I recently inherited a ranch in McCulloch county and have been approached by a company to put in a pipeline. This will be the fourth pipeline but my father negotiated them in the past. I have read the previous posts regarding this subject and most likely will be retaining an O&G atty. Their initial offer was $300 per rod and my understanding is that three years ago the average paid was around $412 per rod. Does anyone have any current info on the rates that have been paid recently? I understand that in some areas they have gotten as high as $1500 a rod. I appreciate any help.

Shoot high and see where it goes. Do some research about what the line is, where it's going, are they forced to go through your property or do they have choices to go around you?

How many rods and how hard to route around your property? Make them follow property lines and existing easements

It's probably the same PL going thru my place in San Saba Co. A guy I work with that used to work for a PL Co said they paid between $40 and $50 per linear foot. The route they plan will be taking out over a dozen oak trees estimated to be between 150 & 200 yrs old. I'm going to hire a licensed arborist along with an O&G Atty to negotiate. An arborist I work with told me no matter the location, oaks that size and age will be valued between 20K and 30k each. I'll have to wait and see what happens. But, my intention is to get paid for the lf of line going in along with the loss of the oaks.

I'm your case, even $400-$450 per rod is low.

About 200 rods and rather difficult to go around. Fortunately it goes across our hay field so we won't lose any trees. I'm trying to figure out how high to go to max out without having to deal with eminent domain issues. Also trying to understand where this line goes as it will be the fourth in same area with more to come from what I understand. If they averaged $412 three years ago I would guess we will end up somewhere between $600 and $800 but not sure where to counter.
I've also got an issue on the pipeline that Seminole put in in the early 90's as they want to convert to crude and need our agreement. They've offered $5000 which seems very low despite being a conversion. Seems the risk profile would justify something more.

They all usually end up in Mont Belvieu. . I'd rather have a crude line than a gas line on my property....under less pressure.

Having a best friend in the pipe line business (enterprise) he advised never, never take the first offer. They are lowballing you. Get an oil and gas attorney who knows pipelines and is familiar with the got you clauses in the contract. Make sure you do not go longer that 5 years on the contact before you renegotiate it. He sites the examples of landowners in the 40s and 50s signing long term leases for pennies on the dollar when prices per rod were a lot higher. He advised if your attorney is good he would shoot for a price based on the amount of product that flows through the pipe line. Also have a clause in the contract that if the pipe line is not used for a period of time, the easement goes back to you. Hope this helps.