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.
A Cautionary Tale for Operators
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 […]
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.
Oil-and-Gas Law Update: July 11, 2017
Our energy law podcast is back from a brief hiatus for the Independence Day holiday with a quick look at the legal developments in oil-and-gas law that July has brought us so far.
Class Action Certification In the Oil Patch: Red Herrings Often Abound
Increasingly, class actions are—for all intents and purposes—won or lost at the certification stage. After all, if a class is certified, especially under the heightened standards for class treatment that have been articulated by the United States Supreme Court in recent years, the exposure for defendants in the vast majority of cases is simply too […]
Drilling on Federal Lands: Department of Interior Issues Order to Curb Delays
Yesterday, the Secretary of the Interior, Ryan Zinke, signed an order that seeks to tamp down on delays in the permitting of federal land for oil-and-gas exploration and production activities. The Interior Department’s press release is available here, and the order itself can be accessed at this link. As of January 31st of this year, […]
Seeing Double: Operator Must Pay Royalties To Multiple Units, Says Texas Supreme Court
Late last week, the Texas Supreme Court told a cautionary tale for operators with its unanimous opinion in Samson Exploration LLC v. T.S. Reed Properties Inc., which addressed the circumstance in which a well is situated within not just one pooled unit, but instead within two overlapping units. The operator, Samson Exploration, took it upon […]
Jury Returns Defense Verdict for Operator That Deducted Affiliate Fees from Royalties
In this week’s edition of our energy law podcast, you’ll learn about multiple decisions that came out of the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, which can directly impact your operations in the oil patch, as well as one of the first jury verdicts addressing the increasing trend of mineral lessors challenging the deduction from their […]
Texas Supreme Court Upends Traditional Rules of Construction for Mineral Deeds
On Friday, a deeply divided Texas Supreme Court—in a surprising turn of events—disturbed long-standing rules for interpreting mineral conveyances in its 5-4 decision in Wenske v. Ealy. There, when the Wenskes bought property in Lavaca County in 1998, the sellers kept for themselves a 1/4th non-participating royalty interest (the “NPRI”). Five years later, the Wenske […]
Eighth Circuit Makes It Easier For Plaintiffs To Take Fracing Contamination Claims To Trial
In the latest episode of our energy law podcast: the Eighth Circuit makes it easier for plaintiffs to take fracing contamination claims to trial; the Texas Supreme Court rules on the validity of county-wide mineral conveyances; and the Oklahoma Supreme Court is asked to clarify the often vexing “marketable product” rule for post-production expense deductions. […]