Karli v. Wilson instructs mineral/royalty traders and their scriveners on a surefire way to create title chaos out of what could have been an uncomplicated land transaction. In 1950 the Wilson siblings and spouses executed a warranty deed to the Veterans Land Board for 196.7 acres in Brazos County, Texas. The Karlis now own
For an example of a case gone wrong in so many ways, look no further than Evans Resources LP et al v. Diamondback E & P.
The facts
There were three agreements between several Evans entities and Diamondback for Evans‘ 651 acres in Midland County, Texas: An oil and gas lease allowing pooling with
In Byrne Oil Co. v. Walraven, a court of appeals held that a surface owner/lessor cannot bury his lessee’s pipelines and recover costs when adequate time exists to pursue judicial remedies, even after years of operator delay.
The oil and gas lease required the lessee to “bury pipeline[s] below plow depth”
The Texas Supreme Court in Roxo Energy Company, LLC v. Baxsto, LLC reinforced a fundamental contract principle: when fully integrated agreements plainly conflict with prior oral representations, reliance on those inconsistent prior oral statements is unjustifiable as a matter of law. In other words, a party to a contract cannot justifiably rely
In Cactus Water v. COG Operating, the Supreme Court affirmed that mineral lessee COG, not water rights owner Cactus (who derived it rights from the surface owner), has the right to possession, custody, control, and disposition of constituent water in liquid waste – so-called produced water – from its hydrocarbon production.
In Williams O & G Resources, LLC v. Diamondback Energy, Inc., a federal magistrate judge concluded that the Texas Relinquishment Act does not apply to public-school lands patented after 1931. The report and recommendation was adopted by the district court.
The facts
Williams’ predecessor-in-interest acquired a tract of public land from
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
The growling and barking presented by a claim for tortious interference is often far worse than the bite. Consider Segundo Navarro Drilling, Ltd. v. Chilton , which is a good example of that phenomenon in an oil and gas transaction. The Dallas Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment for defendants, holding that:
After four stops at the lower courts, Kenneth Hahn v. ConocoPhillips has been resolved by the Supreme Court of Texas. The Court opined on the effect of two instruments often used to clarify land titles in Texas: ratifications of an oil and gas lease and stipulations of interests.
In re: EP Energy E&P Company, LP considered three lease maintenance provisions in several oil and gas leases. The federal district court ruled that the leases were maintained in force after cessation of production despite creative (some would say “strained”) lease interpretations by a group of lessors. In sum, the court deemed