Imagine these facts in a force majeure dispute (as presented in Point Energy Partners Permian LLC et al. v. MRC Permian Company).
Lessee (MRC) invokes the force majeure provision of an oil and gas lease, asserting that “wellbore instability” on a well on an unrelated lease requires the lessee to effectively redrill portions of
In Devon Energy Production Company, LP et al v. Sheppard et al, the Supreme Court of Texas construed what it referred to as a “bespoke” and “highly unique” royalty clause in several oil and gas leases to prohibit the producers from deducting out of the lessor’s royalty post-production costs incurred downstream of the point of
Texas courts continue to address the “fixed or floating” non-participating royalty interest question. The El Paso Court of Appeals’ answer in Bridges v. Uhl et al. was floating, based on the language in that particular reservation,
In 1940 the Klattenhoffs sold a 640-acre tract in Upton County to Virgil Powell, reserving, “an
Co-author Brittany Blakey
The takeaway from Hahn v. ConocoPhillips Company is that in Texas a NPRI holder may not diminish his rights by ratifying pooling of an oil and gas lease unless there are provisions explicitly purporting to do so.
Kenneth and brother George each owned ½ of the surface estate of a tract and
The question in Kim R. Smith Logging Inc. v. Indigo Minerals LLC was whether a disgruntled Louisiana royalty owner sent its demand for unpaid royalties to the right party. It turns out that it did.
Mineral interest owner Cherry executed an oil and gas lease. Plaintiff Smith Logging purchased the property and Cherry retained
Let’s proceed directly to the takeaways from Fort Apache Energy, Inc. v. Short OG III, Ltd., et al, a Southern District of Texas bankruptcy district court opinion. (Gray Reed partners Jim Ormiston, Gabe Vick and Kristen Kelly represented Short OG III)
The other guy’s operations will not extend your lease beyond the primary
Co-author Trevor LawhornIf you have ever wondered how many ways a cocktail of stupidity*, treachery and feckless government can inflict financial harm on the undeserving, including the citizens the feckless government leaders are supposed to serve, see City of Dallas v. Trinity E. Energy, LLC.
Facts
In 2008 during the Barnett Shale drilling boom
Co-author Trevor LawhornSM Energy Co. v. Union Pac. R.R. Co. considers a question frequently asked in Texas suits affecting title: When is a suit a trespass to try title action and not a declaratory judgment action?
The dispute
SM Energy and Union Pacific are parties to three oil and gas leases covering lands in
Co-author Brittany BlakeyRecall our recent post on Carl v. Hilcorp Energy Company from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas discussing the lessee’s royalty obligations on gas used off the premises in a market-value lease. See now, Fitzgerald v. Apache Corporation: Different judge; same district; similar facts, lease provisions
Co-author Brittany BlakeyThe question is presented again but in a different format: In Texas is a lessee allowed to deduct post-production costs (PPC’s) from the lessor’s gas royalty? In Carl v. Hilcorp, the answer was “yes” based on the language in the oil and gas lease at issue. The question was for gas