News & Analysis as of

Property Owners Mineral Leases

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

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

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

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

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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

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

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

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

McGinnis Lochridge

Who Can Enforce Surface Provisions in an OGL?

McGinnis Lochridge on

Unitex WI, LLC v. CT Land & Cattle Co., LLC, No. 07-23-00390-CV, 2024 WL 3249338 (Tex. App.—Amarillo June 28, 2024, pet. filed)...more

Gray Reed

NPRI Plaintiff Survives Affirmative Defenses

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Boren Descendants et al v. Fasken Oil and Ranch, LTD, offers something to talk about beyond interpretation of the fixed-or-floating NPRI question.  At issue was this reservation, expressed as a double fraction, in a 1933...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

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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

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

Oliva Gibbs

“After Acquired Title” to Remain a Caged-Bird after Dellit v. Schleder, 2022 MT 196, 518 P.3d 830

Oliva Gibbs on

Introduction - “No one has a vested interest in any rule of common law.” Meech v. Hillhaven W., 776 P.2d 488, 494 (Mont. 1989). Luckily the Montana legislature has codified the common law rule of after-acquired title as a...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Landowners Should Ensure that Solar Farm Payments Retain Their Value Over Time

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Leases for solar energy facilities offer property owners the potential for a predictable, long-term revenue stream. But, because of the potential decades-long duration of a lease for solar energy facilities, things like...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

The Centerline Presumption – Who Really Owns the Oil and Gas Under Roads and Highways? (Part II)

A troubling and confusing issue here in Pennsylvania concerns the ownership of oil and gas rights under roads and highways. For example, let’s assume Farmer Joe owned 115 acres in Greene County. In 1981, Farmer Joe sells...more

Gray Reed

Agreed Judgment and Division Order Don’t Avoid Double Royalty Payment

Gray Reed on

So, you found all the heirs and you have an agreed judgment stipulating title. Time to pay royslties? Maybe. And you have signed division orders. Surely, you can pay now? Maybe. These were the questions facing the parties in...more

Gray Reed

Defense of a Deed Signed by a 12-Year-Old Fails

Gray Reed on

Foreshadowing a grim future for family weddings and funerals, Bell and Petsch v. Petch is a property dispute over five tracts of land in Gillespie County, Texas, in which siblings are the combatants. The events are less...more

Gray Reed

Texas Landowner Enjoined from Interfering with Lessee’s Operations

Gray Reed on

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

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Landowners Should Be Careful Before Making Representations About Prior Oil and Gas Development on their Property

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Before signing oil and gas leases, landowners should pay close attention to lease provisions asking for warranties and representations about prior oil and gas development on the land. These provisions are often buried in a...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Can Owners of Severed Oil and Gas Estates in Pennsylvania Lease Gas Storage Rights?

A dual purpose oil and gas lease transitions into its secondary term, and remains in its secondary term, if oil and gas is produced from the leasehold or if the leasehold is used for oil and gas storage. See, Smith v....more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Coordinating Solar Farm Development With Oil and Gas Rights in Pennsylvania

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Solar farm developers who do not enter into surface use agreements with Pennsylvania oil, gas and mineral owners (and their lessees) could create legal jeopardy for their solar farm projects. All surface developments in...more

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