The Texas Supreme Court has agreed to hear oral arguments in a dispute over an “accumulation” provision in a continuous development clause of an oil and gas lease. The case is Endeavor Energy Resources L.P. v. Energen...more
Geary v. Two Bow Ranch Limited Partnership* is an example of the havoc an unusual contract provision can create....more
The question in Cannisnia Plantation, LLC v. Cecil Blount Farms, LLC was whether a well was drilled in good faith in order to interrupt the running of prescription on a Louisiana mineral servitude....more
Samson Expl., LLC et al v. Moak considered the duties owed by a unit operator to an unleased mineral interest owner in tracts within the unit but on which no well is drilled or completed....more
Contract construction cases are fact-specific, but one can take lessons of general application from all of them. Here are the takeaways from Jones Energy, Inc. v. Pima Oil & Gas, L.L.C....more
Here we continue our discussion of the Texas Supreme Court’s opinion in Piranha Partners et al. v. Joe B. Neuhoff et al. determining that an assignment of an overriding royalty in minerals unambiguously conveyed the override...more
Generally, if your will leaves your beloved “all … right, title and interest in and to”, said beloved would receive the entirety of your interest, whether a surface estate, mineral estate, or both. But in ConocoPhillips, et...more
2/26/2020
/ Appeals ,
Beneficiaries ,
ConocoPhillips ,
Estate Claims ,
Inheritance ,
Jointly-Owned Property ,
Land Parcels ,
Land Titles ,
Life Estates ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Popular ,
Property Division ,
Real Party in Interest ,
Reversal ,
Surface Owner ,
Wills
Yet another entry in the Strip and Gore universe (2012’s “Beware of Strips and Gores”, and 2019’s “Strip and Gore 2: The Sequel”) comes to us from Fort Worth Court of Appeals: Richard D. Crawford v. XTO Energy, Inc....more
1/21/2020
/ Appeals ,
Energy Exploration ,
Grantors ,
Ingress/Egress ,
Land Titles ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Real Estate Market ,
Transfer of Rights ,
Well Drilling
Confirming the obvious, in In re Etheridge a Texas court concluded that “personal effects,” in a last will and testament did not include mineral royalties. Let’s investigate how the case got this far....more
The 2019 Texas legislature enacted a new Property Code Section 5.152 to protect mineral and royalty owners from a certain species of fraudulent transactions perpetrated on trusting and/or naïve and/or out of state mineral...more
11/5/2019
/ Contract Interpretation ,
Contract Terms ,
Fraud ,
Fraudulent Conveyance ,
Future Royalties ,
Gas Royalties ,
Land Titles ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Property Owners ,
Scams ,
Transfer of Interest
Quick answer: It depends on what the lease says. Last week featured a tug-of-war between a producer and the community in which it operates; this week in HJSA No. 3 LP v. Sundown Energy LP it’s the producer and the lessor....more
9/19/2019
/ Abandonment ,
Business Operations ,
Contract Terms ,
Forfeiture ,
Lease Termination ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Ongoing Operations ,
Rules of Construction ,
Well Drilling
In Barrow-Shaver Resources Company v. Carrizo Oil & Gas, Inc the Supreme Court of Texas has held again, here in a consent-to-assign dispute, that a contract means what the words say, even if in negotiations a landman said...more
In resolving disputes among the mineral interest family, there is no bright-line rule delineating the duty of the executive right holder. In Texas Outfitters Limited v. Nicholson, the Texas Supreme Court explained why. The...more
Speedier than Jesse Owens in the ‘36 Olympics, Democrats railroaded the Colorado legislature passed, by party-line vote, Senate Bill 181, a new law that will have a profound effect on oil and gas operations in that state. It...more
4/9/2019
/ Climate Change ,
Energy Exploration ,
Energy Policy ,
Green New Deal ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Regulatory Burden ,
Rulemaking Process ,
State and Local Government ,
Well Drilling
In Johnson et al vs. Chesapeake et al, unit operator Chesapeake deducted post-production costs (gathering, compression, treatment, processing, transportation and dehydration) from non-operating, unleased mineral owners’...more
Less than a year ago, we discussed the “Unanswered Questions” left in the wake of Devon Energy Prod. Co., LP v. Apache Corp. (which did answer the question, “Who is a ‘Payor’ Under the Texas Natural Resources Code?”). ...more
Marsha Ellison v. Three Rivers Acquisition, LLC, et al. reminds us what is required for an instrument to be a conveyance and what is required for a stipulation to be effective....more
We told you to “Beware of Strips and Gores” back in 2012 and today we bring you Green et al v. Chesapeake et al, the sequel. Unlike cinema’s greatest follow-ups, this entry feels more like an unneeded rehash of the original....more
In a ruling that could benefit mineral owners who don’t regularly examine county deed records (to-wit, you?) the Supreme Court of Texas in Carl M. Archer Trust No. Three v. Tregellas held that the discovery rule delayed the...more
In Texas losing a title dispute doesn’t mean you committed myriad heinous torts by asserting your rights in the first place. The test: Were you reasonable in bringing your colorable but not correct claim? So says Dorfman v. J...more
In 2016 Ridge contacted the McDaniels (Double Eagle’s predecessors) with an offer to “lease” their mineral interests in Winkler County. The McDaniels informed Ridge about a producing lease from 2004, and were assured that it...more
Harrison v. Rosetta Resources Operating LP presents a wacky? time-wasting? clever? unsuccessful attempt to expand reinvent the Texas accomodation doctrine....more
8/28/2018
/ Breach of Contract ,
Damages ,
Energy Sector ,
Gross Negligence ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Natural Resources ,
Negligence ,
Oil & Gas ,
Permanent Injunctions ,
State and Local Government ,
Trespass
In this title action the title issues didn’t matter. The lesson is simple: The exclusive procedure to resolve competing claims to real property in Texas is a statutory trespass-to-try-title suit under Property Code Chapter...more
Two Texas Supreme Court decisions published on the same day confirm that retained acreage clauses that vary in language from one instrument to another will likely vary in effect. Depending on the language, the lessee might...more
Defendants accused of stealing trade secrets often claim that publicly available information can’t constitute a trade secret. Sometimes yes, but mineral ownership that can be determined from the public record only after...more