rights of ingress and egress and reasonable use of the property (including surface materials) for mining, drilling, exploring, operating, developing, or removing the minerals. Two things worth flagging directly from the form text:
- Surface rights held by other owners of the Mineral Estate who aren't parties to this transaction — including existing mineral lessees — are not affected by whatever the seller elects here.
- If Paragraph C is left blank, the form treats that as an election to convey all surface rights described in the paragraph. Silence here isn't neutral — it defaults to conveying, not reserving.
Existing mineral lessee contact info
Paragraph D requires that if the seller does not reserve all of their interest in the Mineral Estate, the seller must, within 7 days after the Effective Date, give the buyer the current contact information for any existing mineral lessee known to the seller.