Austin represents Texas operators and non-operators in complex issues and disputes. He seeks practical solutions to avoid litigation, but adopts aggressive courtroom strategies when necessary.
Yates Energy Corp. v. Broadway Nat’l Bank, No. 04-17-00310-CV, 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 10517 (App.—San Antonio Dec. 19, 2018, no pet.) The San Antonio Court of Appeals recently analyzed the Texas Correction-Instrument Statutes in Yates v. Broadway. The court held that, if a grantor...
Endeavor Energy Res., L.P. v. Energen Res. Corp., No. 11-17-00028-CV, 2018; Tex. App. LEXIS 8705 (Tex.App.—Eastland Oct. 25, 2018, pet. filed) The Eastland Court of Appeals recently issued its opinion in Endeavor v. Energen adopting a limited interpretation of an “accumulation” clause within a...
Apache Deepwater, LLC v. Double Eagle Dev., LLC, 557 S.W.3d 650 (Tex. App.—El Paso 2017, pet. denied Dec. 14, 2018) Retained acreage provisions continue to be a popular subject in Texas oil and gas law. The Texas Supreme Court recently denied a petition for review in the...
Green v. Chesapeake Expl., L.L.C., No. 02-17-00405-CV, 2018 Tex.; App. LEXIS 10307 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth Dec. 13, 2018, no pet.) In urban oil and gas plays such as the Barnett Shale, horizontal drilling has "paved the way" for oil and gas operators...
OBO, Inc. v. Apache Corp., 2018 Tex. App. LEXIS 8392, (Tex.Civ.App.-Houston [14th Dist.] 2018, no pet.) Parties to a joint operating agreement sometimes elect to have a non-owner serve as the operator. For example, interest owners may determine that they are unwilling or unable to perform...
Three recent Texas cases have focused on the interpretation of express offset provisions in oil and gas leases. Over the last year, the Texas oil and gas industry has experienced what some commentators have called “Shale Boom 2.0,” with increased drilling activity in South Texas and the Permian Basin,...
