There was an interesting decision issued last fall by the US Supreme Court regarding government land use control and regulation, an issue that is always significant in Texas. The case is Koontz v. St. Johns River Water Management District, and the opinion illustrates some important limitations on government land use…
The US Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management proposed new regulation for drilling on federal or Indian land. The BLM actually already amended the proposed regulation once, after there was serious criticism of their impact. To evaluate the amended proposal, the Independent Petroleum Association of America and Western Energy…
A study entitled “Impacts of Delaying IDC Deductibility” was published recently by Wood Mackenzie Consulting and was commissioned by the American Petroleum Institute (API) to estimate the effects of an Obama proposal to eliminate federal tax deduction of intangible drilling costs used by the oil and gas industry and to…
In Texas, and in much of the rest of the country, an oil and gas lease makes use of several different kinds of pipelines. When you are the recipient of a request for a pipeline easement, the kind of pipeline to be installed in that easement makes a night and…
Those who follow the oil and gas industry, especially in Texas, are always interested in indicators of the health of the industry. One recent news story that caught my eye on this front was Chevron’s announcement of construction of a 50-story new office at 1600 Louisiana Street in downtown Houston,…
In 2008, the Texas Supreme Court heard a class action case against Phillips Petroleum Co. The case was Bowden v. Phillips Petroleum Co., in which the Plaintiffs alleged that Phillips had underpaid their oil and gas royalties. The Supreme Court remanded part of the case back to the trial court.…
Recently the Supreme Court of Texas issued a decision that is important for Texas surface owners and mineral owners and the Texas oil and gas attorneys who represent them. The case is Homer Merriman v. XTO Energy Inc. I discussed the background of the Supreme Court decision previously, and you…
Texas royalty owners should get to know the website, FracFocus. This website provides a list of chemicals and other ingredients in fluids used by oil and gas well operators for hydraulic fracturing of wells both in Texas and across the country. The intent of the website is to allow the…
The U.S. Department of the Interior issued a proposal in May 2013 for hydraulic fracturing regulations for federal and Native American land. The Department claimed that the goals were to maintain safety standards, improve integration between states and Native American tribes, and increase flexibility for oil and gas companies. The…
A new Texas oil pipeline started shipping condensates from Eagle Ford in May 2013. The new pipeline is owned by Double Eagle Pipeline LLC, a 50-50 joint venture between Magellan Midstream Partners and Kinder Morgan Energy Partners (KMEP). The condensates are coming from Karnes County and Live Oak County in…