An essential element of any oil and gas lease is a description of the land to be covered by the lease. The test for a legal description is that it must contain, or make reference to recorded documents that contain,
Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog
The Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog, published by Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody, focuses on legal issues related to oil and gas law in Texas. It covers topics such as mineral rights disputes, royalty interests, easements and pipeline easements, unclaimed mineral proceeds, and litigation involving energy companies. The blog discusses Texas Supreme Court cases and appellate decisions affecting conveyance of mineral interests, easement by estoppel, and liability for environmental incidents related to pipelines. It also addresses legislative and regulatory developments impacting mineral owners and operators, including the work of commissions studying unclaimed royalties and inheritance rights.
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The Oil and Gas Lease — Part II Revisited: The Primary Term
In Texas, an oil and gas lease grants to the lessee the fee mineral estate in the leased premises for the term of the lease. The lease provides for an initial term during which the lessee need do nothing in…
The Oil and Gas Lease Part I- Revisited
I was recently reminded of a series of blog posts I did more than 10 years ago about the oil and gas lease. A law student who had come across one of my posts contacted me, telling me that she…
Eileen Fowler and the Texas Unclaimed Mineral Proceeds Commission
Eileen McKenzie Fowler was a lawyer in LaPorte, Texas, until her resignation in lieu of disciplinary action was accepted by the Texas Supreme Court in April of last year following complaints against her. Her resignation reminded me of a post…
Texas Supreme Court agrees to hear easement-by-estoppel case
Today the Supreme court accepted the petition for review in Boerschig v. Rio Grande Electric Cooperative, No. 24-0213, a case in which the trial court granted an easement by estoppel based on a jury verdict.
In 2002 Boerschig purchased…
Supreme Court denies petition in Basic Energy Services v. PPC Energy
Today the Texas Supreme Court denied PPC’s petition for review in PPC Energy v. Basic Energy Services, No. 25-0061. I wrote about the opinion of the El Paso Court of Appeals, which reversed and remanded a trial court judgment…
Clifton v. Johnson — Another fixed vs. floating royalty case lands in Texas Supreme Court
Today the Texas Supreme Court agreed to decide another dispute over whether a conveyance is of a fixed or floating royalty. No. 23-0671, Clifton v. Johnson. The El Paso Court of Appeals held that the instrument in question conveyed…
Coffeyville Resources v. ExxonMobil Pipeline Company: What is the effect of a “void” assignment?
ExxonMobil Pipeline owned a 1944 pipeline easement crossing a 126.7-acre tract. Its predecessor Humble Pipeline constructed an 11-mile pipeline crossing the tract. In 2000 ExxonMobil sold the pipeline to Salter Creek Resources. The assignment provided that “This Agreement may not…
Cromwell v. Anadarko – Texas Supreme Court weighs in on construction of lease habendum clause
Suppose Company A obtains an oil and gas lease on Blackacre from the owner of a 1/6 mineral interest in Blackacre, and Company B obtains and oil and gas lease from the owner of the other 5/6 mineral interest. That…
O. Henry and the Texas General Land Office
I recently ran across a publication containing two stories by O. Henry, purchased at the Capitol Visitors Center in Austin. The stories center on the Texas General Land Office, where O. Henry (then William Sydney Porter) worked as a draftsman…