In March 2016, a jury awarded two families $4.2 million against Cabot Oil & Gas for contaminating their drinking water. On Friday, the judge set aside the verdict and said the case will have to be retried. The judge wrote that (T)he weaknesses in the plaintiffs’ case and proof, coupled…
I have said before that I love graphs, and the Energy Information Administration has nifty interactive graphs of energy production and consumption. Here is one (click on image to enlarge): You can revise the graphs to cover any time period. For example: Here’s another interesting one: All the graphs and…
Provisions in oil and gas leases requiring the lessor’s consent to assignment of the lessee’s interest are common. A lessor may have reasonable concerns about assignment of the lease, especially if the lessor is also the owner of the surface estate of the leased premises. The lessor may have agreed…
Lightning Oil v. Anadarko will be argued before the Texas Supreme Court on March 21. I wrote about the court of appeals’ opinion here. The issue: whether the owner of a mineral estate has a cause of action for trespass if a horizontal well is drilled through the tract to…
On February 24, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in ExxonMobil Corporation v. Lazy R Ranch, LP, et al., No. 15-0270. ExxonMobil v. Lazy R Ranch The 8-0 opinion was authored by Chief Justice Nathan Hecht. The case provides important reminders to landowners who have oil and gas operations…
The Court of Appeals in Corpus Christi issued its opinion today in Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Company LP v. Texas Crude Energy, LLC, et al. Link to the opinion is here: burlington v texas crude This is the first case to follow Chesapeake v. Hyder, the Texas Supreme Court’s…
I ran across this website from the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, an interactive map that allows one to view different perspectives about global warming across the country. Fascinating to play with. Remarkably, for instance, a large majority of the population in the Rio Grande Valley and far West…
Two recent appellate opinions illustrate why landowners and their counsel need to know the basic fundamentals of field rules and how they can affect provisions in oil and gas leases. I wrote about those cases in 2015. Both involve the interaction between field rules and lease provisions. ConocoPhillips Co. v.…
Texas A&M has asked that I post notice of its 2017 Energy Law Symposium on “The Future of Energy”. The symposium, scheduled for March 23–24, 2017, will convene industry experts, academic commentators and public officials to discuss a wide range of issues bearing on anticipated needs, policy challenges and proposed reforms…
I served as a clerk for Justice Ross Doughty from 1975-1976, after graduating from UT Law School. Justice Pope was serving on the court at the time. Jack Pope served on the Supreme Court from 1964 until his retirement in 1985, and served as Chief Justice from 1982 to 1985,…