A recent case before the Wyoming Supreme Court failed to clarify what, if any, remedies are available to conflicting developers of federal mineral rights on overlapping lands. Rather, the Court’s ruling in Berenergy Corporation v. BTU Western Resources, Inc.; School Creek Coal Resources, LLC; and Peabody Powder River Mining, LLC, and BTU Western Resources, Inc.; […]
A recent decision of the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA) vividly makes the point that the Department of the Interior considers accurate royalty reporting to be equally if not more important than payment of the proper amounts. In Quinex Energy Corp., 192 IBLA 88 (2017), the operator underpaid royalties on several tribal and allotted […]
Just over a year ago, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (“EIA”) began including a supplement to its Drilling Productivity Report that contains monthly estimates of the number of drilled but uncompleted (“DUC”) wells in seven key oil and gas producing basins (the Anadarko, Appalachia, Bakken, Eagle Ford, Niobrara, Haynesville, and Permian basins). Prior DUC well […]
Gazprom, Russia’s government owned natural gas company, has for decades supplied many Eastern European countries with most or all of their natural gas. It has also had a habit of using its dominant market position to bully its customers into paying more, often by cutting off natural gas supplies needed for heating in midwinter. Gazprom […]
Most decisions of the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) are appealable to the Interior Board of Land Appeals (IBLA). However, some decisions must first be reviewed by the applicable BLM State Director. Parties who wish to appeal from decisions issued under the oil and gas operating regulations (43 C.F.R. Part 3160) and unitization regulations (43 […]
Six weeks following the City of Thornton’s adoption of strict new regulations on oil and gas operations, the Colorado Oil and Gas Association (“COGA”) and the American Petroleum Institute (“API”) have filed suit, in what looks to be just the latest clash in Colorado’s struggle over who manages oil and gas in the state – […]
Non-governmental organizations that oppose oil and gas development have in the last few years begun to challenge not only Bureau of Land Management (BLM) decisions authorizing oil and gas drilling operations but also BLM decisions that could have the effect of continuing leases in effect that might otherwise expire. In two recent decisions, the Interior […]
Operators who do not regularly operate on federal lands may be surprised to discover that, unlike the typical private lands oil and gas lease, a federal lease does not contain a drilling operations clause that would extend the lease beyond the expiration of its primary term while drilling operations are being conducted. A recent decision […]
As noted in a prior blog post, Wyoming’s Supreme Court Justices agree most of the time. In fact, in 2016 more than 95% of the Court’s orders and opinions were unanimous. This post highlights a recent disagreement between the members of the Wyoming Supreme Court in the case of Anadarko Land Corp. f/k/a Union Pacific […]