News & Analysis as of

Oil & Gas Real Estate Transactions

Gray Reed

Oral Promises, Paper Truths in a Texas Mineral Transaction

Gray Reed on

The Texas Supreme Court in Roxo Energy Company, LLC v. Baxsto, LLC reinforced a fundamental contract principle: when fully integrated agreements plainly conflict with prior oral representations, reliance on those inconsistent...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

Bracewell LLP

Texas Supreme Court Affirms Mineral Estate Ownership of Produced Water in Landmark Ruling

Bracewell LLP on

In a significant decision for Texas property and energy law, the Texas Supreme Court has affirmed the Eighth Court of Appeals’ ruling in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, holding that produced water — a...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

Bracewell LLP

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

Bracewell LLP on

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

Holland & Knight LLP

Texas Supreme Court: Subsurface Storage Rights Generally Belong to Surface, Not Mineral Owner

Holland & Knight LLP on

The Supreme Court of Texas has provided helpful guidance as to ownership of subsurface storage rights and pore space. In the recent holding in Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC, the court held that "the...more

McGinnis Lochridge

Can a Production Sharing Agreement Override Surface Owner Consent? Hamilton v. ConocoPhillips Explored

McGinnis Lochridge on

A landowner’s failure to provide consent for surface use related to oil and gas operations does not necessarily preclude the lessee from conducting activities if the lease agreements allow surface use....more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

From Shale to Salt: Texas Supreme Court Applies Uniform Rule for Ownership of Subsurface Caverns

In a closely watched opinion issued on May 16, 2025, the Texas Supreme Court in Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Undergrounds Services Markham, LLC, — S.W.3d —, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 1415892 (Tex. May 16, 2025) resolved a long-uncertain...more

Gray Reed

Who Owns the Subsurface Pore Space in Texas?

Gray Reed on

In a word, the surface estate owner. If that’s all the learning you are up for today, proceed directly to the musical interludes. If you want to know why the Supreme Court of Texas had to say this again, read on....more

McGinnis Lochridge

Who Owns the Empty Space? Texas Supreme Court Affirms Surface Ownership of Salt Caverns in Landmark Ruling

McGinnis Lochridge on

In Myers-Woodward, LLC v. Underground Services Markham, LLC, No. 22-0878, 2025 WL 4356581 (Tex. May 16, 2025), the Texas Supreme Court resolved two significant issues affecting mineral owners and surface owners: (1) who owns...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

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

Gray Reed

What’s the Difference Between a Mineral Reservation and an Exception?

Gray Reed on

The category is “terms that confuse us” for one hundred dollars. Without resorting to your favorite legal dictionary or lawyer, explain the difference between a reservation and an exception in a Texas warranty deed. Stumped?...more

Gray Reed

Texas Court Shields Severed Mineral Interests from Tax Foreclosure Judgment

Gray Reed on

In Bush v. Yarborough Oil & Gas, LP a decades-old tax foreclosure judgment did not affect a previously severed mineral interest not owned by the delinquent taxpayer. The mineral owners were neither named nor served in the...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Ohio Appeals Court Rules that Horizontal Shale Well Was “On” the Leased Premises

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own a 175 acre farm in Washington County. Your grandfather acquired the farm back in 1948 from Farmer Brown (the “1948 Deed”). Your grandfather always said that he bought both the surface and oil and gas. In...more

Gray Reed

Ratifications, Stipulations, and Fixed vs. Floating Royalty Interests

Gray Reed on

After four stops at the lower courts, Kenneth Hahn v. ConocoPhillips has been resolved by the Supreme Court of Texas. The Court opined on the effect of two instruments often used to clarify land titles in Texas: ...more

Gray Reed

Texas Supreme Court Will Review Produced Water Case

Gray Reed on

Who owns produced water in Texas?  And what is produced water anyway – oil and gas waste and part of the mineral estate, or groundwater and part of the surface estate?  We may be closer to an answer to these questions now...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Pennsylvania Superior Court Reaffirms the Dunham Rule

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you inherited a 150 acre farm in Lycoming County that has been owned by your family since 1909. In 2020, you are approached by ABC Drilling about a new oil and gas lease for the farm. You retain counsel and...more

Oliva Gibbs

Coverting a “Fixed” to a “Floating” NPRI: What (If Anything) Does ConocoPhillips v. Hahn Add to the Conversation?

Oliva Gibbs on

In ConocoPhillips Co. v. Hahn, the Supreme Court of Texas addressed whether a “fixed” nonparticipating royalty interest (“NPRI”) was later converted to a “floating” NPRI. The court weighed two possible means of this...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Buyers and Sellers of Pennsylvania Real Estate Should Use Caution

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

If you have bought or sold property in Pennsylvania, you have likely encountered the Oil, Gas and/or Mineral Rights/Interests Disclosure© form prepared by the Pennsylvania Association of Realtors as part of the sales...more

Gray Reed

Busted Land Transaction Violated the Statute of Frauds

Gray Reed on

In the Estate of Terry Banta presents yet another purported Texas land transaction doomed because of disregard for the Statute of Frauds. Terry Banta and the Herriotts entered into an oral agreement for the Herriotts to...more

Lowndes

Mineral Reservations and Real Property in Florida

Lowndes on

It is not unusual to find mineral reservations in the chain of title to real properties located in Florida. When the State of Florida first conveyed title to state owned lands, it was customary for the state to reserve an...more

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP

Draft CFIUS Regulations Portend Evolution, Not Revolution

On September 17, 2019, the Department of the Treasury, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS or Committee), issued two sets of proposed regulations seeking to further implement the...more

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP

New CFIUS Law: Key Issues Affecting the Energy Sector

• FIRRMA broadens the scope of a CFIUS review beyond transactions that could result in a foreign person gaining the ability to control a U.S. business. Consequently, more energy deals could be captured through expanded...more

Jackson Walker

Selected Drafting Issues In Midstream Contracts

Jackson Walker on

I will share a small secret – or perhaps, it is not a secret at all. As CLE presentations go, “drafting tip” presentations tend to be very practical in their orientation and are, therefore, more enjoyable and less stressful...more

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