The Fifth Circuit ruled last week that the terms of an oil and gas lease could give a real estate firm the right to damages for drilling operations that hurt the firm's efforts to build and sell homes in a Shreveport subdivision. Greenwood 950, L.L.C. v. Chesapeake Louisiana, L.P., No. 11-30436 (5th Cir. June 12
oil and gas
AMI in JOA Ended in 1974, Fifth Circuit Rules
If you've tried an oil and gas case, you've likely seen a form contract that the American Association of Professional Landmen wrote to "help landmen effectively do their jobs." And if your case dealt with a falling out over efforts to explore for, find, and produce oil and gas, the AAPL form you saw…
If You Own Land in the Lone Star State, You Also Own the Water Down Below, Texas Supreme Court Rules
The rule of "capture" has meant for a long time in Texas that the oil and gas lying beneath your land belong to you. Now it also means you own the subterranean water. The Edwards Aquifer Authority v. Day, No. 08-0964 (Tex. Feb. 24, 2012).
The Court ruled, 9-0, that limiting landowners' right to…
Annals of Oil and Gas: Royalty Owners May Have to Check Public Records, Texas Supreme Court Rules
Big Oil v. Royalty Owners
Who said Big Oil can't beat Texas royalty owners?
Not Blawgletter. And definitely not the Supreme Court of the Lone Star State.
Royalty owners typically become that by granting your ExxonMobils, your Conocos, your BPs, and the like the right to drill for oil and gas. The lease contract calls…
“Drilling Operations” — Not “Drilling” — Lets Hess Hold Oil and Gas Lease, Eighth Circuit Rules
Mark Twain said the difference between the right word and almost the right word means the difference between "lightning" and "lightning bug".
Tell that to the Andersons of Mountrial County, North Dakota. The family lost a case because "drilling" doesn't mean the same thing as "drilling operations".
On May 3, 2004 and May 10, 2004, they…
Farmout Agreement Didn’t Cover Platform Retirement Costs, Fifth Circuit Holds
May a working interest owner in an offshore oil and gas lease avoid paying a share of the cost of decommissioning a platform that the lessee used to produce from the lease? If you had a Farmout Agreement like the one between predecessors in interest — the PIIs — of Apache Corporation and W&T Offshore…