Local Governments Continue to Fight States for Right to Govern Fracking
If you have bought or sold property in Pennsylvania, you have likely encountered the Oil, Gas and/or Mineral Rights/Interests Disclosure© form prepared by the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors as part of the sales...more
Leases for solar energy facilities offer property owners the potential for a predictable, long-term revenue stream. But, because of the potential decades-long duration of a lease for solar energy facilities, things like...more
Let’s assume that you purchase a 105 acre farm in Greene County in 2022. You purchase only the surface estate while the seller, Farmer Jones, retains the underlying oil and gas rights. You intend to grow corn and winter...more
In Self v. BPX Operating, a case with significant implications for Louisiana operators and royalty owners, the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that the doctrine of negotiorum gestio in La. Civil Code art. 2292 does not allow...more
Many oil and gas leases across Pennsylvania allow the driller to divert and use volumes of raw gas to power and fuel production operations both on and off the leasehold. Is a driller obligated to pay a royalty on that volume...more
In Occidental Permian, Ltd. et al v. Citation 2002 Investment LLC the Supreme Court construed a 1987 assignment from Shell Western E& P Inc. to Citation of a large number of properties. The instrument contained these...more
In Carl v. Hillcorp Energy the Supreme Court of Texas addressed the relationship between the lessee’s use of gas off-premises under a free-use clause and the lessor’s burden to share post-production costs (PPCs) under the...more
In the Estate of Larry Wayne Ewers is a reminder of a few guidelines for oil and gas investing: Think twice before giving money to your scripture-spouting friend from church....more
Recent Texas royalty cases seem to feature litigants on the fixed royalty side trying, more often than not in vain, to escape the clutches of Van Dyke v. Navigator and Hysaw v. Dawkins. See those decisions for the history of...more
On March 20, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia dismissed Sonda v. West Virginia Oil and Gas Conservation Commission for lack of standing. The lawsuit was brought by mineral interest owners...more
I. Background In the case of Kirkbride v. Antero Res. Corp., the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals is faced with a novel argument on the interpretation of a condition precedent within an oil and gas lease. The case comes to the...more
Landowner and mineral owner (that includes you, lessee): Under ETC Texas Pipeline, Ltd. v. Ageron Energy, LLC, your right to sue for damages for tort or trespass could pass into history before you even know you have a claim....more
Although historically viewed as a waste, produced water that comes to the surface as part of the oil and gas production stream now potentially has value. Produced water can be recycled and reused as part of hydraulic...more
In Texas, no. Read on to learn why. In Nortex Minerals LP v. Blackbeard Operating LLC et al, the question was the meaning of this limited assignment provision in the “Alliance Leases”, oil and gas leases covering 27,000 acres...more
Unlike other jurisdictions, such as the US and Angola, the UK does not have a single mining / mineral code or legislative framework. Instead, different laws and regulations apply according to the mineral type and the nature...more
See yesterday’s post on Iskandia Operating, LLC v. SWEPI, LP - SWEPI’s motion for summary judgment alleged that Iskandia presented no evidence of one or more elements of its trespass claim, noting that the Supreme Court of...more
The Duhig Rule is back, this time in Echols Minerals LLC, et al v. Green et al. Framing the discussion, Duhig v. Peavy Moore Lumber Company and Trial v. Dragon - In Duhig the grantor in a general warranty deed...more
Foreshadowing a grim future for family weddings and funerals, Bell and Petsch v. Petch is a property dispute over five tracts of land in Gillespie County, Texas, in which siblings are the combatants. The events are less...more
The question in Self v, BPX Operating Company is how to balance the Louisiana Civil Code Art 2292 principle of negotiorum gestio against Louisiana’s conservation statutes....more
Can the Texas lessee perpetuate his oil and gas lease by “constructive participation” in wells drilled by another? Under the facts in Cromwell v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, the answer is no....more
If you are scoring at home, count Permico Royalties LLC v. Barron Properties, Ltd., as a win for “floating” in the fixed-or-floating royalty battles. Permico, successor to grantors in a 1937 Deed for a tract in Ward County,...more
Simple math isn’t always simple. As the Texas Supreme Court recently put it, “[o]nly in a legal text could the formula ‘one-half of one-eighth’ mean anything other than one-sixteenth.” No. 21-0146, 2023 WL 2053175 (Tex....more
Let’s assume you own a 160-acre farm in Washington County. Your father purchased the farm in 1992 from a local farmer named Jones. (the “1992 Deed”). At the time your father purchased the farm, there was an oil and gas lease...more
Rhetorical Question: When will Texas be done with fixed/floating royalty cases such as Johnson et al v. Clifton et al? Rhetorical Answer: When scriveners of deeds that are open to eight conceivably plausible meanings...more
In Smart v. 3039 RNC Holdings LLC, the court reminds us that it will harmonize all parts of a contract, even one that “is not a model of clarity”, to reach the correct result. ...more