Oil and Gas Lawyer BlogIn Myers-Woodward v. Underground Services Markham, No. 22-0878, the Texas Supreme Court removed any doubt that pore space is owned by the owner of the surface estate, not the mineral estate. Myers Woodward owns the surface estate of 160 acres in Matagorda County. It also owns a 1/8th royalty on oil, gas and other minerals […]
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Texas Supreme Court once again rules against royalty owners in post-production costs case
Today the Texas Supreme Court decided Carl v. Hilcorp Energy Co, No. 24-0036. Its opinion addresses certified questions submitted to it by the US Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals concerning a class action suit pending in that court. The Carls’ lease provided for payment of gas royalty based on its “market value at the well.” […]
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City of Dallas v. Trinity East Energy – Texas Supreme Court Refuses City’s Petition on Appeal of $33 million judgment
In 2014 the City of Denton banned drilling of wells within its city limits. In response the Texas Legislature quickly passed HB 40, giving the Texas Railroad Commission exclusive jurisdiction to issue drilling permits within municipalities and allowing cities to regulate oil and gas activity only if their ordinances relate to “aboveground activity .. at […]
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Texas Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Appeal of MIPA Case
Today the Texas Supreme Court agreed to hear Ammonite Oil & Gas Corp. v. Railroad Commission of Texas and EOG Resources, an appeal from the Commission’s denial of sixteen applications by Ammonite under the Mineral Interest Pooling Act. I wrote about this case when it was decided against Ammonite by the Austin Court of Appeals. […]
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Nettye Engler Energy v. Bluestone Natural Resources: Texas Supreme Court affirms ruling against royalty owner
Last week the Texas Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Nettye Engler Energy, LP v. Bluestone Natural Resources II, LLC, No. 20-0639, affirming the lower court’s ruling that Engler’s royalty interest bears its share of gas gathering and processing costs. Engler owns a royalty interest in a section of land in Tarrant County on […]
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Texas Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline – Important Eminent Domain Issues
The Texas Supreme Court agreed to decide Hlavinka v. HSC Pipeline, about which I have written before. The Court’s summary of the issues: The primary issues in this case are whether (1) Texas law grants eminent domain authority to a pipeline owner shipping polymer grade propylene; (2) a pipeline shipping a product from the pipeline […]
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After Five Years of Litigation, Texas Supreme Court Concludes that Lease’s Continuous Development Clause is Ambiguous
Texas courts are very reluctant to hold that oil and gas lease provisions are ambiguous. The same holds true for deeds and wills. These instruments affect title to land, and if an instrument is ambiguous it inserts uncertainty into land titles and results in litigation over the parties’ intent using extrinsic evidence, usually before a […]
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Mineral Title Dispute Before Texas Supreme Court
The Texas Supreme Court will hear arguments in December in Concho Resources v. Ellison, No. 19-0233, a fight over ownership of the minerals in 154 acres in Irion County. (The population of Irion county was 1,599 in 2010. Its county seat is Mertzon. The county was once the hideout of outlaw Tom Ketchum. Irion County […]
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Texas Supreme Court Acts on Two Significant Oil and Gas Cases
Yesterday the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition in one case and granted a petition in the other, both dealing with provisions in oil and gas leases. The Court denied Chesapeake’s petition in Chesapeake v. Bell, construing an express drainage offset clause in Bell’s lease. The San Antonio Court of Appeals’ decision in favor of […]
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Bush v. Lone Oak Club – Texas Supreme Court Once Again Dives Into the Arcane Law of Water Boundaries
Lone Oak Club, a hunting and fishing club, owns a tract of land in Galveston County near Galveston Bay, through which runs Lone Oak Bayou: Members of the public boat up into Lone Oak Bayou and sometimes wade and fish or hunt in its shallow waters. Lone Oak complained about this activity and asserted that […]