Lawyers for royalty owners have filed multiple suits against Chesapeake Energy in Dimmit County seeking damages for breach of Chesapeake’s leases. These cases were consolidated for discovery and case-management purposes into a single matter, In re: Chesapeake Eagle Ford Royalty Litigation, Cause No. 2016CI22098, in the 224th District Court in…
A client recently asked me whether he should sign a production sharing agreement. I replied that this is not an easy question to answer. First, the nomenclature. These terms are not defined anywhere and their usage is not always consistent, but here’s what I mean when I use these terms:…
I recently ran across an excellent article explaining the relationship between retained acreage clauses in oil and gas leases and density and proration rules promulgated by the Texas Railroad Commission: “Fun New Ways for Density and Proration Rules to Bust Your Lease: Retained Acreage Clauses and ‘Governmental Authority’ Language in…
On February 2, 1848, the United States and Mexico signed the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, ending the Mexican-American War. I’ve been reading the biography of Stonewall Jackson; he and many of the generals in the Civil War first experienced combat in that war. As part of the treaty Mexico ceded…
The Texas Supreme Court yesterday denied Samson Exploration’s petition for review, ending a long-fought fraud case against Samson that began in 2007. The case was before the Court for the second time; in its first opinion in 2015 the Supreme Court reversed a court of appeals’ judgment throwing out the…
174 Power Global Corp., a subsidiary of South Korea’s Hanwha Energy, held its groundbreaking last week for the largest solar power project in Texas: a 236-MW plant to be built in Pecos County. It will sell its power – enough to power more than 50,000 homes – to Austin Energy,…
An Encana well pad in the Permian: Here is another, EQT’s Cogar pad in the Marcellus: Article from Post Gazette on mega pads in the Marcellus here.
I recently ran across an article on Investing.com, “The Problematic Truth About U.S. Shale Oil Production,” by Dr. Ellen Wald, who hosts a podcast about global energy. Dr. Wald reports on her recent podcast discussion with Art Berman, a geology consultant and frequent speaker and author. It reminded me that…
I have often received calls from clients who receive unsolicited offers to buy their minerals. In the past, mineral owners have generally ignored these offers, reminded of their grandmother’s admonition to “never sell your minerals.” That has changed. The buying and selling of minerals has now become common. Investment monies…
Native Texan and Austinite Lawrence Wright, longtime journalist and Reporter at Large at the New Yorker, has written about Texas’ love affair with and dependence on oil, in the January 1 issue of the New Yorker. “The Dark Bounty of Texas Oil” is a 10,000-foot flyover of Texas’ oil business,…
