I highly recommend a recent article by Liam Denning in Bloomberg, “Oil’s New World Disorder.” The US’s decreasing dependence on oil imports, and China and India’s increasing dependence on oil, coincide with the possible changing roles of those countries’ navies in policing oil shipping routes from the Middle East. The…
Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog
In Honor of Memorial Day
This was written by the late Joe Edwards, a Jazz pianist from Missouri: World War II Love Story It was a time of Harry James and Betty Grable; a time of seams in the ladies stockings, of Rosie the Riveter, ration stamps for gasoline, shoes, fuel oil, sugar and tires.…
BP America v. Red Deer Resources – the Shut-in Royalty Clause
On April 28, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in BP America Production Company v. Red Deer Resources, LLC, No. 15-0569, a unanimous opinion written by Justice Green. The case concerns operation of a shut-in royalty clause in a lease granted in 1962 covering 2,113 acres in Lipscomb and…
Railroad Commission: Follow Pennsylvania’s Lead
One of the complaints made against the Texas Railroad Commission in the current legislative session was that it provides very little information about its environmental compliance efforts in the oil field. The Commission provides little information about the number of violations, how they were resolved, the identity of the violators,…
Lightning Oil v. Anadarko – Supreme Court Rules on Subsurface Trespass Claim
Last week the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Lightning Oil Company v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, No. 15-0910, denying Lightning Oil’s trespass claim against Anadarko. Lightning Oil lost in the trial court, the San Antonio Court of Appeals, and now the Supreme Court. To understand the case, it…
Post-Production Costs after Hyder
Our firm hosted its 4th land and mineral owner seminar last Friday, and I spoke on deductability of post-production costs from lease royalties in light of the Texas Supreme Court’s decision last year in Chesapeake v. Hyder. My paper on post-production costs may be viewed here: Post-Production Costs after Hyder
Petrodollars in the Texas Legislature
A report from Texans for Public Justice, Public Citizen and the Sierra Club Lone Star Chapter details the contributions made by the oil and gas industry to Texas legislatures’ campaign funds. You can find the report, Running on Hydrocarbons: Oil and Gas Funding to Every Texas Lawmaker, here: http://www.tpj.org/ No…
Another Great Graph from EIA
Here’s another great graph explaining US Energy production and consumption, from the Energy Information Administration. It’s called an Energy Flow Diagram. Numbers are in quadrillion BTU’s. Click on image to enlarge: Consider: We still import 21.72 QBTU of petroleum, about 22% of our total consumption – about what we consume…
Fourth Annual GDHM Land and Mineral Owner Seminar May 12
Information about the seminar can be found here: http://www.gdhmoilandgas.com/.
What Constitutes “Reworking Operations” under an Oil and Gas Lease?
Last December, the Eastland Court of Appeals issued its opinion in Crystal River Oil & Gas, LLC v. Patton, No. 11-15-00217-CV. Crystal River owned and operated wells on an oil and gas lease in Stonewall County. The oil wells on the lease produced twenty barrels of salt water for every…