For mineral owners in the northern Texas Panhandle, there is an exciting new development: Apache Corporation is planning to conduct a seismic survey in the Pennsylvania Canyon Wash formation to see if it is suitable for horizontal drilling. At present, there are parts of the Panhandle that not been fully…
President Obama would have us believe that he considered everything when he came up with his latest plan to create jobs. Yet he ignored a plan that could create 1.4 million more jobs and $803 billion in revenue. According to a the Wood Mackenzie Study, funded by the American Petroleum…
Any good Texas oil and gas attorney must be fully versed in the Texas Statute of Frauds. The Statute of Frauds is an old concept, requiring that certain contracts have to be in writing and signed to be valid. The Statute of Frauds dates back to at least seventeenth century…
All industry in Texas, not just the oil and gas industry, could be harmed by new ozone regulations proposed by the EPA. If there were recognizable health benefits, they would probably be worth it. In fact, the EPA has been trying to sell its new, tighter ozone standards based on…
The oil and gas industry is under attack not only in Texas, but nationally. Several months ago, a new study by Louisiana State University Professor Joseph Manson, An Economic Analysis of Dual Capacity and Section 199 Proposals for the U.S. Oil and Gas Industry, was released. Professor Manson’s study found…
The Edwards Aquifer case is sure to be a hot legal topic in Texas this year. The landmark decision by the Texas Supreme Court a few weeks ago will probably effect countless Texas landowners. Joel McDaniel, one of the plaintiffs in the Edwards Aquifer case, noted that “this changes everything…
Readers may recall that last year the Supreme Court of Texas issued an opinion with profound implications for the rights of Texas landowners when they are faced with a request for a pipeline or utility easement. In Texas Rice Land Partners Ltd. and Mike Latta v. Denbury Green Pipeline-Texas LLC,…
Recently, the Texas Supreme Court issued an important opinion that clarified a Texas landowner’s groundwater rights. In the case of Edwards Aquifer Authority and the State of Texas v. Burrell Day and Joel McDaniel the Court was faced with the issue of whether land ownership includes an interest in groundwater…
Environmentalists like to argue that oil and gas are harmful to the planet, that their sources are drying up, and that “clean” green energy is the way of the future. However, more studies are finding that green energy is far from harmless to the environment. In fact, it may actually…
The conventional wisdom is that when oil prices are high, gasoline prices follow. Yet is that really true? Just recently, oil prices were up more than 9%, yet gas prices at the pump actually dropped 15 cents, to 3.30 a gallon. Why is this? Well, it turns out the conventional…