News & Analysis as of

Oil & Gas Well Drilling

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Appeals Court Rules that Surface Owner Could Not Enforce Pipeline Burial Covenant in Oil and Gas Lease

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume that you purchase a 105 acre farm in Greene County in 2022. You purchase only the surface estate while the seller, Farmer Jones, retains the underlying oil and gas rights. You intend to grow corn and winter...more

Gray Reed

Louisiana Supreme Court Issues Major Post-Production Cost Opinion

Gray Reed on

In Self v. BPX Operating, a case with significant implications for Louisiana operators and royalty owners, the Supreme Court of Louisiana ruled that the doctrine of negotiorum gestio in La. Civil Code art. 2292 does not allow...more

Oliva Gibbs LLP

Muscled Out While “Muscling In”: The Role of Actual Drainage in MIPA

Oliva Gibbs LLP on

In Ammonite Oil & Gas Corp. v. R.R. Comm’n of Tex., the Texas Supreme Court held that the Railroad Commission (the “RRC”) did not abuse its discretion in denying a “muscle in” application under the Texas Mineral Interest...more

Porter Hedges LLP

Wellbore Transactions Update - Conveyances, Reservations And Related Lease Severance Issues

Porter Hedges LLP on

This article focuses on the state of Texas law regarding wellbore rights and various related issues raised by transactions involving such rights (and other similar lease severance issues) and provides some practical tips to...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Supreme Court to Address the Obligation to Calculate Royalty on Gas Used to Fuel Off-Lease Operations

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own 165 acres in Tioga County. In 2019, you sign a new oil and gas lease with ABC Drilling. You negotiate an 18% net royalty. The royalty clause, however, requires ABC Drilling to calculate the royalty on...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Commonwealth Court Sends Drilling Waste Injection Well Case Back to Zoning Hearing Board

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

In Plum Borough v. Zoning Hearing Board of the Borough of Plum,____ A.3d ____ , No. 1198 CD 2022 (Pa. Commw. Ct. Jan. 29, 2024), the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court vacated the grant of a special exception to Penneco...more

Oliva Gibbs LLP

Elections Have Consequences – Why Oklahoma’s Amended Horizontal Pooling Rule May Prove to be Difficult to Apply

Oliva Gibbs LLP on

t is well established that forced pooling under Oklahoma law is done on a “unit-wide basis rather than on an individual wellbore basis.” However, never has it been the case that an election made under one forced pooling order...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 3.29.24

Allen Matkins on

The Biden administration issued a final rule this Wednesday aimed at curbing methane leaks from oil and gas drilling on federal and tribal lands. Adoption of the rule is its latest action to crack down on emissions of...more

Pillsbury - Gravel2Gavel Construction & Real...

Natural Hydrogen May Seem New in Town, but It’s Been Here All Along

When it comes to renewable energy, hydrogen is hailed as a pivotal resource in the zero-carbon game plan. Hydrogen energy is accessible, produces lower greenhouse gas emissions and can use existing gas infrastructure to power...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

The Neale Rule – Who Really Owns the Oil and Gas Under Railroads?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Since the early 1900’s, your family has owned a 105 acre farm in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2024, you and your siblings sign an oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling Company. The language in the lease states that it...more

Allen Matkins

California Environmental Law & Policy Update 3.15.24

Allen Matkins on

In response to critics who said that proposed new statewide water conservation rules — aimed at cutting urban water use even in years when California is not in a drought — were too complicated and costly, the State Water...more

Oliva Gibbs LLP

Forgive Us Our Trespasses? Not if the BLM Has Anything to Say About It

Oliva Gibbs LLP on

True Oil LLC v. BLM is a recent opinion by the Wyoming Federal District Court, based on the appeal of an order out of the BLM Rawlins Field Office.  At issue was whether a fee surface owner can grant a subsurface easement...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Could a Proposed New York Carbon Dioxide Injection Program Work In Pennsylvania?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

A company in New York is attempting to secure leases to allow it to produce oil and gas and to use the leased land for a carbon dioxide injection program for long-term storage. Does this herald a new type of development that...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

The Colorado Supreme Court Declines to Adopt Commercial Discovery Rule

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own 136 acres in Tioga County. In 2011, you signed a new oil and gas lease with ABC Production (the “2011 Lease”). The 2011 Lease had a five-year primary term which expired in October 2016. In 2014, ABC...more

Gray Reed

Who is responsible for the negligence of the “company man” on the well?

Gray Reed on

Parkman v. W&T Offshore, Inc., et al features two contractors playing hot potato over liability for a company man’s alleged negligence. The takeaway: Write your Master Service Agreement to address your liability concerns, and...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Texas Court Confirms “Automatic Termination” Rule for Oil and Gas Lease

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

In Cromwell v. Anadarko E&P Onshore, LLC, 676 S.W. 3d 860 (Tex. App. 2023), the Texas Court of Appeals confirmed the automatic termination of an oil and gas lease, and simultaneously rejected the argument that a forfeiture...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

North Dakota Supreme Rules That Driller Did Not Commence Reworking Operations In Timely Manner

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

The modern producing gas well is a sophisticated and complex piece of equipment. The basic well head itself consists of several meters, valves and other components, each of which is under constant stress and pressure. In...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Can Cryptocurrency Mining Maintain an Oil and Gas Lease Beyond Primary Term?

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

The recently filed Hobe Minerals Limited Liability Company v. Bonanza Creek Energy Operating Company, LLC, et al lawsuit in a Colorado trial court challenges whether intermittent cryptocurrency mining can maintain an oil and...more

Houston Harbaugh, P.C.

Federal Court In Ohio Rules That Driller Must Establish Marketability of Each Gas Product Under Market Enhancement Clause

Houston Harbaugh, P.C. on

Let’s assume you own 95 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2019, 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

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

Goldberg Segalla

California Supreme Court Holds Local Ordinance Banning Oil and Gas Drilling Preempted by State Law

Goldberg Segalla on

Last week, the California Supreme Court, in a rare unanimous ruling, struck down a Monterey County voter-approved local initiative that would have banned oil and gas drilling and imposed severe restrictions on oil and gas...more

Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck

New Federal Funding to Plug and Abandon Orphaned Wells, Support CO2 Sequestration

Last year, the Department of Interior (DOI) updated its estimate of the number of orphaned or abandoned wells across the United States, documenting 130,000—more than double its previous estimate. The bipartisan 2021...more

BakerHostetler

The Seven-Year Saga of Monterey County’s Measure Z Comes to a Close

BakerHostetler on

In 2016, through a voter initiative called Measure Z, the people of Monterey County, California, enacted a ban on two features of oil and gas operations. One was a ban on injecting or impounding wastewater from operations....more

Gray Reed

Supreme Court of Texas Tackles the Meaning of “Predecessors”

Gray Reed on

The plain, ordinary, and generally accepted meaning of a word doesn’t mean “anything goes”. It depends on context, says the Supreme Court of Texas in Finley Resources Inc. v.  Headington Royalty Inc., a dispute over the...more

Gray Reed

California Brings Legislative Muscle To Its Attack on Oil Drilling

Gray Reed on

California has passed Senate Bill 1137, which will prohibit drilling of new oil and gas wells and reworking of existing wells in certain areas. Here is SB 1137 in legislativese (analysis comes first, then the text)...more

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