News & Analysis as of

Oil & Gas Contract Disputes

Gray Reed

How Courts Look at Fixed or Floating Royalty Disputes

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Montgomery Trustee v. ES3 Minerals and Echo Minerals is another Texas fixed or floating royalty case. Before diving into the details, perhaps it’s best to describe the pattern the courts seem to fall into to resolve these...more

Gray Reed

Sole Discretion Not to Close Renders Texas Oil Deal Unenforceable

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Maverick Natural Resources, LLC at al v. Glenn D. Cooper Oil & Gas, Inc. is for control freaks wherever you are … and for those of you who advise the aforesaid control freaks....more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Supreme Court Addresses Fuel Gas Question

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

Gray Reed

Supreme Court of Texas Decides Another Post-Production Cost Dispute

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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

Gray Reed

Who is responsible for the negligence of the “company man” on the well?

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Parkman v. W&T Offshore, Inc., et al features two contractors playing hot potato over liability for a company man’s alleged negligence. The takeaway: Write your Master Service Agreement to address your liability concerns, and...more

Gray Reed

Master Service Agreement Dispute Turns on Definitions

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The outcome of a multimillion-dollar suit was in the hands of a jury of 12 good and honorable citizens. The question: Was a certain party an agent, consultant, contractor, or none of the above? One side wanted the jury to be...more

Cornerstone Research

Estimating Counterfactual Prices in Energy Markets

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The use of factual/counterfactual comparisons—that is, estimating the difference between what actually happened and what would have happened absent an event—is a fundamental tool in the economists’ work box in the context of...more

Gray Reed

Defense of a Deed Signed by a 12-Year-Old Fails

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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

Gray Reed

Insurance Coverage Not Limited by a Texas Service Agreement

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As you negotiate your master service agreements are you confident that you know how insurance choices might affect indemnity obligations? Me neither. That’s why I turn to my Gray Reed partner Darin Brooks and his insurance...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Rules on “Bespoke” Add-Back Royalty Clause

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In Devon Energy Production Company, LP et al v. Sheppard et al, the Supreme Court of Texas construed what it referred to as a “bespoke” and “highly unique” royalty clause in several oil and gas leases to prohibit the...more

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC

Pennsylvania Court Upholds Cross-Unit Drilling Under Act 85

Steptoe & Johnson PLLC on

On January 24, 2023, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania held that Act 85 of 2019, which permits drilling horizontal oil and gas wells across existing drilling units, is not unconstitutional....more

Morgan Lewis - Power & Pipes

Enforceability of Indemnification Provisions in Energy Contracts

Indemnity clauses are an integral tool used regularly in energy contracts and master service agreements. Indemnity is an obligation by one party to make another whole for a loss or damage, and indemnity clauses are useful...more

Morgan Lewis - Power & Pipes

Real-World Litigation Impacts of Contract Clauses in Energy Contracts: Enforceability of Indemnification Provisions

Indemnity clauses are an integral tool used regularly in energy contracts and master service agreements. Indemnity is an obligation by one party to make another party whole for a loss or damage that the other party has...more

Gray Reed

Arbitration Over Offshore Leases Does Not Warrant Lawsuit Dismissal

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Just because parties agree that disputes over a contract will be subject to binding arbitration doesn’t mean there won’t be wrestling at the courthouse beforehand. In LLOG Exploration Offshore, LLC v. Samson Contour Energy...more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Addresses MSA Indemnity Obligations

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At issue in RKI Exploration and Production LLC v. AmeriFlow Energy Services LLC and Crescent Services, LLC. were two Master Service Agreements.  RKI was the operator of a well in Loving County; AmeriFlow and Crescent were...more

Gray Reed

Clause to Protect Against Drainage in a Mineral Lease Deemed Ambiguous

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Today we will skip our usual routine of explaining how court rulings on the question of the day might affect your interests. Instead we will discuss the fallout from abysmal document drafting. In Rosetta Resources Operating...more

Gray Reed

A Texas Lien is Invalid if the Mineral Owner is Not Yet Obligated to Pay

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A subcontractor’s mineral lien in Texas is invalid when, at the time the mineral owner receives notice of the lien affidavit, the mineral owner is not yet obligated to pay the contract price to its contractor.  So says Pearl...more

Holland & Knight LLP

A Closer Look at Nettye Engler Energy, LP, v. BlueStone Natural Resources II, LLC

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The Supreme Court of Texas has once again tackled the heavily contested issue of postproduction costs in royalty calculations. In Nettye Engler Energy, LP, v. BlueStone Natural Resources II, LLC, No. 20-0639, the Court was...more

Gray Reed

Louisiana Court Considers Texas and Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts

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Federal Insurance Company et al v. Select Energy Services LLC and Exco et al. is a reminder for negotiators of indemnity and defense obligations in oilfield contracts that choice of law is important. Ignore it when drafting...more

Gray Reed

Another Post-Production Cost Decision in Texas

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In resolving a dispute over post-production cost deductions from oil and gas royalties (PPC’s), the court in Shirlaine West Properties Ltd et al v. Jamestown Resources, LLC and Total E&P USA, Inc. opined that the case ” … is...more

Gray Reed

Louisiana Court Considers Buried and Surface Flowlines

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In Emerald Land Corp. v. Trimont Energy (BL) LLC, a Louisiana federal court considered whether a lessee was required to remove flowlines buried beneath the surface and canal bottoms of property subject to mineral leases....more

Gray Reed

Added Party Can’t Avoid Amended Master Service Agreement

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Let’s begin with a question: Master service agreements (“MSA’s” in the trade), once agreed upon, often remain in force for years. As time passes and circumstances change, the parties amend, sometimes losing sight of the...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Appellate Court Rules that Lease Terminated Due to Twelve Months of Non-Production

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

The modern producing gas well is a sophisticated and complex piece of equipment. The basic well head itself consists of several meters, valves and other components, each of which is under constant stress and pressure. ...more

Dechert LLP

Dispute Resolution Trends in Asia for 2021

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Naturally, there will be disputes relating to COVID-19 and efforts to contain its spread. These will often be resolved through negotiation, particularly if the relevant contract clearly allocates the risk between the parties...more

Gray Reed

Lessons from an Operating Agreement Dispute

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Jatex Oil & Gas, L.P. v. Nadel & Gussman Permian, L.L.C. presents several teachable moments: The Texas Property Owner Rule does not allow a non-expert testify on matters requiring expert testimony....more

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