The Texas Supreme Court has clarified Texas law concerning how to calculate interest that is being paid pursuant to an agreement or statute. Samson Exploration, LLC v. Bordages, No. 22-0215, 2024 WL 2869049 (Tex. June 7,...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
Let’s assume you own 165 acres in Tioga County. In 2019, you sign a new oil and gas lease with ABC Drilling. You negotiate an 18% net royalty. The royalty clause, however, requires ABC Drilling to calculate the royalty on...more
A division order is a statement executed by all owners of interests in an oil and gas well. The division order’s essential purpose is to “authorize and direct to whom and in what proportion to distribute” proceeds from the...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
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
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
Producers disappointed by the Supreme Court’s holding in Devon Energy Production v. Sheppard might have reason to feel vindicated. The question in HL Hawkins Jr., Inc. v. Capitan Energy Inc. et al. was whether producer...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
The plain, ordinary, and generally accepted meaning of a word doesn’t mean “anything goes”. It depends on context, says the Supreme Court of Texas in Finley Resources Inc. v. Headington Royalty Inc., a dispute over the...more
Let’s assume your grandfather owned 99 acres in Washington County. In 1955, he sells a small portion of the farm to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in order to facilitate the construction of new State Route 39. This acreage...more
Can a non-operating working interest in a Texas oil and gas lease be adversely possessed? The Amarillo Court of Appeals said yes in PBEX II, LLC v. Dorchester Minerals, L.P....more
Tips on litigation avoidance: Not making promises you don’t intend to keep is easy enough. Stating a fact or making a promise and things change, you could be a fraudster if you don’t come clean before closing....more
Freeeport-McMoRan Oil and Gas, LLC and Ovintiv USA Inc. v. 1776 Energy Partners LLC presented a recurring question faced by Texas oil and gas producers: When can proceeds of production be withheld by the operator without...more
And what a difference it was! In Apache Corp. v. Apollo Expl. LLC et al, Apache and others acquired an oil and gas lease on 100,000+ acres in the Texas Panhandle. The primary term was three years. The effective date was...more
The calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs remains a controversial topic here in Pennsylvania. As we have written before, there is another frustrating and often confusing...more
Let’s assume you own 185 acres in Washington County. In 2020, you negotiate a new oil and gas lease with ABC Drilling. During the negotiations, you insist on a “gross royalty” which prohibits the deduction of post-production...more
In a recurring theme, harmony and the four-corners rule were front and center in Citation 2002 Inv. LLC et al v. Occidental Permian, Ltd. et al, a case of competing claims over the granting language in an assignment of oil...more
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
The victor in a lawsuit involving a salt water disposal well lease may depend on whether a Texas court treats the lease as being a mineral lease or simply a lease of real estate. That is because Texas law applies different...more
Texas courts continue to address the “fixed or floating” non-participating royalty interest question. The El Paso Court of Appeals’ answer in Bridges v. Uhl et al. was floating, based on the language in that particular...more