Energy Law Round Up

Production in paying quantities is becoming an increasingly litigated issue in courts across Texas. This episode is the first in a multipart series that will explore all of the essential legal principles surrounding PPQ.

This week's episode of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC's energy law podcast delves into three important oil-and-gas cases that were recently decided in Texas and Oklahoma.

Tom is joined by Brett Podkanowicz, in-house counsel for land and legal at Encore Permain in Midland, Texas.  

In this episode, Tom discusses recent guidance out of the Texas Supreme Court on interpreting oil-and-gas contracts; cross-jurisdictional differences surrounding the rule of capture and subsurface mineral trespass; and troubling class action developments for operators and other industry participants.

Learn about troubling developments at the intersection of class actions and consumer protection laws in royalty underpayment cases; get the details on the Texas Supreme Court's latest pronouncements on the duties of executive mineral rights owners to non-executives; and hear about a new appellate court decision that addresses when the acceptance of royalties will operate as a waiver of an anti-pooling clause in an oil-and-gas lease.

In the first episode of the New Year, Tom discusses several appellate decisions from Texas that touch on class actions and farmout agreements.

This week, Tom gets you up to speed on offset wells and liquidated damages as unenforceable penalties; the arrival of anti-SLAPP in the oil patch; and the Texas Supreme Court's warning to mineral purchasers: buyer beware.

In the latest episode of the podcast, Tom is joined by the managing partner of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC's Houston office, Marcy Rothman, who discusses pitfalls and best practices surrounding digital signatures in the oil patch and beyond.

In this week's episode, learn when an "offset well" is not an offset well, according to the Texas Supreme Court. Also, get up to speed on the latest installment in the ongoing "fixed"-versus-"floating" royalty saga that continues to confound courts and counsel across the Lone Star State.

Blake Scott, President of Scott Energy Technologies, joins Tom in the latest episode of KRCL's energy law podcast. Blake explores cost-effective, risk-reducing, and often innovative strategies for solid drilling waste management and recycling. Operators, service companies, and other industry participants in the oil patch will find a wealth of actionable information in this new episode.

This week, Tom is joined by Chip Morris for the final installment of a six-part series featuring guest speakers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC on a range of legal issues impacting the oil and gas sector. Chip discusses the top ten mistakes employers can make—in the oilfield, and beyond—when drafting non-compete agreements.

In the latest episode of the podcast, Tom is joined by the managing partner of Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC's Houston office, Marcy Rothman, for the fifth installment of a special six-part series featuring guest speakers from KRCL on a variety of key and emerging legal issues impacting the oil-and-gas industry. Marcy addresses a topic that pipelines and other energy companies confront on a regular basis: condemnation and eminent domain.

This week, Tom is joined by the co-chair of KRCL's Transportation Practice Group, Daniel Guerra, for the fourth installment of a six-part series featuring guest speakers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC on a range of legal issues impacting the oil and gas sector. Danny discusses the many pitfalls and advances lying at the intersection of technology, trucking, and railroads in the oil patch.

In our latest episode, Tom is joined by the head of KRCL's Distressed Strategies Practice Group, Mike Ridulfo, for the third installment of a six-part series featuring guest speakers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC on a range of legal pitfalls in the oil and gas sector. Specifically, Mike addresses developing bankruptcy and insolvency issues facing companies operating in the upstream and midstream segments.

This week, Tom is joined by his Houston-based partner, AJ Johnson, for the second installment of a six-part series featuring guest speakers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC on a variety of key and emerging legal issues impacting the oil-and-gas industry. AJ tackles a topic that is a perennial headache for energy companies: the theft and misappropriation of trade secrets by ex-employees. Listen to AJ's practical advice for proactively dealing with this vexing problem.

In this special episode of the podcast, Tom is joined by his Dallas-based partner, Bruce Flowers, for the first installment of a six-part series featuring guest speakers from Kane Russell Coleman Logan PC on a variety of key and emerging legal issues impacting the oil-and-gas industry. Bruce speaks on a topic that energy companies are grappling with all the time: pitfalls in purchase and sale agreements.

In this week's episode, Tom discusses the fiduciary obligations of the executive to non-executive mineral interest owners, as well as an important new appellate decision about acreage retention clauses keyed off of proration units.

A jury verdict out of Oklahoma may be a harbinger of what's on the horizon for the many battles being waged in courthouses across the country between operators of horizontal wells and the vertical drillers who say their wells have been damaged—or destroyed—by hydraulic fracturing. Also, the Fifth Circuit puts the kibosh on a pipeline regulator's attempts to implement a strict liability regime when Congress never authorized one.

In this week's episode, find out about new guidance for calculating royalties on federal oil and gas leases, the BLM's termination of restrictive Obama-era fracking rules, and a cautionary tale for operators who might mistakenly assume that they have a security interest in the oil they sell to downstream purchasers.

We're back from a brief hiatus for the Independence Day holiday with a quick look at the legal developments in oil-and-gas law that July has brought us so far.

In this week's episode, you'll learn about multiple decisions that came out of the Texas Supreme Court on Friday, which can directly impact your operations in the oil patch, as well as one of the first jury verdicts addressing the increasing trend of mineral lessors challenging the deduction from their royalties of affiliate fees for post-production transportation and processing.

Your non-solicitation agreement with your employees in the oil patch may have just been gutted by a new decision from a Texas court of appeals.  Join guest host and employment lawyer Andrea Johnson as she interviews Bruce Morris—one of the nation's leading authorities on trade secrets—about the shifting state of the law and ways you can ensure that your company is protected.

The Eighth Circuit makes it easier for plaintiffs to take fracing contamination claims to trial; the Texas Supreme Court rules on the validity of county-wide mineral conveyances; and the Oklahoma Supreme Court is asked to clarify the often vexing “marketable product” rule for post-production expense deductions.

The Texas Supreme Court issues new guidance for noise-and-pollution claims in the oil patch, as well as a landmark opinion on subsurface mineral trespass; Colorado energy regulators ask their state's high court to clarify their responsibilities; another federal court strikes down an oil-and-gas class action for lack of common facts; and the Texas Railroad Commission survives Sunset review without a scratch.

In this week's episode, Tom gets you up to speed on fracing rules for federal and tribal lands and dials you into several new developments out of the Texas Supreme Court—including a little-known pitfall that could get your well damage case dismissed with prejudice.

Tom discusses the intersection of the oil patch with class actions and the Fair Labor Standards Act; the federal government's liability for the environmental cleanup of refinery waste; and a shortsighted discovery ruling that could leave the Dakota Access pipeline vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Lots to discuss this week, from the nation's first legislative fracking ban; to a lower bar for class certification in royalty underpayment actions; to multiple decisions out of the Texas Supreme Court that could spawn a wave of widespread mineral title disputes.

In this week's episode, Tom discusses a variety of important new decisions covering issues ranging from the intersection of fraud with disclaimers of warranties of mineral title; to proper jury charges in cessation-of-production-in-paying-quantities cases; to key developments in federal fracking regulations and emerging bankruptcy law principles affecting the midstream sector.

Big news out of the Texas Supreme Court for defamation claims in the oil patch and also for groundwater contamination claims based on abandoned wells.

It's been a busy couple of weeks at the Texas Supreme Court and in the Lone Star State's Courts of Appeals. Join Tom as he gets you up to speed on what that means for you in the energy industry.

This week, Tom discusses several new decisions with the potential for lasting impact on oil-and-gas operators in the State of Texas and beyond.