In a case last year before the Texas Supreme Court, BPX Operating Co. v. Strickhausen, 629 S. W. 3d. 189 (Tex. 2021), the Court addressed whether the acceptance of royalty checks by a lessor constituted a ratification of the oil company’s pooling of the leased premises in violation of the…
Articles Posted in Oil and Gas Law
Texas Supreme Court Decides New Pipeline Case
The Texas Supreme Court recently issued its long-awaited opinion in Terrance J. Hlavinka et al v. HSC Pipeline Partnership, LLC, —S.W.3d— (Tex. May 27, 2022). There were two important issues in this case: (1) whether a pipeline company transporting polymer-grade propylene can be a common carrier with condemnation authority under…
Eastland Court of Appeals: Oil Company Not Liable for Dead Cows
In a recent case decided by the Eastland Court of Appeals in Texas, Foote v. Texcel Exploration, Inc., the Court held that the operator of an oil well was not liable for cows apparently killed by an oil and salt water spill. The Plaintiff leased property for grazing 650 head…
The Texas Supreme Court Decides Another Post-Production Costs Case
The Texas Supreme Court recently issued its decision in Nettye Engler Energy L.P. v. BluStone Natural Resources II, LLC, Cause No. 20-0639, which has added to the Texas jurisprudence on the frequently litigated subject of post-production costs that can be deducted from a royalty interest. The deed that conveyed the…
Texas Supreme Court Decision Denies Oil Company’s Claim of Ratification by Royalty Owner
The Texas Supreme Court, in the recent decision of BPX Operating Co. et al. v. Margaret Ann Stockhausen, denied an oil company’s claim that acceptance of royalty checks by the mineral/royalty owner ratified the oil company’s illegal pooling of her property. Strickhausen owned property in LaSalle County, Texas. She negotiated…
Are Texas Allocation and Production Wells Now Void?
Production sharing and allocation wells have been drilled in Texas for some time, and have been used almost exclusively for horizontal wells. (An allocation well is a horizontal well drilled across two or more lease lines without creating a pooled unit that includes the leases. A production sharing well is…
Proposed Texas Legislation Will Hurt Royalty Owners
In Texas, the Natural Resources Code, in Section 91.402 governs when royalties must be paid to royalty owners. Section 91.402(b) provides that royalty payments may be withheld without interest if there is a dispute concerning title that would affect distribution of payments or if there is a requirement in a…
Possible New Protection for Texas Royalty Owners Whose Operator is in Bankruptcy
Given the stresses on the oil and gas industry over the last year, it’s not surprising that there have been many oil company bankruptcies, both in Texas and throughout the country. Royalty owners throughout Texas have been getting notices that the operator who is paying their royalties have filed for…
Important Texas Supreme Court Decision Regarding Deduction of Post Production Costs from Royalties and Free Use of Gas
As a Texas oil and gas attorney, I often find it necessary, when negotiating an oil and gas lease for a client, to add an addendum that modifies some of the terms in the printed lease. The printed lease form is often extremely operator oriented and does not give the…
Solar Power vs the Mineral Owner
The El Paso Court of Appeals recently decided a case that involved the use of the surface of land by a solar farm that was objected to by the Lyles, the mineral owners of the property. That case is Lyle et al v. Midway Solar LLC et al. The Defendant…