Oil & Gas
Spudding? Reworking? What are ‘Operations’ Under an Oil and Gas Lease?
Insight
Gray Reed’s Energy & the Law blog discusses an energy lease that featured some dueling provisions that resulted in a lawsuit in a Texas court.
Gas Well Operator’s Injunction Against Texas Town is Dissolved
News
Gray Reed’s Energy & the Law blog tells the story of Town of Flower Mound v. Eagle Ridge Operating LLC, in which an operator’s injunction against enforcement of a local ordinance was dissolved.
LIBOR Phase-Out: Considerations for Oil & Gas Companies
Insight
Oil and gas companies are encouraged to consider the impact of the phase-out to their organization and take steps to assess existing agreements and carefully monitor the execution of new agreements.
Water: The Hot Commodity in the Permian and Elsewhere
Insight
Operators should be proactive in addressing water ownership issues, writes Charles Sartain of Gray Reed & McGraw. A simple contract negotiation at the front-end could save future headaches as disputes over groundwater escalate.
Texas Businessman Lost $6 Million Investing in BP Litigation. Now He’s Blaming His Ex-Lawyers
News
The litigation investment firm’s money evaporated into an allegedly fraudulent scheme to manufacture tens of thousands of plaintiffs.
When is a Hydraulically Fractured Well ‘Complete?’
Insight
Typically, most leases contain savings provisions that extend the lease beyond the primary term when the lessee ‘continuously prosecutes’ drilling operations, exlains J. Mark Robinette.
Offshore Worker Wins Settlement in Platform Explosion Case
News
Lawyers with Houston-based Heard Law Firm achieved a settlement for an offshore pipeline technician who was injured in a 2017 accident in the Gulf of Mexico.
Thompson & Knight Counsels Conflicts Committee of American Midstream Partners in Going-Private Merger with ArcLight
News
Thompson & Knight LLP advised the Conflicts Committee of American Midstream Partners, LP in its merger with an affiliate of ArcLight Energy Partners Fund V.
Suspended Lawyer Ordered to Pay $3.4M in Attorney Fees to Chevron As Contempt Sanction
News
A federal judge ordered New York lawyer Steven Donziger to pay the attorney fees for “intransigence” that blocked Chevron’s “considerable efforts” to get at the facts.
Houston Oil Executive Gets 18 Years in Prison for Defrauding Investors
News
The Houston Chronicle reports that a Houston oil executive was sentenced to state prison for defrauding investors who thought they were paying for the drilling and testing of wells — but instead paid the executive’s mortgage.
‘Express Written Consent’ Means Express Written Consent—No More, No Less
Insight
When drafting contracts, you should say what you mean and mean what you say, and reliance on oral representations directly contrary to the terms of a written agreement between sophisticated parties is not justifiable.
Supreme Court Holds State Wage and Hour Laws are Inapplicable to Offshore Drilling Platforms
News
A Liskow & Lewis blog post discusses a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that could have far-reaching implications concerning wage-and-hour laws for workers on oil and gas platforms located in open water on the Outer Continental Shelf.
Fracking Companies Lost on Trespassing, But a Court Just Gave Them a Different Win
News
A week after the West Virginia Supreme Court unanimously upheld the property rights of landowners battling one natural gas giant, the same court tossed out a challenge filed by another group of landowners against a different natural gas company.
Burlington v. Texas Crude – Another Texas Supreme Court Case on Post-Production Costs
News
The Texas Supreme Court has denied motion for rehearing of its opinion in a case that addresses deductibility of oil and gas post-production costs in the context of an overriding royalty.
Groundwater Law Can Bring Some Unwelcome Surprises to Property Owners
Insight
Gray Reed provides some analysis of the state of groundwater law in Texas and discusses some of the effects of a Texas Supreme Court case that should now be a concern to land purchasers in every transaction.
Thompson & Knight Successfully Defends BP in Landmark Texas Oil and Gas Lease Cases
News
A Thompson & Knight trial team earned a unanimous verdict for BP America Production Company in a retrial of a 12-year-old lease termination dispute.
Strip-And-Gore Leads to 30 Acres of Minerals Underlying a Highway
Insight
Several reported cases in recent years have involved title to minerals underlying roadways, points out Austin Brister for the McGinnis Lochridge Oil and Gas Law Digest.
Texas Court Addresses the Use of Contract Operators
Insight
A recent Texas ruling illustrates the problems that can arise when parties to a joint operating agreement elect to have a non-owner serve as the operator, points out Austin Brister in the McGinnis Lochridge Oil and Gas Law Digest.
Broad Settlement Discharges Mineral Liens
Insight
When you prepare, review and/or sign settlement agreements you sometimes pay less attention than you should to the details of those “standard” releases, writes Charles Sartain in Gray Reed’s Energy & the Law blog.
Landowners, Energy Companies Seek to Capture Court’s Ruling in Historic Hydraulic Fracking Case
News
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has agreed to hear a case to consider whether the rule of capture applies to hydraulic fracking, reports The Hydraulic Fracking Blog of Norton Rose Fulbright.
