Photo of Charles Sartain

Your Legislature has adjourned after enacting significant bills affecting the energy industry. To sum it up, the industry has friends in high places whenever the Lege is in session (Alternative energy was in jeopardy for a while with regulatory burdens in SB 715 and 819 that would make California proud. My guess: Back in the

Co-author Gunner West

In American Midstream (Alabama Intrastate), LLC v. Rainbow Energy Marketing Corporation, the Texas Supreme Court held that the trial court improperly inserted the words “scheduled” and “physical” into a contract. By blue‐penciling these terms, the trial court improperly altered the plain text of the contract. This opinion was issued on the

In a word, the surface estate owner. If that’s all the learning you are up for today, proceed directly to the musical interludes. If you want to know why the Supreme Court of Texas had to say this again, read on.

In a 1947 mineral deed Myers retained the surface estate in a 160-acre tract.

As in every year, in 2024 the grinches of law enforcement brought financial and corporal misery to bad guys in energy. Here is a review of the crimes of only a few of the convicted, admitted and alleged bribsters, swindlers and liars who plagued the industry during last year. These acts came with a pronounced

Co-author Gunner West

In In re Pearl Resources LLC, a Houston bankruptcy court rejected the Texas General Land Office’s attempt to partially terminate state oil and gas leases in Pecos County, despite finding the operator had breached offset well obligations.

The court describes the difference between “drilling operations” and “drilling”, explains when failure to