News & Analysis as of

Oil & Gas Property Owners

BakerHostetler

Pore Space Update: Texas Joins the Majority American Rule, but Accommodation Issues Remain at Play

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Texas is the latest in a growing number of states to tackle the issues related to ownership and severability of the pore space underneath land as carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) remains a relevant tool in CO2...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Creating a Chasm or Filling a Void?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

If you drive around Pennsylvania, you are likely not going to encounter a “For Sale” sign offering a cavern in the ground. But the voids, pore spaces, and cavities in the subsurface can be quite valuable now and in the...more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Splits Family Timber Land Over Heir’s Objections

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“He who comes for the inheritance is often made to pay for the funeral”.* When heirs inherit property together and can’t agree on its use, Texas courts strongly prefer dividing the land physically rather than forcing a sale,...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Colored Horses, Toxic Brews and Lithium Too?

Does the Texas Supreme Court’s Decision in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating Provide Guidance About Lithium and Rare Earth Minerals Ownership in Pennsylvania? Lithium demand is expected to continue to increase as...more

McGuireWoods LLP

Texas Supreme Court Rules Produced Water Is Oil-and-Gas Waste, Further Disputes Foreshadowed

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On June 27, 2025, the Supreme Court of Texas issued an opinion in a closely watched case addressing the ownership of produced water — the byproduct of drilling, fracking and formation fluids. In Cactus Water Services v. COG...more

McGinnis Lochridge

When $180 Million Rides on an Expert's Supplementation Decision

McGinnis Lochridge on

$180M oil case lost when Apollo refused to fix expert's flawed damages model. Without expert testimony meant no damages recovery in technical fields. In Apollo Exploration, LLC v. Apache Corporation, No. 11-19-00183-CV, 2025...more

Gray Reed

Limitations and Standing to Sue Dry Up Landowners’ Claim to Texas Riverbed

Gray Reed on

State of Texas. V. Reimer et al. studied lawyer-nerdy questions of standing to bring a lawsuit and statutes of limitations as applied to inverse condemnation suits.  Spoiler alert: To the chagrin of the landowners, waiting...more

Jackson Walker

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Default Ownership of Produced Water in Oil & Gas Leases – Key Questions Remain

Jackson Walker on

On June 27, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued a pivotal decision in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, holding that under the language of the granting clause found in the standard oil and gas lease, produced...more

McGinnis Lochridge

26-Step Mechanical Framework For Interpreting Deeds? Texas courts reject "mechanical" deed interpretation while creating a 28-step...

McGinnis Lochridge on

The El Paso Court of Appeals recently published an opinion that provides what might be characterized as 26-step step system for analyzing a deed that (perhaps inadvertently) highlights a growing irony in Texas jurisprudence....more

Gray Reed

Ambiguity Frees Louisiana Royalty Owner From Post-Production Costs

Gray Reed on

In Franklin v. Regions Bank the Fifth Circuit concluded that a royalty clause in a mineral lease resulted in a gross proceeds royalty; the royalty owners did not bear their proportionate share of post-production costs. Read...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

You Can’t Have Two Main Characters

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

In a June 13, 2025 decision, the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court held that a municipality impermissibly granted conditional use approval to an oil and gas well pad and interconnect facility on tax lots that were already...more

(ACOEL) | American College of Environmental...

Protecting the Lesser Prairie-Chicken on Private Land in a Shifting Regulatory Environment

As they do every year, male lesser prairie-chickens gathered this Spring on the 48,000-acre Gardiner Angus Ranch in Ashland, Kansas for their ritual mating dance to attract females. The Gardiner Ranch has some of the best...more

Vinson & Elkins LLP

Texas Supreme Court Clarifies Ownership of Salt Caverns

Vinson & Elkins LLP on

On May 16, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court issued a decision ruling that, absent specific contractual language, surface owners retain ownership of the caverns created by salt mining operations. The issue of ownership of salt...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Decides Who Must Produce to Maintain an Oil and Gas Lease

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In Cromwell v. Anadarko E & P Onshore LLC the Supreme Court of Texas did what it so often does: In order to provide “legal certainty and predictability”, the Court considered the plain language of a contract in order to...more

Bracewell LLP

Surface vs. Mineral Owners: Texas Supreme Court Settles Salt Cavern Ownership Dispute

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The Texas Supreme Court has settled the issue of who owns the voids, known as salt caverns, created in subsurface salt formations (whether naturally occurring or caused as a result of salt mining operations). In...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Sixth Circuit Rules That Driller Must Establish Marketability of Each Gas Product Under Market Enhancement Clause

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own 105 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2020, you signed an oil and gas lease with ABC Exploration. During the negotiations, you agreed that only those post-production costs which actually...more

Gray Reed

Operator Excused from Texas Relinquishment Act Claims

Gray Reed on

In Williams O & G Resources, LLC v. Diamondback Energy, Inc., a federal magistrate judge concluded that the Texas Relinquishment Act does not apply to public-school lands patented after 1931. The report and recommendation was...more

Gray Reed

Texas Pore Space Ownership – Royalty Calculation

Gray Reed on

In Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC et al, (discussed previously) the parties disagreed on how to calculate Myers’ royalty on salt produced by Underground....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Affirmative Defenses Are Insufficient to Rebut the Van Dyke Presumption

McGinnis Lochridge on

Under Van Dyke, deeds with double-fraction royalty reservations referencing “1/8” are presumed to reserve a floating royalty interest unless clearly contradicted. Defenses like waiver, ratification, and limitations cannot...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Texas Supreme Court Rules on Modification of NPRIs

McGinnis Lochridge on

In this recent case, the Texas Supreme Court resolved whether ratification of a lease or signing of a stipulation agreement could transform a fixed non-participating royalty interest (NPRI) into a floating NPRI....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Drowning in Liability: Court Extends "Waste" Rule to SWD Operator; but preserves RPO defense

McGinnis Lochridge on

In a watershed ruling, the El Paso Court of Appeals extends "waste" liability under the Nat. Res. Code to commercial disposal well operator—potentially increasing exposure for this critical wastewater industry—while...more

Oliva Gibbs

Reservation or Limitation on Warranty? Navigating the Fine Line — Lessons from Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson

Oliva Gibbs on

In Valence Operating Co. v. Davidson1, the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Appellate District of Texas at Texarkana addressed whether the provision, “all Oil, Gas and other Minerals have been excepted and reserved by former...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

U.S. Court of Appeals Holds Trial Court Erred in Granting Preliminary Injunction Without Finding Plaintiff Would Suffer...

This past week, in EOG Resources, Inc. v. Lucky Land Management, LLC, 2025 U.S. App. LEXIS 8738, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the decision of the district court granting a preliminary injunction...more

Vorys, Sater, Seymour and Pease LLP

U.S. District Court Finds No Evidence of Continuing Trespass and Holds Permanent Trespass Claim is Barred by Statute of...

In Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production Co. (Briggs II), the Middle District of Pennsylvania directed summary judgment to Southwestern Energy (SWN) and dismissed the plaintiffs' claims of trespass and conversion. The...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Tackling Free-Use and At-The-Well Royalties

McGinnis Lochridge on

This lease royalty case involved a dispute over whether the lessee was permitted to deduct volumes of gas used off the premises to power post-production activities on other gas produced from the same well. Carl v. Hilcorp...more

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