There were fireworks yesterday at an open public meeting of the Texas Railroad Commission, the state regulatory body responsible for keeping tabs on the oil and gas industry. Following a variety of routine housekeeping matters, the agency’s General Counsel appeared before the three elected Commissioners in lieu of the regulator’s Executive Director, Kimberly Corley. Commissioner Ryan Sitton promptly interrupted the agency’s top lawyer to inquire about Ms. Corley’s whereabouts. He was informed that Ms. Corley had…
BREAKING: Texas Oil and Gas Regulators Face Off at Public Meeting
The Tension Between Executives and Non-Executives in Mineral Leases
This week, KRCL’s energy law podcast addresses the fiduciary obligations of the executive rights holder to non-executive mineral interest owners, as well as an important appellate decision about acreage retention clauses keyed off of proration units. Also covered in this week’s episode: the Supreme Court of Texas agrees to settle a rift between the intermediate appellate courts concerning the proper interpretation of a common provision in oil-and-gas leases. Download the iPhone/iPad app for our podcast at…
Harvey’s Aftermath For The US Oil And Gas Sector
In a recent installment of Law360’s “Expert Analysis” series, KRCL trial lawyer Tom Ciarlone explained why—as the U.S. oil and gas industry recovers from Hurricane Harvey—operators must also be aware that force majeure clauses, excusing nonperformance during natural disasters, may not provide as much cover as they might think. Tom’s column can be found here.
Acreage Release Clauses in Mineral Leases: An Often Overlooked Pitfall for Operators
The Seventh Court of Appeals in Amarillo has rejected a jury verdict in favor of Hunt Cimarron, in a hard-fought controversy over a West Texas mineral lease. The intermediate appellate court determined that the lease had come to an end by operation of its own terms. More particularly, Hunt Cimarron argued that the full leasehold had been perpetuated beyond the expiration of its primary term in 2011, by way of the mineral lease’s “reworking” provisions….
The Battle Between Horizontal and Vertical Wells
A jury verdict out of Oklahoma may be a harbinger of what’s on the horizon for the many battles being waged in courthouses across the country between operators of horizontal wells and the vertical drillers who say their wells have been damaged—or destroyed—by hydraulic fracturing. Also, the Fifth Circuit puts the kibosh on a pipeline regulator’s attempts to implement a strict liability regime when Congress never authorized one.
KRCL’s Energy Practice Group Featured in New Law360 Series
A member of KRCL’s Energy Practice Group, trial lawyer Tom Ciarlone, was the subject of the first installment of Law360’s new “Expert Analysis” series, What I Learned In My First Year, featuring attorneys’ true-life tales from the earliest days of their legal careers. You can read the article by clicking here.
KRCL Energy Law Podcast: iOS and Android Apps Available for Download
Yes, there’s an app for that! We’re excited to announce the release of custom iOS and Android apps for our podcast, Energy Law Round Up. Get the latest news and developments in oil-and-gas law pushed directly to your iPhone, iPad, or Android device. Download the iPhone/iPad app today by clicking here (http://tinyurl.com/energyios), or the Android app by following this link (http://tinyurl.com/energyandroid). The Energy Law Round Up app contains the following features: Car mode: rotate your…
A Cautionary Tale for Operators
In this week’s episode of our energy law podcast, find out about new guidance for calculating royalties on federal oil and gas leases, the BLM’s termination of restrictive Obama-era fracking rules, and a cautionary tale for operators who might mistakenly assume that they have a security interest in the oil they sell to downstream purchasers.
Everything You Need to Know About Oil and Gas Law—2Q17 Edition
Earlier this year, we brought you our first quarter update on major developments in oil and gas law in Texas and throughout the country. Now, we are back with our second quarter update. We began 2Q17 with a discussion of the intersection of the oil patch with class actions and the Fair Labor Standards Act; the federal government’s liability for the environmental cleanup of refinery waste; and a shortsighted discovery ruling that could have left the Dakota…
Oil and Gas Law: 2017 Midyear Update (Complimentary Whitepaper)
Available now for download is our firm’s complimentary white paper, Oil & Gas Law: 2017 Midyear Update. Click here, or on the image below, to access our informative, 25-page summary of some of the most critical legal developments in the industry so far this year.