The Oil and Gas Addendum
An Oil and Gas Blog for Landowners.
The law of oil and gas here in Pennsylvania and throughout the Marcellus Shale region is complex and continues to evolve and change. If you own oil and gas rights, keeping up to date on these changes and trends is critical. The Oil and Gas Addendum is your resource for timely and informational articles on the latest developments in oil and gas law. Our oil and gas practice here at Houston Harbaugh is dedicated to protecting the interests of landowners and royalty owners. From new lease negotiations, to title disputes, to royalty litigation, we can help. We know oil and gas.
Pennsylvania Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Appeal In Royalty Dispute
On February 15, 2023, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court agreed to hear the appeal of PennEnergy Resources, LLC in the Dressler Family, LP v. PennEnergy Resources, LLC matter. The...
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Can "Free Gas" Clauses Refute the Artificial Wellhead Value Suggested by Drillers?
An oil and gas lease with a “free gas” clause may be a valuable tool for landowners to push back against drillers’ inaccurate attempts to value gas at...
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Can Retroactive Pooling and Unitization Revive An Expired Lease?
As we have written about before, a troubling issue facing landowners in the Marcellus Shale region is the practice of retroactive pooling and unitization. Retroactive pooling and unitization...
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Ohio Court of Appeals Upholds Depth Severance Clause in Lease
Let’s assume you own 125 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. A landman from XYZ Gas Co. approaches you about a new oil and gas lease. The lease purports...
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Federal Appeals Court Rules That Driller Must Establish Marketability of Each Gas Product Under Market Enhancement Clause
Many Pennsylvania oil and gas leases have what is commonly known as a “market enhancement” royalty clause (“MEC”). These MEC leases typically prohibit the deduction of any post-production...
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What the Hedge? - The Impact of Price Hedging on Landowner Production Royalties
There is no way to avoid it. It seems like everything costs more now than it did last week, last month and last year. Energy is one area...
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Market Enhancement Clauses in Pennsylvania After Dressler Family, LP v. PennEnergy Resources, LLC
Many Pennsylvania landowners have leases with “market enhancement” royalty clauses. These clauses typically prohibit the deduction of any post-production costs that are incurred transforming the gas into marketable form....
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What Does Your Drilling Unit Look Like?
Years ago, Staples came out with its “easy” button as part of a marketing strategy. For Pennsylvania oil and gas owners, there are some straightforward things that should...
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Is Deducting Fuel Costs Authorized by Your Lease?
Deducting fuel costs from landowner royalties continues to be an ongoing and widespread practice. Not only are landowners denied a royalty on the fuel gas volume, but they...
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Pore Space Ownership: The North Dakota Supreme Court Issues Landmark Decision
Let’s assume you own a 93-acre farm in Tioga County. In 1986 your grandfather sold the oil and gas rights to his neighbor, John Mize. In the early...
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Is the Value of Your Gas Really Being Enhanced?
Let’s assume you own 115 acres in Greene County, Pennsylvania. In 2017, you signed an oil and gas lease with ABC Exploration, Inc. During the negotiations, you agreed...
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Who Can Grant Gas Storage Rights?
Let’s assume you own a 95 acre farm in Tioga County. Your family has owned the farm since the early 1900’s. However, in 1961, your grandfather severed the...
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Pore Space: The Next Leasing Frontier for Pennsylvania Landowners?
Let’s assume you own a 135 acre farm in Washington County. In 1976, your grandfather signed an oil and gas lease with ABC Oil. Several years later, ABC...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules that Royalty Clause Referencing Both ‘Gross Proceeds’ and ‘At the Well’ Was Ambiguous
Let’s assume that you own 125 acres in Tioga County. In 2017, you negotiate a new oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling. During the negotiations, you insist...
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Kentucky Federal Court Fumbles Lease Expiration Claim
Let’s assume you own a 110 acre farm in Washington County. The farm is subject to an oil and gas lease which was signed by your grandfather in...
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Are Your Royalties Going Up In Flames?
Let’s assume you own 114 acres in Tioga County Pennsylvania. In 2012, you signed an oil and gas lease with XYZ Drilling. Two years later they drill and...
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Texas Supreme Court Issues Troubling Decision in Royalty Dispute
The practice of deducting post-production costs from landowner royalties remains a controversial and contentious issue here in Pennsylvania. Many landowners sought to insulate their royalties from such deductions...
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Texas Federal Court Rules No Royalty Due on Gas Used to Fuel Off-Lease Operations
The processing of natural gas and natural gas liquids requires a constant and reliable energy source. Critical operations such as compression, dehydration and fractionation cannot be conducted unless...
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Is the Implied Covenant of Reasonable Development Irrelevant?
The Pennsylvania Superior Court has continued the unfortunate recent trend of eroding the implied covenant of reasonable development in Pennsylvania. Generally, upon discovery of hydrocarbons, the implied covenant...
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To Drill or Not to Drill – Does Pennsylvania Recognize an Implied Covenant of Further Exploration?
Over the last 18 months natural gas operators from all over the world have converged on Western Pennsylvania. Their goal has been to secure new leases from landowners...
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Federal Court in Kentucky Allows Novel Royalty Claim to Move Forward
Federal Court in Kentucky Allows Novel Royalty Claim to Move Forward An ongoing debate between landowners and drillers is where and how the royalty should be valued. This...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules that Oil and Gas Rights Did Not Transfer to Buyer
The question of whether a sale of real estate includes the underlying gas rights remains a troubling issue for some Pennsylvania landowners. For example, let’s assume your family...
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Preliminary Operations Not Enough To Extend Lease into Secondary Term
Preliminary Operations Not Enough To Extend Lease into Secondary Term In a recent decision, the Arkansas Court of Appeals concluded that conducting preliminary drilling operations was not enough...
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Superior Court Breathes New Life Into Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act
Superior Court Breathes New Life Into Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act As the debate in Harrisburg heats up this winter regarding the practice of deducting post-production costs from oil...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Fumbles Lease Expiration Claim
Pennsylvania Superior Court Fumbles Lease Expiration Claim Every oil and gas lease has essentially the same objective: the drilling of a well and the eventual payment of production...
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Ohio Supreme Court Observes That Driller Cannot Maintain Lease Indefinitely by Paying Delay Rentals
In the early days of the Marcellus leasing boom, your grandfather executes an oil and gas lease covering the 100 acre family farm in Mercer County. The landman...
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Ohio Supreme Court Declines To Recognize Implied Covenant Of Further Exploration
Ohio Supreme Court Declines To Recognize Implied Covenant Of Further Exploration There are thousands of shallow oil and gas wells across Pennsylvania. Many of these shallow wells were...
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Landowners May Face Difficult Burden Regarding Intermingled Gas
Landowners May Face Difficult Burden Regarding Intermingled Gas A recent opinion issued by the Pennsylvania Superior Court may place a difficult burden on landowners confronted with a subsurface...
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Landowners: Act Now or be Bound by Class Action Settlement Terms
If you have a lease with Chesapeake, you could be impacted by the recent class action settlement in the Demchak Partners Limited Partnership v. Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC litigation....
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Federal District Court In Pennsylvania Allows Royalty Claim To Move Forward
Federal District Court In Pennsylvania Allows Royalty Claim To Move Forward Robert J. Burnett is a director and chair of Houston Harbaugh’s Oil and Gas practice. To learn...
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Federal District Court In Ohio Rules That Chesapeake Did Not Breach Lease When It Deducted Costs From Royalty
In the ongoing royalty dispute in Lutz v. Chesapeake Appalachia, LLC, the federal district court sitting in Akron, Ohio recently ruled that Chesapeake did not breach the parties’...
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Federal Court in Scranton Rules That Litigation Filed by Landowner Did Not “Repudiate” the Lease
Continuing a trend that puts Pennsylvania at odds with most oil/gas jurisdictions, the federal court in Scranton recently ruled that an unsuccessful suit filed by a landowner challenging...
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A Possible Blueprint for Landowners Challenging Pipeline Companies
A Possible Blueprint for Landowners Challenging Pipeline Companies Landowners in Kentucky may be emboldened by a recent decision by the Kentucky Court of Appeals that rejected an attempt...
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Sixth Circuit Rules That Driller Must Pay Royalties On Natural Gas Liquids
Imagine you on 135 acres in Butler County, Pennsylvania. You signed an oil/gas lease with XYZ Drilling and you are now receiving production royalties from the three Marcellus...
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PUC Decision Suggests Pipeline Operator Has Public Utility Status
Landowners should be wary of the Oct. 24 decision by the Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission strengthening Sunoco Pipeline LP’s claim as a public utility and possibly paving the...
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Pooling Clause Not Necessary: West Virginia Court Finds Implied Right to Pool Exists Where Lease Silent
The development of the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania has been facilitated by the marriage of modern drilling technology with the legal concept known as “pooling”. In short, a...
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Pipeline Operators: Public Utility or Pipeline Futility?
The meteoric development of the Marcellus Shale is staggering. Since 2004, nearly 7,800 unconventional gas wells have been drilled throughout Pennsylvania. One of the stark realities of this...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules That Driller Abandoned Oil/Gas Lease By Failing To Pay Royalties For Over 20 Years
Your family owns a 125 acre farm in Greene County. Back in 1966, your grandfather signed a lease with XYZ Oil Co. In that 1966 lease, XYZ Oil...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rejects Rule of Capture in Subsurface Trespass Suit
In a landmark decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court recently ruled that the “rule of capture” does not apply to frac fissures that extend under unleased parcels. The decision...
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Good News for Landowners Means Bad News for Trespassers
In a recent decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court gave diligent landowners powerful protection against unwanted subsurface activity. In Sabella v. Appalachian Development, 2014 Pa. Super. 237 (2014), the...
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Federal District Court in Ohio Rules That Driller Did Not Breach Lease by Deducting Post-Production Costs Incurred by Affiliate
Assume you own 150 acres of timber in Lycoming County. You decide to cut and clear 75 acres. You hire Big Logger, Inc. (“Big Logger”) to cut and...
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Federal Court Rules that Assignment of Oil/Gas Lease May Not Extinguish Liability of Original Lessee
Landowners are often alarmed and angered when they receive word that the oil/gas lease they executed several years ago, after months of intense and personal negotiations, has been...
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Federal Court in Pittsburgh Questions Applicability of Kilmer Decision
In a recent decision, the federal court in Pittsburgh held that the definition of “royalty” adopted by the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Kilmer v. Elexco Land Services, Inc. was not...
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Federal Court in Pittsburgh Allows Lease Cancellation Suit to Move Forward
Throughout Pennsylvania it is not uncommon to encounter gas wells that were drilled over 100 years ago. These ancient wells were drilled pursuant to oil/gas leases that often...
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West Virginia Supreme Court Rules That Horizontal Wells Cannot Be Drilled Into Adjacent Tracts Pursuant to 1901 Lease
Imagine your family has owned a 230-acre tree farm in Butler County for over 100 years. Back in 1937, your grandfather sold the oil and gas rights under...
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West Virginia Supreme Court to Reconsider Landmark Decision in Leggett v. EQT Production Company
In a rather surprising move, the West Virginia Supreme Court has decided to revisit the November 17, 2016 opinion it issued in the Leggett v. EQT Production Company...
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Temporary Cessation of Production: How much time does a producer have under Pennsylvania law?
The modern producing gas well is a sophisticated and complex piece of equipment. The basic well head itself consists of several meters, valves and other components, each of...
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West Virginia Federal Court Rules That Lease Did Not Authorize the Deduction of Post-Production Costs
Your family owns a 300 acre farm in Ritchie County, West Virginia. There is a lease from 1978 on the property that has now been incorporated into a...
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Tenth Circuit Rules That Obligation To Pay Royalty On Fuel Gas Depends On Lease Language
The processing of natural gas and natural gas liquids requires a constant and reliable energy source. Critical operations such as compression, dehydration and fractionation cannot be conducted unless...
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West Virginia Moves To Prohibit Drillers From Taking Deductions Which Reduce Net Royalty Below 12.5%
Last week the West Virginia Legislature took a bold and decisive step on behalf of West Virginia landowners. In a remarkable 34-0 vote on February 28, 2018, the...
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Non-Producing Oil and Gas Lease Deemed Abandoned by the Pennsylvania Superior Court
There are thousands of older vertical wells scattered across Pennsylvania. Many of these wells have not produced oil or gas in years and have fallen into disrepair. Despite...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules Driller had no Implied Obligation to Develop Deeper Formations
In a recent non-precedential decision, the Pennsylvania Superior Court ruled that a driller did not breach the implied covenant of reasonable development by failing to drill a Marcellus...
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Ohio Supreme Court Rules that Lease Expiration Claim is Subject to Twenty-One Year Statute of Limitations
Let’s assume you own a 173 acre farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. You purchased the farm in 2018. Prior to purchasing the farm, the seller disclosed that there...
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Driller Has No Obligation to Pay Royalty on Lost Gas
Imagine you own an apple orchard. You sign a contract with XYZ Produce which grants them the exclusive right to harvest your apples. At the end of the...
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Pennsylvania Landowners May Not Own Oil and Gas Rights Under Rivers and Streams
Since the 1890s, your family has owned a 150 acre farm in Washington County, Pennsylvania. In 2014, you and your siblings sign an oil and gas lease with...
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Has Forced Pooling Come to Pennsylvania With SB 259?
Imagine you own a 95-acre farm in Washington County, Pa. The farm has been in your family since the 1930s. Your great-grandfather signed an oil and gas lease...
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West Virginia Supreme Court Declares that Minimum Royalty Statute Does Not Authorize the Deduction of Post-Production Costs
Landowners in West Virginia received an early Christmas gift from the West Virginia Supreme Court last month. In a landmark opinion, the Supreme Court in Leggett v. EQT...
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HB 1391: Putting Teeth Back in Pennsylvania’s Minimum Royalty Statute
Throughout Pennsylvania, landowners are continuing to experience “sticker shock” when they open their royalty statements related to gas drilling. The practice of deducting post-production costs from the royalty...
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North Dakota Supreme Court Rules That “Gross Proceeds” Means No Deductions
The practice of deducting post-production costs from the landowner’s royalty remains one of the most controversial and disputed issues here in Pennsylvania. Many landowners sought to insulate their...
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Adverse Possession – Can Surface Owner Acquire Title to Gas Formations by Mere Passage of Time?
Gas operators have been drilling gas wells throughout this Commonwealth for over a hundred years. As a result, the Pennsylvania countryside is littered with tens of thousands of...
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Legislation Revived to Protect Royalty Owners in Pennsylvania
On June 23, 2015, Representatives Garth Everett (R-Lycoming), Sandra Major (R-Susquehanna/Wayne), Matt Baker (R-Bradford/Potter/Tioga), Tina Pickett (R-Bradford/Sullivan/Susquehanna) and Karen Boback (R-Lackawanna/ Luzerne/Wyoming) re-introduced legislation which seeks to clarify...
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Local Zoning Ordinances May Hinder Oil/Gas Development
A recent ruling from Lycoming County suggests that the next big fight over Marcellus Shale drilling in Pennsylvania may be waged at the local municipal level. For those...
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My Driller Filed for Bankruptcy; What Happens to My Lease in Pennsylvania?
The oil and gas business has been defined by cyclical “booms” and “busts”. Increased investment, drilling and production during growth years can lead to oversupply in the marketplace,...
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The Difference Between a “Royalty” and a “Royalty Interest” Can Be Confusing and Costly For Landowners
The calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs is a hot topic for landowners across Pennsylvania. But there is another frustrating and often confusing royalty-related...
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Subsurface Trespass – Can They Take the Gas Under My Property Without a Lease?
This is a familiar yet troubling question. Imagine that you own 150 acres in southwestern Pennsylvania. You have received offers from several prominent gas producers but have not...
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Kentucky Court Rules That Lease Expired Due To Driller’s Failure To Market And Produce Gas
There are thousands of older vertical wells scattered across Pennsylvania. Many of these wells have not produced oil or gas in years and have fallen into disrepair. Despite...
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Not Your Father’s Oil and Gas Lease
Horizontal Drilling Presents Unique Leasing Issues The modern oil and gas lease is a sophisticated and complex legal instrument that has evolved over the last several decades. This...
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What Is A Shut In Well? Can the Payment of a Shut-In Royalty Maintain an Oil/Gas Lease Indefinitely?
This is a familiar but troubling issue for a growing number of landowners throughout the Marcellus Shale fairway. Imagine you own 145 acres in Tioga County, Pennsylvania. You...
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Ohio Supreme Court Declines to Adopt Blanket “At the Well” Rule
The question of whether Ohio follows the “at the well” rule or the “marketable product” rule will have to wait for another day. And that might not be...
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Ohio Court Rules That Driller Did Not Breach Lease By Deducting Post-Production Costs Incurred By Affiliate
Assume you own 110 acres of timber in Washington County. You decide to cut and clear 75 acres. You hire ABC Logging Inc. (“ABC Logging”) to cut and...
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Not All is Quiet on the Quiet Title Front
A decision from the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania should serve as an important reminder for landowners who, in the midst of ongoing oil...
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Non-Production During Secondary Term Results in Termination of Lease
In a recent decision, the Washington County Court of Common Pleas granted a landowner’s request to terminate a ninety-one year old oil/gas lease due to non-production. In Wilson...
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New Royalty Bill Hb 1708 Will Not Help Pennsylvania Landowners
Throughout Pennsylvania, landowners are continuing to experience frustration and anger when they open their royalty statements. The practice of deducting postproduction costs from the gas royalty has become...
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What Is the Pennsylvania One Call System?
April is National Safe Digging Month, reminding all contractors and homeowners to call 811 at least three business days before starting a digging project to ensure that all...
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Federal District Court in Pittsburgh Rules That 1897 Deed Did Not Grant a Non-Participating Royalty Interest
The calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs is a hot topic for landowners across Pennsylvania. But there is another frustrating and often confusing royalty-related...
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The Net-Back Method Does Not Result In Better Pricing to Justify Deductions Under Market Enhancement Clauses
Many oil and gas leases in Pennsylvania contain a royalty clause known as a “market enhancement” clause. These clauses generally prohibit deductions unless the driller can demonstrate certain...
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The New Royalty Bill is Good for Pennsylvania Landowners
On August 5, 2021, Rep. Eric Davanzo (R-Westmorland County) introduced HB 1763. The bill seeks to clarify Pennsylvania oil and gas law by defining the term “royalty”. It...
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Is Your Driller Really Enhancing the Value of Your Gas?
Many Pennsylvania oil and gas leases have what is commonly known as a “market enhancement” royalty clause. These clauses typically prohibit the deduction of any post-production costs that...
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Texas Appellate Court Rules that Lease Terminated Due to Twelve Months of Non-Production
The modern producing gas well is a sophisticated and complex piece of equipment. The basic well head itself consists of several meters, valves and other components, each of...
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Pennsylvania Supreme Court Issues Confusing and Troubling Decision for Landowners
In 2019, the Pennsylvania Superior Court issued a landmark decision in the SLT Holdings, LLC v. Mitch-Well Energy Inc, 217 A. 3d 1258 (Pa. Super. Ct. 2019) matter....
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Federal District Court Injects Confusion into Definition of Gross Royalty Under Pennsylvania Law
As the Marcellus Shale development enters its seventeenth year, drillers are becoming more creative and aggressive in their effort to avoid lease language that was intended to prohibit...
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Ohio Appellate Court Issues Troubling Decision for Landowners and Drillers
Joint ownership of oil and gas rights is fairly routine here in Pennsylvania. But what happens when one co-tenant unilaterally signs an oil and gas lease without informing...
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Are February 2021 Production Royalty Payments Leaving you Out in the Cold?
On March 8, 2021, the Pennsylvania Attorney General announced a settlement of the lawsuit filed against Chesapeake Energy Corporation that challenged several of Chesapeake’s business practices. One of...
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Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells On Your Property – More Than Just a Rusty Eyesore
Imagine you just inherited a 200-acre farm in rural Butler County that has been in your family for decades. As a young child, you recall walking through one...
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Does a Well Passing Horizontally Under A Property Trigger A “Payment in Lieu of Free Gas” Clause? The Pennsylvania Superior Court Says “No”.
In a recent ruling in Mitch v. XTO Energy, Inc. the Pennsylvania Superior Court has reasoned that a well drilled horizontally below a landowner’s property does not trigger the “free...
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Is Your Driller Trying to Re-Write History?
Time travel. The idea of traveling back in time has been a fascinating part of popular culture for over a hundred years. From H.G. Wells’ classic novella The...
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Texas Supreme Court Rules That Gross Royalty Clause Prohibits Driller From Deducting Post-Production Costs
As the Marcellus Shale development enters its seventeenth year, drillers are becoming more creative and aggressive in their effort to avoid express lease language that was drafted to...
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Historic Cold May Provide Window Into “Market Enhancement” Under Gas Leases
Many landowners in Pennsylvania signed oil and gas leases with “market enhancement” clauses. These clauses typically contain language that prohibits a driller from deducting post-production costs unless the...
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Kansas Court Rules that Gas is not Marketable Until it Reaches Interstate Pipeline
A number of oil and gas leases in the Marcellus Shale region allow a driller to deduct post-production costs after the gas is in “marketable” form. These clauses...
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Hordis v. Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation: Landowner Challenges Whether Driller Can Ignore Pooling Clause and Simply Rely on Act 85
Oil and gas law is replete with unique terms and concepts. Perhaps one of the most confusing and complex areas of oil and gas law is the concept...
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Why Is The Driller Deducting Post-Production Costs My Lease Doesn’t Allow? Kilmer V. Elexco Land Services: A Decade Later
You own a 175 acre farm in Washington County. In 2014, you signed an oil and gas lease with XYZ Gas Company. The royalty clause, which you specifically...
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Is Your Property At Risk If The Driller Or Pipeline Company Doesn’t Pay Its Contractors?
A great deal of infrastructure is needed to move oil and gas from their reservoirs thousands of feet below the ground to the places where these hydrocarbons are...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules That Payment Of Delay Rentals Alone Cannot Maintain A Lease Beyond Primary Term
Your family owns a 87 acre farm in Tioga County. Back in 1979, your grandfather signed a lease with ABC Oil Co with a customary primary term of...
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Coronavirus, Chinese LNG Imports & Force Majeure: A Canary in a Coal Mine?
Pressure continues to mount on the Chinese economy as fears of the coronavirus mount. Though the Chinese government has taken steps to halt the spread of the virus,...
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Energy Independence? Current Events May Prove Test Case
“Energy Independence” has been frequently heard in recent years as a tag-line to marshal public support for shale drilling. But, is there a connection between shale drilling and...
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Driller Bankruptcy Could Raise Environmental Concerns for Landowners
In mid-2019, Fram Operating, LLC and its parent, Fram Americas, LLC filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy protection in Colorado. Fram was an oil and gas producer with wells...
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Supreme Court Decision in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy is a “Win” for Pennsylvania Landowners
On January 22, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a much-anticipated ruling in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production Company regarding the interplay between the “rule of capture” and...
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Act 85 and Cross-Unit Drilling – More Questions Than Answers for Landowners
On November 7, 2019, Governor Wolf signed Act 85 of 2019 (“Act 85”) into law. This is an unfortunate and deeply flawed piece of legislation. Pursuant to Act...
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Oklahoma Federal Court Rules That Driller Must Pay Royalty On Fuel Gas
The development and processing of raw natural gas requires a constant and reliable energy source. Critical operations such as compression, separation, dehydration and fractionation cannot be conducted unless...
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Houston Harbaugh, P.c Files “amicus Curiae Brief’ On Behalf Of The Pennsylvania Chapter Of The National Association Of Royalty Owners In Briggs, Et Al V. Southwestern Energy (63 Map 2018)
Robert J. Burnett is a director and chair of Houston Harbaugh’s Oil and Gas practice. To learn more about our work with landowners and royalty owners, visit our Oil...
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Murphy Exploration v. Adams: Texas Supreme Court Suggests That Horizontal Well Bore Will Not Drain Hydrocarbons From Adjacent Tract
As more and more horizontal well bores are being drilled across Pennsylvania, landowners are now keeping a closer eye on the location of nearby wells. For example, imagine...
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West Virginia Jury Finds That EQT Improperly Calculated Landowners’ Royalty on Shale Gas
A Federal jury in the Northern District of West Virginia recently found that EQT Production Company (EQT) breached the parties’ oil/gas lease by utilizing the “work back” method...
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Why the New Minimum Royalty Bill is Constitutional and Good for Pennsylvania
On February 17, 2017, Rep. Garth Everett (R-Lycoming County) introduced HB 557. The bill seeks to put teeth back into Pennsylvania’s Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act (“GMRA”) by prohibiting...
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New Legislation May Allow Drillers To Revive Expired Oil And Gas Leases
If you have an abandoned oil and gas well on your property, it may no longer be just an ugly eye-sore. As a result of controversial legislation recently...
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Subsurface Mining Rights Revisited
In Commonwealth v. Seneca Resources Corporation, 2014 LEXIS 608 (Pa. Commw. Ct., October 6, 2014), the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania revisited the Pennsylvania Gaming Commission’s (“Commission”) complaint that alleged...
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Zoning Issues for a Well Pad Site in Post-Robinson Times
In Gorsline, et al. v. Board of Supervisors of Fairfield Township et al., No. 14-000130 (Lycoming Co. C.P., August 29, 2014), certain individuals appealed the decision of the...
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A Review of Robinson Township v. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
On February 21, 2014, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania declined to reconsider its landmark decision of December 19, 2013, invalidating several provisions of Act 13 on the grounds...
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Marcellus Shale Gas is Not a Mineral. What Does This Mean for Lease-holders?
On April 24, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued its much anticipated decision in Butler v. Charles Powers Estate (“Butler II”). At issue in Butler II was whether...
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Pennsylvania Superior Court Interprets Forfeiture Clause in Oil and Gas Lease
In McCausland v. Wagner, the Pennsylvania Superior Court was confronted with the question of whether the lessor under an oil and gas lease was entitled to terminate the...
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Free Natural Gas On Property: Who's Entitled To Free Gas?
Suppose you purchase a 100-acre farm in Armstrong County. You are told that the property is subject to an old gas lease but that the farmhouse receives “free...
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Free Natural Gas On Property: Who’s Entitled To Free Gas?
Suppose you purchase a 100-acre farm in Armstrong County. You are told that the property is subject to an old gas lease but that the farmhouse receives “free...
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Landowners Beware: Warranty Clause in Oil and Gas Lease Can Obligate Landowner to Repay Signing Bonus
The fine print in an oil and gas lease can have some serious repercussions for an unwary landowner. One of the fine print clauses that often gets overlooked...
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About Us
Oil and gas development can present unique and complex issues that can be intimidating and challenging. At Houston Harbaugh, P.C., our oil and gas practice is dedicated to protecting the interests of landowners and royalty owners. From new lease negotiations to title disputes to royalty litigation, we can help. Whether you have two acres in Washington County or 5,000 acres in Lycoming County, our dedication and commitment remains the same.
We Represent Landowners in All Aspects of Oil and Gas Law
The oil and gas attorneys at Houston Harbaugh have broad experience in a wide array of oil and gas matters, and they have made it their mission to protect and preserve the landowner’s interests in matters that include:
- New lease negotiations
- Pipeline right-of-way negotiations
- Surface access agreements
- Royalty audits
- Tax and estate planning
- Lease expiration claims
- Curative title litigation
- Water contamination claims
Robert Burnett - Practice Chair
Robert’s practice is exclusively devoted to the representation of landowners and royalty owners in oil and gas matters. Robert is the Chair of the Houston Harbaugh’s Oil & Gas Practice Group and represents landowners and royalty owners in a wide array of oil and gas matters throughout the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Robert assists landowners and royalty owners in the negotiation of new oil and gas leases as well as modifications to existing leases. Robert also negotiates surface use agreements and pipeline right-of-way agreements on behalf of landowners. Robert also advises and counsels clients on complex lease development and expiration issues, including the impact and effect of delay rental and shut-in clauses, as well as the implied covenants to develop and market oil and gas. Robert also represents landowners and royalty owners in disputes arising out of the calculation of production royalties and the deduction of post-production costs. Robert also assists landowners with oil and gas title issues and develops strategies to resolve and cure such title deficiencies. Robert also advises clients on the interplay between oil and gas leases and solar leases and assists clients throughout Pennsylvania in negotiating solar leases.
Brendan A. O'Donnell
Brendan O’Donnell is a highly qualified and experienced attorney in the Oil and Gas Law practice. He also practices in our Environmental and Energy Practice. Brendan represents landowners and royalty owners in a wide variety of matters, including litigation and trial work, and in the preparation and negotiation of:
- Leases
- Pipeline right of way agreements
- Surface use agreements
- Oil, gas and mineral conveyances
