virginia: I have heard that residential home-owners who are Virginia citizens do not own the crude oil deposits that lie underneath the soil within their own property boundaries in Virginia. Is this correct?|||It is probably correct. There are several possible reasons why. Most likely the original land owner (farmer?) still owns the minerals. It is often the case when selling property to developers. If he did sell the mineral rights to the developer, then most likely that is where the mineral rights are today. An alternative is that the state itself owns the minerals. It really is dependent on the property ownership previous to the active development of the area. Secondarily, it is dependent on whether your area has coal, oil or gas present on it on whether mineral development may occur. With any of these, horizontal or deviated excavation/drilling can be attempted from outside the developed area.|||not you 99.99% of property that is sold since 1940 is without mineral or oil rights. The original developer most likely still have ownership. Also, most likely zoning would prohibit any thing and oil production