Business description of Black-Stone-Minerals-LP from last 10-k form

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For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2015

For the transition period _______________ to _______________

Commission file number 001-37362

Black Stone Minerals, L.P.

(Exact Name of Registrant As Specified in Its Charter)

Registrant’s telephone number, including area code:  (713) 445-3200

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  o   No  x

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15(d) of the Act.    Yes  o   No  x

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  x    No  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Web site, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files).    Yes  x    No  o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K (§ 229.405 of this chapter) is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant’s knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K.  o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer” and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. (Check One):

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  o   No  x

The aggregate market value of the common units held by non-affiliates was $1,240,495,410 on June 30, 2015, the last business day of the registrant’s most recently completed second fiscal quarter, based on a closing price of $17.22 per unit as reported by the New York Stock Exchange on such date. As of March 4, 2016, 96,965,879 common units, 95,002,347 subordinated units, and 77,216 preferred units of the registrant were outstanding.

Documents Incorporated by Reference: Certain information called for in Items 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14 of Part III are incorporated by reference from the registrant’s definitive proxy statement for the annual meeting of unitholders to be held on May 26, 2016.

BLACK STONE MINERALS, L.P.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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GLOSSARY OF TERMS

The following list includes a description of the meanings of some of the oil and gas industry terms used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K (“Annual Report”).

Basin. A large depression on the earth’s surface in which sediments accumulate.

Bbl. One stock tank barrel, or 42 U.S. gallons liquid volume.

Bbl/d. Bbl per day.

Bcf. One billion cubic feet of natural gas.

Boe. Barrels of oil equivalent, with six thousand cubic feet of natural gas being equivalent to one barrel of oil. This “Btu-equivalent” conversion metric is based on an approximate energy equivalency and does not reflect the price or value relationship between oil and natural gas.

Boe/d. Boe per day.

British Thermal Unit (Btu). The quantity of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit.

Completion. The process of treating a drilling well followed by the installation of permanent equipment for the production of natural gas or oil, or in the case of a dry hole, the reporting of abandonment to the appropriate agency.

Condensate. A mixture of hydrocarbons that exists in the gaseous phase at original reservoir temperature and pressure, but that, when produced, is in the liquid phase at surface pressure and temperature.

Crude oil. Liquid hydrocarbons retrieved from geological structures underground to be refined into fuel sources.

Delaware Act. Delaware Revised Uniform Limited Partnership Act.

Delay rental. Payment made to the lessor under a non-producing oil and natural gas lease at the end of each year to defer a drilling obligation and continue the lease for another year during its primary term.

Deterministic method. The method of estimating reserves or resources under which a single value for each parameter (from the geoscience, engineering, or economic data) in the reserves calculation is used in the reserves estimation procedure.

Developed acreage. The number of acres that are allocated or assignable to productive wells or wells capable of production.

Development costs. Capital costs incurred in the acquisition, exploitation, and exploration of proved oil and natural gas reserves.

Development well. A well drilled within the proved area of an oil and natural gas reservoir to the depth of a stratigraphic horizon known to be productive.

Differential. An adjustment to the price of oil or natural gas from an established spot market price to reflect differences in the quality and/or location of oil or natural gas.

Dry hole or dry well. A well found to be incapable of producing hydrocarbons in sufficient quantities such that proceeds from the sale of such production exceed production expenses and taxes.

Economically producible. A resource that generates revenue that exceeds, or is reasonably expected to exceed, the costs of the operation.

Electrical log. An analysis that provides information on porosity, hydraulic conductivity, and fluid content of formations drilled in fluid-filled boreholes.

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Exploitation. A drilling or other project which may target proven or unproven reserves (such as probable or possible reserves), but which generally has a lower risk than that associated with exploration projects.

Exploratory well. A well drilled to find and produce natural gas or oil reserves not classified as proved to find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of natural gas or oil in another reservoir or to extend a known reservoir.

Extension well. A well drilled to extend the limits of a known reservoir.

Field. An area consisting of either a single reservoir or multiple reservoirs, all grouped on or related to the same individual geological structural feature and/or stratigraphic condition.

Formation. A layer of rock which has distinct characteristics that differs from nearby rock.

Gross acres or gross wells. The total acres or wells, as the case may be, in which a working interest is owned.

Horizontal drilling. A drilling technique used in certain formations where a well is drilled vertically to a certain depth and then drilled at a right angle within a specified interval.

Hydraulic fracturing. A process used to stimulate production of hydrocarbons. The process involves the injection of water, sand, and chemicals under pressure into the formation to fracture the surrounding rock and stimulate production.

Lease bonus. Usually a one-time payment made to a mineral owner as consideration for the execution of an oil and natural gas lease.

Lease operating expense. All direct and allocated indirect costs of lifting hydrocarbons from a producing formation to the surface constituting part of the current operating expenses of a working interest. Such costs include labor, supplies, repairs, maintenance, allocated overhead charges, workover costs, insurance, and other expenses incidental to production, but exclude lease acquisition or drilling or completion costs.

MBbls. One thousand barrels of oil or other liquid hydrocarbons.

MBoe. One thousand barrels of oil equivalent, determined using a ratio of six Mcf of natural gas to one Bbl of oil.

MBoe/d. MBoe per day.

Mcf. Thousand cubic feet of natural gas.

Mineral interests. Real-property interests that grant ownership of the oil and natural gas under a tract of land and the rights to explore for, drill for, and produce oil and natural gas on that land or to lease those exploration and development rights to a third party.

MMBtu. Million British Thermal Units.

MMcf. Million cubic feet of natural gas.

Net acres or net wells. The sum of the fractional working interest owned in gross acres or gross wells, respectively.

Net revenue interest. An owner’s interest in the revenues of a well after deducting proceeds allocated to royalty, overriding royalty, and other non-cost-bearing interests.

Natural gas. A combination of light hydrocarbons that, in average pressure and temperature conditions, is found in a gaseous state. In nature, it is found in underground accumulations, and may potentially be dissolved in oil or may also be found in its gaseous state.

NGLs. Natural gas liquids.

Nonparticipating royalty interest (NPRI). A type of non-cost-bearing royalty interest, which is carved out of the mineral interest and represents the right, which is typically perpetual, to receive a fixed cost-free percentage of production or revenue from production, without an associated right to lease.

NYMEX. New York Mercantile Exchange.

Oil. Crude oil and condensate.

Oil and natural gas properties. Tracts of land consisting of properties to be developed for oil and natural gas resource extraction.

Operator. The individual or company responsible for the exploration and/or production of an oil or natural gas well or lease.

Overriding royalty interest (ORRI). A fractional, undivided interest or right of participation in the oil or natural gas, or in the proceeds from the sale of the oil or gas, produced from a specified tract or tracts, which are limited in duration to the terms of an existing lease and which are not subject to any portion of the expense of development, operation, or maintenance.

PDP. Proved developed producing, used to characterize reserves.

Play. A set of discovered or prospective oil and/or natural gas accumulations sharing similar geologic, geographic and temporal properties, such as source rock, reservoir structure, timing, trapping mechanism, and hydrocarbon type.

Plugging and abandonment. Refers to the sealing off of fluids in the strata penetrated by a well so that the fluids from one stratum will not escape into another or to the surface. Regulations of all states require plugging of abandoned wells.

Pooling. The majority of our producing acreage is pooled with third-party acreage. Pooling refers to an operator’s consolidation of multiple adjacent leased tracts, which may be covered by multiple leases with multiple lessors, in order to maximize drilling efficiency or to comply with state mandated well spacing requirements. Pooling dilutes our royalty in a given well or unit, but it also increases both the acreage footprint and the number of wells in which we have an economic interest. To estimate our total potential drilling locations in a given play, we include third-party acreage that is pooled with our acreage.