On December 14, 2017, the Corpus Christi Court of Appeals decided Haywood WI Units, Ltd. v. B&S Dunagan Investments, Ltd., et al., a long-running dispute over the ownership of minerals in Liberty County. The decision addresses mineral deed interpretation issues and the recoverability of attorneys’ fees under the declaratory judgment statute where non-possessory interests such […]
Texas Court of Appeals Decides Major Mineral Ownership Row
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]