History of our Our Association

 
Natural gas was found in Stevens County, Kansas in 1927, which lead to the drilling and development of the Hugoton Gas Field.  The Hugoton Gas Field encompasses a portion of Southwest Kansas, and portions of the Oklahoma and Texas Panhandle. After its discovery, the Hugoton Gas Field was considered the largest natural gas field in North America and the second largest in the world. Along with the discovery of natural gas in the area was the discovery  the natural gas stream also carried vast reserves of helium.  Below the Hugoton formation another vast gas bearing formation, the Panoma Council Grove formation, was discovered.  Numerous other oil and gas reserves were also discovered in Southwest Kansas.
 
As numerous problems arose between land-owner-lessors and the oil and gas companies during development of the Hugoton Gas Field in the 1930’s and 1940’s a group of landowners in the Hugoton Field recognized the need for an organization to protect the rights of the landowners in the Field.  From those discussions the Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners Association, a non-profit Corporation, was organized. The corporation’s Articles of Incorporation were filed in 1948 with the stated purpose of the corporation to “foster, protect and further in all proper respects the rights and interests of the mineral owners.”   That purpose still guides the Association today.
 
The Association was originally organized to protect the interests of mineral, royalty, and landowners in nine Southwest Kansas counties.  That territory was later expanded to include twelve counties.  Through the Associations advocacy of the protection of the rights of Kansas surface, mineral and royalty owners it has  truly become an Association which has served the interests of mineral, royalty, and landowners across Kansas.  As a reflection of that service, the Associations territory is expanding to include additional counties whose mineral, royalty and landowners petition to be included in the Associations territory.  The Association also includes a number of Associate members whose interests  may not be included in the counties within the Associations territory.
 
The Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners Association is recognized by the oil and gas industry, the Kansas Legislature, and the news media as a knowledgeable authority on subjects dealing with mineral and royalty ownership in Kansas.