by Kenneth E. DuBose on September 25, 2012
Oil and gas drilling conflicts with landowners are undoubtedly on the rise. The sheer number of mineral owners has grown tremendously over the past ten years as operators have leased millions of acres of land from North Dakota to Pennsylvania and Texas. The combination of lease negotiations, surface disturbance negotiations, drilling operations, and everything midstream […]
by Kenneth E. DuBose on August 4, 2011
“Methane (even from CBM) is a distinct mineral estate that is separate from coal” was the decision passed down from the West Virginia Supreme Court in 2004. The ruling was in favor of mineral owners as oil & gas companies had previously signed agreements to produce coalbed methane (CBM) with the companies operating existing coal leases. […]
by Kenneth E. DuBose on August 2, 2011
Chesapeake Energy began to taking out mortgages on its most valuable leases to help fund drilling operations late in 2010. The company has taken out mortgages on mineral acreage and pipeline right of ways in Pennsylvania to help fund capital plans. The practice isn’t widely used and has only come to light recently as property […]