Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog

From Northern Oil and Gas: http://www.northernoil.com/drilling-video

Recent news relating to oil and gas exploration and development in Texas: Dune Sagebrush Lizard — Good article on efforts of industry and State regulators to avoid problems raised by possible listing of the Dune Sagebrush Lizard under the Endangered Species Act. Here is a map of the lizard’s habitat…

The Klotzman mineral owners have appealed the Texas Railroad Commission’s order granting EOG a permit to drill an “allocation well” on their land. A copy of the petition can be viewed here: Klotzman Petition.pdf. Our firm represents the Klotzmans.  For my previous posts about allocation wells and the Klotzman case,…

The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently decided a case illustrating the new kinds of issues that can arise from the drilling of horizontal wells. In Springer Ranch v. Jones, Alice Burkholder owned a ranch, 8,545 acres in La Salle and Webb Counties. She signed a single oil and gas…

Data from the Energy Information Administration shows that Texas’ oil production is now the highest it’s been in thirty years. Texas crude production is now approaching 3 million barrels/day, a rate not seen since the 1960’s. Below are EIA graphs showing production of oil from the Eagle Ford and the…

On December 20, the Office of Inspector General of the Environmental Protection Agency issued its “Response to Congressional Inquiry Regarding the EPA’s Emergency Order to the Range Resources Gas Drilling Company.”  The report was requested by Congress as a result of an emergency order issued by the Dallas regional office…

The Energy Information Administration has created a nifty website presenting energy information by state, with a great map interface. Here is the link to the Texas map:  http://www.eia.gov/state/?sid=TX  Click on “full screen,” then play with the different layers for the map. Under “layers/legend,” click on “views” and explore the different layers…

In November, Texas Monthly hosted a panel discussion at Rice University’s Baker Institute for public policy about the boom in shale oil development in the US. The panel members: Arthur E. Berman, a Sugar Land-based geologist; Scott W. Tinker, the director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of…

StateImpact Texas has published a series of good articles about the growing evidence that the huge quantities of wastewater being injected in the Barnett Shale field are causing earthquakes — some of sufficient intensity to cause significant damages. Lawsuits have been filed in Johnson County to recover for the damage.  StateImpact’s…

   Suppose that the fluids injected into a disposal well migrate beyond the boundary of the tract where the well is located; does that incursion of the injected fluids into and under the neighbor’s property constitute a trespass?  Until recently, this question had never been addressed by a Texas appellate…