The Texas Supreme Court is going to hear a case in which the issue is whether the interest to be paid on past due royalties is simple or compound interest. In the case of Samson Exploration, LLC v. Bordages, 662 S.W.3d 501 (Tex. Civ. App.—Beaumont 2022, pet. granted September 1,…
The El Paso Court of Appeals, in the recent case of Cactus Water Services LLC v. COG Operating LLC, was faced with the issue of who owns the water produced by a hydraulic fracturing operation: the oil and gas company operating the well or the surface owner and the company the…
In Hogg v. Blackbeard Operating, 656 S.W.3d 671, 673 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2022, no pet.), the El Paso Court of Appeals evaluated an assignment of leases in Winkler County, Texas. The owner of the minerals in question executed two leases for their interests, one in 1994 and one in 1998.…
The El Paso Court of Appeals recently interpreted two deeds with conflicting fractions that each exhibited the estate misconception theory. In Davis v. COG Operating, LLC, 658 S.W.3d 784 (Tex.Civ.App.—El Paso 2022, no pet.) the original mineral owners executed two deeds to two different grantees. In the first deed to…
The Texas Supreme Court recently decided a case in which an oil company’s withholding of production payments was contested. In Freeport-McMoRan Oil & Gas LLC v. 1776 Energy Partners, LLC, ___ S.W.3d ___, 2023, WL ___ (Tex. May 19, 2023), two oil companies, Ovintiv and 1776 Energy, entered into an…
In Bridges v. Uhl, No. 08-21-00130-CV, (Tex. App.—El Paso 2022, no pet. h.) the El Paso Court of Appeals added it’s decision to the already substantial volume of court decisions grappling with the question of whether the royalty language in a deed was a fixed or a floating royalty. The…
The Texas Supreme Court has just issued an opinion in Point Energy Partners Permian LLC v. MRC Permian Co., ___ S.W.3d ___, 2023 WL ___, (Tex. Apr. 21, 2023) that involves the application of the force majeure language in an oil and gas lease. Force majeure is a legal doctrine…
The Texas Supreme Court recently issued an opinion in a case in which royalties were calculated on more than gross proceeds. Specifically, the Court approved royalty language that calculated royalty on the total of gross proceeds (which by definition does not include expenses) and post-sale expenses. In Devon Energy Prod.…
The Texas Supreme Court interpreted yet another confused mineral reservation in a deed in the case of Van Dyke v. Navigator Grp., ___ S.W.3d ___, 2023 WL ___ (Tex. Feb. 17, 2023). The 1924 deed contained a reservation of “one-half of one-eighth” of the mineral estate. The question was: did…
Texas oil and gas companies can engage in a variety of procedures as part of their exploratory process before they drill an oil and gas well. One such procedure is seismic testing or a seismic survey. Seismic testing is a process that results in an image of the subsurface of…