Texas Supreme Court Reviews Oil & Gas Cases
The Texas Supreme Court, on 9/2/2016, agreed to review three oil and gas cases involving the energy industry, land, and mineral owners. With regard to the cases covered in this blog before, this will serve as an update. BP America Production Company v. Laddex, Ltd. A top-lease case from the Amarillo Court of Appeals. InLaddex, […]
Case Study: Coyote Lake Ranch, LLC vs. The City Of Lubbock
The Texas Supreme Court ruled in favor of a Muleshoe ranch in its battle with the city of Lubbock over water rights in a 6-3 ruling in May of this year. Issue: The accommodation doctrine, which means a lessee should regard landowners’ rights when using the land for industrial purposes has traditionally applied to oil-and-gas […]
Important Changes in Litigating Oil and Gas Cases in Federal Court
What the 2015 Amendments to the Federal Rules Mean for Oil and Gas Companies By Nicholas Ranjan, Esq., Partner David I. Kelch, Esq., Associate Law Firm of K & L Gates Originally published in The Override, the Los Angeles Association Professional Landmen Newsletter, January 2016 Edition Permission to Publish – All Rights Reserved. See The […]
Case Study: Southwest Royalties v. Glenn Hegar, Comptroller of Public Accounts – Texas
Introduction: Texas faces possible Billions in tax refunds in an oil driller’s lawsuit, as energy companies are hoping for a huge windfall from the Texas Supreme Court. The state’s highest civil court last week agreed to hear a case hinging on whether metal pipes, tubing and other equipment used in oil and gas production should be exempt from […]
Oil Slump Prompts Rise of Zombie Energy Companies!
Our Guest Post today is by Suzanne Edwards, staff writer for the Houston Business Journal. The following article was originally published on January 19, 2016. It speaks to the use of tax advantages to make lemonade out of lemons in the current oil industry by turning its NOL into an advantage for investors. As the […]
Top Ten Oil And Gas Production Counties In Texas.
Just how much has oil and gas production dropped off in the last year? Texas Oil and Gas Production Stats from 2014 to 2015 obviously show a decrease in production, but how much? And, what counties are still the top producers? According to the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), last month the following production was […]
Division Orders: The 411
Definition: Division Order is defined as an agreement signed by the payee directing the distribution of proceeds from the sale of production, and directs and authorizes the payor to make payment for the products taken, in accordance with the information listed. Law: There has been much controversy and litigation in Texas about division orders and […]
Case Study: PNP Petroleum I, LP v. Taylor
Case Study Part 2 of 2 See Part 1 here. Issue: The appeal arose from a dispute over whether the term of an oil and gas lease was extended by a payment made by the lessee under the shut-in royalty clause. The lease provided that the lessee could pay a “shut-in well royalty payment” to […]
Shut-In Royalty Clause
Part 1 – Introduction Part 2 – Case Study – Coming in October Definition: Shut-in royalty is a payment made by an oil and gas lessee to the lessor in order to keep a lease in force when a well capable of producing is not utilized. This is usually because there is no market for […]
Farmout Agreements
Definition: An oil and gas Farmout agreement is a commitment by the owner of an oil and gas lease, the Farmor, to assign all or part of the working interest in that lease to another party, the Farmee. It is not clearly established when the first Farmout agreement was executed, but by the 1940’s the […]
