Suppose Company A obtains an oil and gas lease on Blackacre from the owner of a 1/6 mineral interest in Blackacre, and Company B obtains and oil and gas lease from the owner of the other 5/6 mineral interest. That makes Company A and Company B co-tenants leasehold mineral estate.…
The Supreme Court has handed down its opinion in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, a dispute over ownership of produced water. Its holding: COG, the operator, owns the produced water. Between 2005 and 2014, the Colliers granted leases covering 37,000 acres of land in Reeves County to…
In 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…
I ran across a fascinating opinion from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals that provides a window into Wyoming history. Iron Bar Holdings v. Cape, No. 23-8043, decided March 18. The facts are these: Iron Bar Holdings owns a ranch in southwest Wyoming covering 50 square miles. But within its…
The Delaware Mountain Group is a group of formations including the Bell Canyon, Cherry Canyon and Brushy Canyon formations, deposits in ancient canyons filled in over the ages, and are productive of oil and gas. These formations lie above parts of the Wolfcamp formation in the Permian Basin. Disposal of…
Our firm represented the Opielas in two cases involving a Magnolia horizontal well in Karnes County: a suit against Magnolia in Karnes County, and a suit against the Texas Railroad Commission in Travis County. In both cases the Opielas contended that Magnolia had no right to drill a horizontal well…
On the last day of 2024 the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in ConocoPhillips v. Hahn, No. 23-0024, putting to rest a long-running dispute between Kenneth Hahn and ConocoPhillips (COP). The opinion deals with a fixed vs. floating NPRI reservation, and a stipulation of interest addressing the reservation. Kenneth…
Another case interpreting a royalty reservation in an old conveyance has been decided by the 11th Court of Appeals in Eastland: Boren Descendants and Mabee Descendants v. Fasken Oil and Ranch, Ltd., two consolidated appeals, Nos. 11-22-00365-CV and 11-23-00001-CV. This is the first skirmish in a fight that will undoubtedly…
In Mitchell v. Map Resources, the Texas Supreme Court described the constitutional right of due process as follows: The Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution prevents the government from depriving a person of his or her “property, without due process of law.” U.S. Const. amend. XIV, § 1;…
Unitex WI, LLC v. CT Land and Cattle Co., decided by the Amarillo Court of Appeals, petition for review pending in Texas Supreme Court. CT Land and Cattle owns the surface estate of 4,000 acres in Scurry and Kent Counties. The land is subject to an oil and gas lease…