In an article titled“The State of Compulsory Integration in Pennsylvania” that appears in The Legal Intelligencer, Michael Joy, Robert Jochen and Steven Chadwick of our Pittsburgh office review the challenges oil and natural gas developers face in Pennsylvania.
The authors argue that an established compulsory integration process will benefit the industry by providing a predictable permitting process and will increase opportunities for smaller operators. Costs of production will also be lower due to a reduction in the number of wells necessary to tap oil and gas formations. They believe that the state, its residents and the oil and gas companies operating in Pennsylvania will be best served by revisiting and revising the state’s outdated laws on pooling and unitization.