If you are scoring at home, count Permico Royalties LLC v. Barron Properties, Ltd., as a win for “floating” in the fixed-or-floating royalty battles. Permico, successor to grantors in a 1937 Deed for a tract in Ward County,...more
We begin with a document-drafting tip: When reserving an interest in minerals, before cutting and pasting from your old document that would be yellowed and dusty if it remained in its original papyrus format, lawyers and...more
Unit Petroleum Company v. Koch Energy Services, LLC is another force majeure case arising out of winter storm Uri. Unlike a similar case, summary judgment was denied because, said the United States District Court, The word...more
Davenport v. EOG Resources, Inc. is an appeal of a temporary injunction. The title tells you the result.
Davenport owned four tracts comprising 5,000 acres in Webb County that were originally part of a larger tract...more
In Cactus Water Services LLC v. COG Operating, LLC., a divided Texas court of appeals answered the question this way: The oil and gas producer prevails over the purchaser of the surface owner’s right to own and sell produced...more
Rhetorical Question: When will Texas be done with fixed/floating royalty cases such as Johnson et al v. Clifton et al?
Rhetorical Answer: When scriveners of deeds that are open to eight conceivably plausible meanings...more
Producers disappointed by the Supreme Court’s holding in Devon Energy Production v. Sheppard might have reason to feel vindicated. The question in HL Hawkins Jr., Inc. v. Capitan Energy Inc. et al. was whether producer...more
In Smart v. 3039 RNC Holdings LLC, the court reminds us that it will harmonize all parts of a contract, even one that “is not a model of clarity”, to reach the correct result.
...more
The plain, ordinary, and generally accepted meaning of a word doesn’t mean “anything goes”. It depends on context, says the Supreme Court of Texas in Finley Resources Inc. v. Headington Royalty Inc., a dispute over the...more
California has passed Senate Bill 1137, which will prohibit drilling of new oil and gas wells and reworking of existing wells in certain areas.
Here is SB 1137 in legislativese (analysis comes first, then the text)...more
7/19/2023
/ Ballot Measures ,
California ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Infrastructure ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Oil & Gas ,
Proposed Legislation ,
Regulatory Agenda ,
Well Drilling
The Texas Legislature has created a new Texas Business Court (the TBC) with jurisdiction over cases involving certain qualified (as in “big-dollar”) business transactions. HB 19 could affect large oil and gas cases; how and...more
The Austin Court of Appeals has ruled in Texas Railroad Commission et al v. Opiela, the dispute over a permit for a horizontal well under a Production Sharing Agreement. We reported on the result in the trial court. Here are...more
Can a non-operating working interest in a Texas oil and gas lease be adversely possessed? The Amarillo Court of Appeals said yes in PBEX II, LLC v. Dorchester Minerals, L.P....more
Texas, famously, does not tax individuals’ income, but it does impose franchise taxes on “taxable entities”, such as limited liability companies. Federal tax law treats them as partnerships unless they elect to be treated...more
One of the questions raised in 1776 Energy Partners, LLC v. Marathon Oil EF, LLC was whether Marathon as operator could apply revenues owed to non-operator 1776 under one joint operating agreement to satisfy unpaid debts owed...more
Tips on litigation avoidance: Not making promises you don’t intend to keep is easy enough. Stating a fact or making a promise and things change, you could be a fraudster if you don’t come clean before closing....more
Freeeport-McMoRan Oil and Gas, LLC and Ovintiv USA Inc. v. 1776 Energy Partners LLC presented a recurring question faced by Texas oil and gas producers: When can proceeds of production be withheld by the operator without...more
6/2/2023
/ Contract Terms ,
Gas Royalties ,
Gross Proceeds ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Natural Resources ,
Oil & Gas ,
Safe Harbors ,
Texas ,
TX Supreme Court
And what a difference it was! In Apache Corp. v. Apollo Expl. LLC et al, Apache and others acquired an oil and gas lease on 100,000+ acres in the Texas Panhandle. The primary term was three years. The effective date was...more
You might recall our posts on litigation by states, counties, and cities blaming a host of calamities, real and imagined, past and future, on Big Oil. The producers tried their best to remove the cases to federal court. In a...more
5/17/2023
/ Carbon Emissions ,
Clean Energy ,
Climate Action Plan ,
Climate Change ,
Energy Policy ,
Energy Reform ,
Environmental Policies ,
Greenhouse Gas Emissions ,
Infrastructure ,
Jurisdiction ,
Net Zero ,
Oil & Gas ,
Pollution Control
Imagine these facts in a force majeure dispute (as presented in Point Energy Partners Permian LLC et al. v. MRC Permian Company).
Lessee (MRC) invokes the force majeure provision of an oil and gas lease, asserting that...more
5/10/2023
/ Civil Conspiracy ,
Constructive Trusts ,
Force Majeure Clause ,
Mineral Exploration ,
Mineral Extraction ,
Mineral Leases ,
Mineral Rights ,
Oil & Gas ,
Repudiation ,
Tortious Interference ,
Trespass ,
Well Drilling
In TotalEnergies E&P USA, Inc. v. MP Gulf of Mexico LLC. the Supreme Court of Texas resolved the chaos created by conflicting dispute resolution regimes in three contracts for ownership and operation of an offshore unit and...more
Golden Eagle Resources II LLC v. Rice Drilling D LLC. presents a small step in the development of subsurface trespass law in Ohio. The federal court considered a motion to dismiss, in which it evaluated the sufficiency of the...more
As you negotiate your master service agreements are you confident that you know how insurance choices might affect indemnity obligations? Me neither. That’s why I turn to my Gray Reed partner Darin Brooks and his insurance...more
4/19/2023
/ Breach of Contract ,
Commercial Insurance Policies ,
Contract Disputes ,
Contract Terms ,
Denial of Insurance Coverage ,
Exxon Mobil ,
Indemnity ,
Insurance Claims ,
Master Service Agreement ,
National Union ,
Oil & Gas ,
Umbrella Policies ,
Workplace Injury
MIECO, LLC v. Pioneer Natural Resources presented a challenge to a force majeure defense in a dispute arising from Winter Storm Uri. The defense carried the day....more
In a recurring theme, harmony and the four-corners rule were front and center in Citation 2002 Inv. LLC et al v. Occidental Permian, Ltd. et al, a case of competing claims over the granting language in an assignment of oil...more