Articles Posted in Oil and Gas Law

The Texas Supreme Court recently addressed how a bequest in a will of a double fractional oil and gas interest should be interpreted in Hysaw v. Bretton et al  in an opinion entered on January 29, 2016. A double fraction occurs when an instrument expresses a royalty interest as the product of two fractions, such as “1/4 of the usual 1/8 royalty”. The problem with using a double fraction in a deed or a will is that it is not often clear whether the instrument has created a fixed or “fractional royalty”, or a floating “fraction of” royalty in situations where the lease provides for a royalty different than 1/8. Back in the day, royalties were almost always 1/8. However, these days royalties are usually not 1/8: they can range from 10% to 30% or more. So the question becomes whether the testator or grantor meant for the beneficiary or grantee to get 1/4 times 1/8, i.e., 1/32, no matter what the actual royalty is or whether the term “the usual 1/8” was meant as a stand-in figure to represent whatever the actual royalty is. For even a moderately producing oil or gas well, this difference can represent a lot of money over the life of the well. The dispute in this case was between the children’s heirs, some claiming the will intended a fractional interest of 1/32 royalty and others claiming that the will intended a floating fraction of 1/3 of whatever the royalty was.

Ethel Hysaw executed a will in 1947, dividing her three tracts among her three children. The fee simple distribution was as follows:

● Inez received 600 acres from a 1065 acre tract,

On January 14, 2015 the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) announced that it will release a draft rule aimed at curbing emissions of methane. This new rule will directly target new oil and gas production sources and natural gas processing and transmission. The EPA wants to reduce current emissions of methane up to 45% of 2012 levels by 2015. The Texas Director of Americans for Prosperity found this so antagonistic to business interests that he wrote an open letter asking the Texas Legislature to restrain the EPA.

The rule stands to negatively affect Texas and the state’s businesses and consumers. Since Texas produces about a third of the country’s oil and one quarter of its natural gas, Texas is a huge emitter of methane, which is considered by the EPA to be another warming gas. Methane is sometimes leaked during the oil and gas drilling process. It is possible to fix the methane problem but it is estimated to cost billions of dollars. For instance, industries can replace all their compressor equipment. The industry could capture the methane and possibly sell it. The federal government thinks that that without any intervention, methane emissions from the oil and gas industry are projected to increase by 40 to 45%.

Industry groups, who are skeptical (with good reason) about global warming in general and EPA regulations in particular, have doubted the science claiming that humans are behind global warming. David Porter, Railroad Commissioner lamented that “(t)he EPA’s rules are part of the President’s war on fossil fuels” and believes the rule will hurt Texas’ economy. Indeed, this rule come at a time when oil and gas industries are already struggling. The price of West Texas crude fell by 60% in the past six months. In addition, it is not as if the industry isn’t and hasn’t been aggressive in curbing its own emissions. President of EDI Rich Rynn said “You’d be surprised at the number of (oil and gas) companies that are proactive.” In fact, the industry has already reduced emissions voluntarily, despite soaring production: industry emissions have decreased 12% since 2011.

On May 18, 2015, the Texas Governor Greg Abbott signed HB 40 into law. The law is effective September 1, 2015. This new law effectively prohibits local city and county governments and subdivisions from regulating surface oil and gas activity in their jurisdictions. The law provides that all such regulation is now preempted by the state of Texas. The new law does have an exception, but it is so narrow as to be effectively useless.

This is not a good day for Texas property owners.  I foresee the law of unintended consequences coming into play here. Specifically, as oil and gas activities encroach on residential areas, the market value of those properties will decline, and may decline substantially. That means appraisal districts will have to reappraise these properties at a lower level. That in turn results in lower tax revenues. Texas counties are already pinched financially. Will Texas counties simply increase the tax rate to make up for the lost revenues? Texas property owners already bear huge tax burdens from county and school taxes. Many counties spent like drunken sailors when taxes were buoyed by taxation of oil and gas production during times of high oil and gas prices. Now they have huge overhead and new programs that they cannot pay for. What happens next will depend on how much oil and gas activity occurs in residential areas where it was previously prohibited and what impact that has on local taxes. To be announced.

The United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently decided the case of Breton Energy, L.L.C., et al. v. Mariner Energy Resources, Inc., et al which concerned claims of waste and drainage against Defendants who were operators of a neighboring mineral lease. The issue was whether the Plaintiffs sufficiently plead a claim for relief against each Defendant. The Fifth Circuit concluded that the claims of drainage against all Defendants should be dismissed, and the claims of waste should be dismissed as to all but one Defendant, IP Petroleum Co. (“IP”).

The Facts
Conn Energy, Inc. (“Conn”) owned a mineral lease named West Cameron 171 (“WC 171”) in the Gulf of Mexico. In 2009, Conn had an agreement with Breton Energy, LLC (“Breton”), allowing Breton to explore WC 171 for hydrocarbons. Conn and Breton sued the owners and operators of a neighboring lease called West Cameron 172 (“WC 172”). It was significant in this case that the WC 171 and the WC 172 shared a hydrocarbon reservoir: the K-1 sands. The other Defendants were other lease owners and operators or predecessors or successors to the current operators.

Continue reading →

Previously I have discussed the revised Texas Railroad Commission (RRC) Rule 3.70 regarding permits for pipelines. You can access my previous blogs here and here. The RRC approved that new rule on December 3. 2014, and it went into effect on March 1, 2015. You can access the text of the new rule here.

There were many comments and suggestions made during the Public Comment period required by Texas law for any new administrative rule. The RRC included a few of these suggestions in the revised rule. However, there were a number of important comments and requests that were neither significantly addressed nor included in the revised rule. These include:

Continue reading →

An interesting case that involved easements was recently decided by the Texas Supreme Court. The case is David Hamrick, et al. v. Tom Ward and Betsy Ward and the issue presented to the Court was whether an implied easement of necessity by prior use continues after the necessity has ended. There are two basic types of easements. Express easements, that are created by an agreement (usually written) and implied easements, that arise by operation of the law due to certain specific facts. In Texas, implied easements are split further into a number of subcategories, including easements of necessity and easements by prior use.

The Facts
In 1936 O.J. Bourgeois owned certain property in Harris County, Texas. Mr. Bourgeois gave two acres of the land to his grandson. While the grandson owned this land, a dirt road was built across Mr. Bourgeois’ remaining property to allow the grandson access to the public road. Subsequent owners of the grandson’s property also used the dirt road for access. Eighty years later, Tom and Betsy Ward were the owners of the grandson’s land and still used the dirt road. The Wards put gravel on the road so they could use it for construction of a new house on their property. The Hamricks owned the land that the dirt road crosses, formerly the property of Mr. Bourgeois. The Hamricks filed a lawsuit asking for a temporary injunction preventing the Wards from using this road. The temporary injunction was granted in April 2006. So as not to delay construction of their new house, the Wards built a new driveway to access the main road. In the suit, the Wards requested a declaratory judgment that they had an implied easement for the dirt road. The trial court granted the Wards motion for summary judgment and the Court of Appeals agreed and held that the Wards had a prior use easement across the Hamricks land.

Continue reading →

Steve Lipsky and his wife Shyla became famous as Texas landowners who claimed they could set their water on fire–and they alleged this was due to methane contamination from nearby hydraulic fracturing. The couple sued Range Resources who operated a well near their house in Weatherford, Texas. The Lipskys claimed they noticed problems with their water after Range drilled two natural gas wells near their house in 2009.

The Environmental Protection Agency, without any scientific basis whatsoever, concluded that Range had caused or contributed to the water contamination. The Railroad Commission of Texas did actual did scientific testing and determined that the methane came from a shallower rock formation than the one drilled, and allowed production at the wells to continue. Many people do not realize that methane occurs naturally in many water deposits, but is not drawn into the water pump until the water level falls below a certain level. With lots of fanfare, the EPA sued Range Resources in federal court for the alleged contamination. That suit was later quietly dismissed in its entirety.

Continue reading →

A federal appellate court decision demonstrates some lessons for Texas mineral owners. That decision was issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of Breton Energy, L.L.C., et al. v. Mariner Energy Resources, Inc., et al. The Plaintiffs in this case own and operate an off-shore lease in the Gulf of Mexico that includes an area known as the K-1 sands. The Defendants own and operate an adjacent off-shore lease that covers an area known as the K-2 sands. The Plaintiffs claimed that the Defendants engaged in “unlawful drainage” from the Plaintiffs’ lease in violation of federal and state law.

The Facts:

Breton Energy LLC and Conn Energy Inc. sued International Paper Co. and its successors in interest, consisting of eleven oil companies including Apache Corporation, Chevron and I.P. Petroleum Co. The Plaintiffs claimed specifically that IP Petroleum perforated and drained an oil reservoir under the Plaintiffs’ lease on the Outer Continental Shelf in the K-1 sands. The Plaintiffs also claimed that IP co-mingled resources from this reservoir with hydrocarbons from a nearby reservoir, making it impossible for the Plaintiffs to produce oil and gas from its own wells.The evidence showed that I P Petroleum, even though it had been ordered by the federal Minerals Mining Service not to complete wells in both the K-1 and K-2 sands, did in fact complete wells in both areas. There was also evidence that I P Petroleum’s production exceeded their estimate by almost 30%, which would make sense if they were producing from someone else’s reservoir as well as their own.

The District Court dismissed the Plaintiffs’ claims, and they appealed to the Fifth Circuit.

Continue reading →