In a short opinion, the Supreme Court of North Dakota decided a case brought by Newfield Exploration against the North Dakota Board of University and School Lands to determine how royalties on gas should be calculated under the State’s leases to Newfield. The case illustrates how post-production costs can sometimes…
ConocoPhillips always seems to be getting into interesting scrapes. In 1995, ConocoPhillips bought oil and gas leases from EOG covering 1,058 acres, the Las Piedras Ranch, in Zapata County. At the time there was one producing well on the leases. The minerals belonged to the Ramirez family. One member of…
Much has been written lately about flares of natural gas in the Permian Basin. A website called Skytruth provides a helpful interactive map allowing amazing satellite views of flares over time. Here’s a snapshot of flares in the Permian (click on image to enlarge): One can zoom in on the…
Excellent article by Shannon L. Ferrell, Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics at Oklahoma State University, on negotiating solar leases. You can download it here.
Three recent cases illustrate a little known aspect of Texas law – administrative law and how it works, and doesn’t work. Although the cases don’t directly affect mineral owners, they show how different the Texas Railroad Commission’s administrative process is from other agencies’. Many disputes in Texas are resolved not…
Herein of a case that will probably be of interest only to law professors and title attorneys. Leo Trial had six brothers and sisters. They inherited 237 acres in Karnes County. In 1983 Leo gave his wife Ruth one-half of his 1/7th interest in the property. In 1992, Leo and…
Last week MineralSoft published a webinar in which I was interviewed by Jay Snodgrass, VP of MineralSoft, about royalty underpayments. You can listen to it here. I met Jay when MineralSoft was just getting started. It is a software company providing solutions for royalty owners to manage their interests. MineralSoft…
Last Saturday our firm participated in the annual Austin parade celebrating Juneteenth, the day in 1864 it was announced in Texas that all slaves were free. The parade is the biggest in Austin, a celebration of freedom that has become a state holiday in Texas and 44 other states. June…
A reader alerted me to a Texas Supreme Court mandamus proceeding about unpaid royalties, In Re The Estate of Ebbie Edward Allen, Jr., No. 19-0027. Lawyers for the Relator asked the court to require the Texas Comptroller to audit Chesapeake and require it to deposit royalties not paid to Mr.…
The Texas Supreme Court has denied motion for rehearing of its opinion in Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company v. Texas Crude Energy, No. 17-0266. The case addresses deductibility of post-production costs in the context of an overriding royalty. The case may, however, have implications for post-production-cost deductions in oil…