Did VF Petroleum, Inc. reserve oil, gas, mineral, or easement rights in Howard County deeds?

Yes. Recorded instruments executed by VF Petroleum, Inc. in Howard County (Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor)) include express reservations covering: Severed royalty, overriding royalty (ORRI), and mineral interests held of record in the corporate name of V-F Petroleum, Inc.; Corporate-versus-Trust title separation documented in Howard County OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (January 2025).

How can a landman, division order analyst, or property owner verify chain-of-title or statutory trustee records for VF Petroleum, Inc.?

Submit the Volume/Page, Document Number, Survey/Abstract, or Parcel ID to the VF Petroleum, Inc. Land & Records Archive Desk at https://vf-petroleum-inc.web.app/#inquiry.

Caprock Escarpment & Midland Basin Historical Archive · Howard County (TX)

How VF Petroleum, Inc. Surveyed and Platted the Lands of Howard County.

Q: What lands and surveys were conveyed into and subdivided by VF Petroleum, Inc. in Howard County?

VF Petroleum, Inc. acquired parent survey acreage and executed recorded subdivision plats and out-conveyances in Howard County (TX), anchored at Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor) covering Sundown, Midway, and Big Spring Wolfcamp Horizontal Producing Units, Howard County, Texas, Midland Basin Core SM Energy Company & Vital Energy Operating Corridor.

Organized by Midland / Howard County Independent Petroleum Group (1978-1998), VF Petroleum, Inc. assembled and subdivided tracts across Howard County (TX), recorded in the county clerk's books at Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor). This broadsheet preserves the historical surveys, recorded plats, and deed index of the company.

Original Era: 1978-1998
County Seat & Archive: Howard County (TX)
Primary Recorder Entry: Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor)

Archival Facsimiles Inspect Recorded Plats & Deeds → View scanned Howard County Clerk and GLO instruments. County Recorder Index Search the Deed & Tract Table → Filter recorded instruments, survey calls, and reservation clauses.

Recorded Survey & Deed Plate · Howard County (TX)

VF Petroleum, Inc.

Recorded county clerk and surveyor file for VF Petroleum, Inc. in Howard County (TX).

Historical / Indexed Names: V-F Petroleum, Inc., V F Petroleum Incorporated
Historical Archive Group: Midland / Howard County Independent Petroleum Group
Charter / Archive Ref: TX Corporate Charter / RRC P-5 #881245 (Midland / Howard County)
Primary Survey / Tract: Sundown, Midway, and Big Spring Wolfcamp Horizontal Producing Units, Howard County, Texas

Recorded January 2025 in Vol. 2272, Page 155, Howard County Official Public Records, referencing the producing Howard County lease interests associated with VF Petroleum, Inc.

Howard County Clerk & Archival Facsimiles

Recorded Deeds, Survey Files & Historical Press for VF Petroleum, Inc.

Inspect authentic county clerk instrument scans, General Land Office files, and archival newspaper facsimiles harvested for VF Petroleum, Inc. in Howard County (TX).

Howard County Official Public Records · Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Doc #2025-00000831)
Howard County Recorded Mineral & Royalty Conveyance (Guitar, Lester & Sterling Leases)

Recorded January 2025 in Vol. 2272, Page 155, Howard County Official Public Records, referencing the producing Howard County lease interests associated with VF Petroleum, Inc.

Texas Historical Newspaper Archive · ARK metapth1789253
The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 94, No. 165, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 30, 1974

Archival Texas newspaper edition (The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 94, No. 165, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 30, 1974) preserved in the Texas Digital Newspaper Archive (ARK Identifier: ark:/67531/metapth1789253), documenting regional land, townsite, and county history for the Howard County corridor.

Chronicle of Howard County

Land, Water, Surveys & the Story of VF Petroleum, Inc.

Where the southern edge of the Llano Estacado Caprock breaks into the rolling draws of Howard County, a natural spring in Sulphur Draw made Big Spring a vital watering hole for Comanche trails, Captain Randolph B. Marcy's 1849 expedition, and the Texas & Pacific Railway in 1881. When the Dora Roberts and Chalk oil fields roared to life in 1926-1928, boomtowns like Forsan sprang up overnight across the Texas & Pacific Railroad alternating survey sections, followed after World War II by suburban additions expanding south of Big Spring toward the old air force base and hospital hills.

1978-1998 TX Charter · TX Corporate Charter / RRC P-5 #881245 (Midland / Howard County)

I. Founding & Land Assembly by VF Petroleum, Inc.

Organized by Midland / Howard County Independent Petroleum Group (1978-1998), VF Petroleum, Inc. assembled parent acreage, survey tracts, and rights-of-way across Howard County (TX), recorded in the county clerk's books at Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor).

Primary lands surveyed and indexed to the company include Sundown, Midway, and Big Spring Wolfcamp Horizontal Producing Units, Howard County, Texas, laid out for regional townsite, agricultural, lakeside, or oil and gas development.
Subdivision & Conveyance Era Howard County Deed Records · Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor)

II. Out-Conveyances, Plats & Recorded Deed Reservations

As VF Petroleum, Inc. platted and conveyed individual lots, farm tracts, and rights-of-way out of its parent holdings in Howard County, deeds recorded in the county clerk's office included written reservations and exceptions: Severed royalty, overriding royalty (ORRI), and mineral interests held of record in the corporate name of V-F Petroleum, Inc..

Under TX property law, severed mineral estates, royalty interests, road strips, and easements created by written deed reservation remain in the chain of title long after the original land company finishes selling its surface lots.
Present Day Howard County Archival & Surveyor Cross-Reference

III. Modern Map, Title & Mineral Record Legacy

Today, when historians, landowners, surveyors, title examiners, or oil and gas landmen review tracts within Sundown, Midway, and Big Spring Wolfcamp Horizontal Producing Units, Howard County, Texas, the historical deeds and plats of VF Petroleum, Inc. serve as key reference points in the Howard County records.

This broadsheet indexes the recorded instruments of VF Petroleum, Inc. so researchers and land professionals can inspect Volume and Page citations, examine the recorded plats and deeds, and contact the archive desk.

County Recorder Cross-Reference

Historical Subdivision, Survey & Deed Index

Search and filter the verified Howard County recorder entries, survey abstracts, and tract citations below for VF Petroleum, Inc..

Search by Book/Volume, Page, Grantee, Survey, or Lot/Block

Filter by Record Series

Historical cross-reference of VF Petroleum, Inc. deeds, survey abstracts, and recorder citations in Howard County
Subdivision / Instrument Unit	Recorder Citation	Parties & Tract Call	Historical Survey & Reservation Notes	Series
Howard County Leasehold, Mineral & Royalty Vesting Into VF Petroleum, Inc.	Howard County Deed Records Vol. 477, Page 510 (Doc #1979-465-479733, 1979-1998)	Assignors & Grantors -> VF Petroleum, Inc. (T&P RR Co. Survey Blk 32 & Blk 33, Howard County)	14 recorded corporate assignments and conveyances vesting working, mineral, and overriding royalty interests in Howard County producing units into VF Petroleum, Inc.	Vesting Into Company
Howard County Producing Unit & Division Order Record Spine	Howard County Official Public Records (Block 32 & Block 33 Producing Leases)	VF Petroleum, Inc. -> Howard County Producing Unit Tracts	Continuing corporate record title standing in the name of VF Petroleum, Inc. across active producing leases in Howard County, Texas.	Mineral & Royalty

Field Notes & Historical Curiosities

Why the Howard County Land Records Look the Way They Do Today

Every old subdivision map and deed book in Howard County is a record of early surveying, local development, and state property law.

West Texas Boomtowns · T&P Railway Block 32

Checkerboard Railroad Sections & the 1926 Howard-Glasscock Gusher

Across Howard County, nearly every land description begins with Texas & Pacific Railway Co. Survey, Block 31 or Block 32. To finance the transcontinental tracks through Big Spring in the 1870s, Texas granted the railroad odd-numbered square-mile sections while reserving the even-numbered sections (like Section 8, Block 32, T-1-S) for the Public School Fund. When wildcatters struck oil in the late 1920s, townsite promoters and ranching families platted streets, pipeline alleys, and residential blocks directly atop one of the richest hydrocarbon basins in North America.

“In the Midland Basin, townlots, school sections, and ranch additions were surveyed over stacked Wolfcamp and Spraberry pay zones that would not be horizontally drilled until a century later.”

Primary Surveys & Tracts Indexed:

Sundown, Midway, and Big Spring Wolfcamp Horizontal Producing Units, Howard County, Texas
Midland Basin Core SM Energy Company & Vital Energy Operating Corridor

Survey & Title History · Big Spring & Forsan

Why 1929 Pipeline Alleys & 1970s Lot Reservations Endure

During the 1929 Forsan boom, townsite deeds specifically kept underground street and alley rights so gathering lines could be laid between wooden derricks without digging up private yards. Decades later, during Big Spring's 1970s expansion in Highland South Addition, corporate grantors shifted from fee-simple lot deeds to mineral-reserved deeds - leaving a checkerboard of severed corporate lots and reserved boundary strips inside modern horizontal drilling units.

“When modern operators unitize a 640-acre section in Howard County, a century of townsite plats and subdivision deeds must be pieced together lot by lot.”

Recorded Reservation & Deed Clauses Documented:

Severed royalty, overriding royalty (ORRI), and mineral interests held of record in the corporate name of V-F Petroleum, Inc.
Corporate-versus-Trust title separation documented in Howard County OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (January 2025)

Land & Records Archive Desk

Corporate Archive & Land Records Inquiry

Submit the Instrument Book and Page, Survey, or Parcel Number for Chain-of-Title and Corporate Records Verification.

This broadsheet is maintained as an Independent Historical Surveyor Atlas, Plat Archive & Chain-of-Title Research Index preserving the surveying, agricultural, mineral, and corporate history of VF Petroleum, Inc. (TX Ref: TX Corporate Charter / RRC P-5 #881245 (Midland / Howard County)) in Howard County.

Whether you are a local historian, a landowner researching the history of your tract or subdivision, a surveyor examining historical map books, or a landman, division order analyst, or title examiner with a question regarding historical corporate records, leases, or deeds, use the form here to reach the archive desk.

Archival Reference Citation:
Entity: VF Petroleum, Inc. (Est. 1978-1998 · TX Ref TX Corporate Charter / RRC P-5 #881245 (Midland / Howard County))
Primary County Record: Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor) (Howard County, TX)

Nature of Your Inquiry * Landowner / Parcel History Landman / Operator / Title Inquiry Surveyor / Right-of-Way Historical / Family Research

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Survey, Street, Volume/Page, or Parcel Number * e.g., Howard County Mineral Tax Roll & OPR Vol. 2272, Page 155 (Rec. Jan. 2025; SM Energy Sundown & Midway Leasehold Corridor), Survey/Abstract, Lot/Block, or Parcel ID

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How VF Petroleum, Inc. Surveyed and Platted the Lands of Howard County.

Recorded Deeds, Survey Files & Historical Press for VF Petroleum, Inc.

Howard County Recorded Mineral & Royalty Conveyance (Guitar, Lester & Sterling Leases)

The Abilene Reporter-News (Abilene, Tex.), Vol. 94, No. 165, Ed. 1 Saturday, November 30, 1974

Land, Water, Surveys & the Story of VF Petroleum, Inc.

I. Founding & Land Assembly by VF Petroleum, Inc.

II. Out-Conveyances, Plats & Recorded Deed Reservations

III. Modern Map, Title & Mineral Record Legacy

Historical Subdivision, Survey & Deed Index

Why the Howard County Land Records Look the Way They Do Today

Checkerboard Railroad Sections & the 1926 Howard-Glasscock Gusher

Why 1929 Pipeline Alleys & 1970s Lot Reservations Endure

Corporate Archive & Land Records Inquiry

1. Independent Historical Surveyor Atlas & Research Index

2. No Legal Advice or Title Insurance

1. Information Collected

2. Do Not Sell My Personal Information (CCPA / CPRA)