Bandera Petroleum, Inc. was formed in 1985 by M. G. "Whit" Whitmire in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Bandera Petroleum, Inc. manages several other companies. Bandera operates an oil and gas exploration program in the mid-continent area. In 1989, a sister corporation, Bandera, Inc., was formed primarily for acquisition of working interests.

Since 1989 these two corporations have been aggressive purchasers of producing properties, minerals and royalty interest. These two entities now own working interest and/or royalty interest in over 300 producing  wells in Oklahoma and Arkansas. In the early nineties, Bandera began buying oil and gas minerals and subsequently formed several limited liability companies for this purpose. The first major purchase was Kirby Minerals and Bandera Minerals, LLC was formed for this acquisition.

Kirby Exploration Company had assembled a large package of minerals in the decades of the sixties, seventies, and eighties. In 1988, American Exploration purchased Kirby Exploration Company and designated these properties as American Minerals. In October 1997, Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas Corporation acquired American Exploration. In June 1999, Bandera Minerals, LLC purchased the Kirby Minerals Interest from Louis Dreyfus Natural Gas. There were over 3,000 producing wells on these minerals. The Kirby package included approximately 850,000 acres in nineteen states with approximately 75% located in Texas and Oklahoma. Several subsequent acquisitions have increased Bandera's well count to over 3,500 and its mineral holdings to over 1,200,000 acres in twenty eight states and Canada. One of these acquisitions was J. M. Minerals, which included over 100,000 gross acres and over 400 producing wells in the Permian Basin. Another substantial acquisition was Commercial Minerals, Inc., which included 382 producing wells and 57,984 acres of minerals.

Bandera owns minerals, royalties and working interests in the following states listed in the order of descending number of net acres owned:

1.  Oklahoma       2.  Texas       3.  Kansas       4.  Oregon       5.  Montana       6.  Arkansas       7.  Mississippi       8.  Georgia       9.  New Mexico       10.  South Carolina       11.  North Dakota       12.  Nebraska

13.  Illinois       14.  Utah       15.  Colorado       16.  Indiana       17.  Iowa       18.  South Dakota       19.  Tennessee       20.  California       21.  Saskatchewan, Canada       22.  Louisiana       23.  Idaho       24.  Pennsylvania

25.  Washington       26.  Wisconsin       27.  Arizona       28.  Nevada       29.  Kentucky       30.  Alabama       31.  Michigan       32.  Florida

Bandera also owns small minerals holdings in Ohio and Wyoming.

Bandera owns working interest in producing wells in Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico and Arkansas.