Howard, et al. v. Matterhorn Energy, LLC, et al. [6th Dist.] May 4, 2021 considered the Texas Citizens Participation Act as amended, effective on September 1, 2019....more
Ridgefield Permian, LLC, et al. v. Diamondback E & P LLC, et al. addresses the scope of a property interest foreclosed upon by a tax suit in Reeves County, Texas. In this post we will shortcut the complicated facts and...more
In Apache Corp. v. Hill, et al., lessors prevailed in a lease construction dispute because of the court’s unsurprising conclusion that a typewritten addendum to oil and gas leases superseded conflicting provisions in the...more
What if you pay good money for a mineral interest and record the deed in the official public records, thereby securing your title? What if your predecessors-in-title decide among themselves they made a material mistake in a...more
This is another chapter in the long-running dispute between Eagle Oil & Gas Co. and. TRO-X, L.P. The litigation arises out of an agreement to acquire and sell oil and gas leases. Here, TRO-X alleges that Eagle failed to...more
Bell v. Midway Petroleum Grp., L.P., 9th Dist.] Mar. 18, 2021 was a trespass to try title action, suit to quiet title for possession of a land, and a counterclaim for title by adverse possession. ...more
As Humpty Dumpty would have said to Alice if he were Justice Dumpty of the Texas Supreme Court, the term means whatever the parties to an oil and gas lease say it means, neither more nor less. In Sundown Energy LP, et al. v....more
What is the standard of care imposed by the Model Form JOA on the well operator? Crimson Exploration Op., Inc. v. BPX Op. Co. gives us the answer, and it is no surprise....more
The Supreme Court of Texas has ruled that oil and gas leases under consideration in BlueStone Natural Resources II, LLC v. Walker Murray Randle, et al. did not permit deduction of postproduction costs from sales proceeds...more
Yesterday we discussed aspects of PPC Acquisition Co., LLC, et al. v. Delaware Basin Res., LLC, et al. Today we consider whether the retained-acreage clauses created a special limitation or a covenant and the relationship...more
PPC Acquisition Co., LLC, et al. v. Delaware Basin Res., LLC, et al. addressed retained acreage clauses in three separate oil and gas leases covering the same 640-acre tract in Reeves County, Texas....more
In Susan Davis Van Dyke et al. v. The Navigator Group. et al., the Eastland court of appeals applied recent fixed-versus-floating NPRI principles to a double-fraction mineral interest reservation....more
BlueStone Nat. Res. II, LLC v. Nettye Engler Energy, LP is another Texas case deciding whether language creating a nonparticipating royalty interest prohibited deduction of post-production costs. (Spoiler alert: it didn’t....more
Dayston v, LLC v. Brooke, voided a real estate contract because it failed to satisfy the Texas statute of frauds. Let’s see how the drafting mishap occured....more
In re Plains Pipeline, L.P., is a suit to adjudicate title to groundwater. Did the trial court err in allowing a party to drill seven test holes on a tank farm? (Spoiler alert: It didn’t.) This decision evaluates an order in...more
In Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline P’ship, LLC, a Texas court denied a pipeline company’s claim that it is a common carrier with the power of eminent domain....more
In Mayo Found. For Med. Educ. & Research v. BP Am. Prod. Co. a United States District Court considered the circumstances under which a lessor can withhold its consent to assign an oil and gas lease....more
10/20/2020
/ Consent to Assignment ,
Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Terms ,
Lessor ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Operating Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Reasonableness Factors
The threat: You, the operator, are operating unprofitable wells where monthly costs exceed or barely equal revenues, making money on the fixed COPAS overhead charges. Your non-operators are going into the economic hole and...more
With the plunge in commodity prices many formerly profitable wells are now in the red, and we don’t know for how long. This is causing non-operators to question the bona fides of the operations … and of the operator, and to...more
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
9/25/2020
/ Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Critical Infrastructure Sectors ,
Fair Market Value ,
Joint Operating Agreement ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Property Owners ,
Revenue ,
Tortious Interference
San Miguel Electric Coop is a Texas nonprofit electric cooperative that owns and operates a power plant that supplies electricity to 38 Texas counties. After a four-week absence, they return to these pages, this time in DCP...more
Lessons from BEPCO, L.P. v. RMTDC Operations, LLC d/b/a Total Energy Services. Operator BEPCO hired TOTAL for drilling consultant services under an MSA and hired Latshaw Drilling to drill a well on federal land in New...more
Who pays for fluid containment in an oil field emergency? It depends on your contract and, we are told in Pearl Resources, LLC v. Charger Services, LLC, oil and gas industry custom....more
Devon Energy Prod. Co., et al. v. Sheppard, et al is your kind of case if you are in search of:
- A roadmap for slicing and dicing royalty calculations in myriad ways,
- Pretty good summaries of the Supreme Court’s...more
In Wheeler et al v. San Miguel Electric Cooperative, we learn – again – the difficulty in asserting a position in litigation that is contrary to the actual words in the agreement you are fighting over....more