Last March the San Antonio Court of Appeals handed down its decision in Bell v. Chesapeake Energy, No. 04-18-00129-CV. Chesapeake has asked the Texas Supreme Court to review the case. The facts bear a resemblance to Murphy v. Adams, decided by the Supreme Court last year. Both involve construction of…
Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog
Unit-Line Allocation Wells
We’ve recently seen several requests for royalty owners to sign a production sharing agreement for a unit-line or lease-line allocation well. Such a well would be drilled along the boundary of two existing leases or pooled units. So, unlike most allocation wells, production can’t be allocated based on the portion…
Energy – the Big Picture
I recently heard a presentation by Dr. Scott Tinker, head of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas. He is the founder of the Switch Energy Alliance, about which I’ve written before. Switch Energy Alliance is “a 501(c)(3) dedicated to inspiring an energy-educated future that is objective,…
North Dakota Supreme Court Decides for Royalty Owner on Post-Production Costs
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 v. Ramirez – What is the effect of an oil and gas lease signed by the owner of a life estate?
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…
Flaring in the Permian
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…
Solar Leases
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.
Administrative Hearings in Texas: Three Recent Cases
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…
Trial v. Dragon – The Duhig Doctrine and Estoppel by Deed
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…
How to Identify and Resolve Your Oil and Gas Royalty Underpayments
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…