The Railroad Commission can’t determine property rights, so its operator records don’t establish whether a lessor holds a leasehold interest or is entitled to operate under an oil and gas lease. Ownership and operational rights are property-law issues.
For oil and gas operators, few things are more frustrating than discovering you may have been overpaying royalties to a person or entity in your paydeck.
The appellate court held that no extrinsic evidence was needed to interpret a will granting each beneficiary a 1/10 interest in the Dragon Unit mineral interest, limited to 21.26 acres within the 118.4-acre tract, not the entire tract.
Armour Pipe Line v. Sandel Energy, 2022 Tex.App.LEXIS 7265 (Houston [14th Dist.] 2022, no pet. In this case, the 14th District Court of Appeals in Houston held that a purported reservation in favor of a stranger of title was void, and rejected the stranger’s argument that the...
A winning strategy in an assignment interpretation case often involves finding a persuasive harmonization between the form of assignment and the exhibit containing property descriptions.
Exculpatory provisions are important considerations in JOAs. They can provide protection from certain claims and liabilities as an inducement to serve as the operator.
