Over the past several years, there has been an ongoing debate on whether local governments have the authority to limit or even ban oil and gas operations. In 2012, residents of the City of Longmont voted to approve a ban on hydraulic fracturing within city limits....
The recent shale boom has greatly increased the amount of natural gas produced and transported across the country’s network of pipelines in recent years. Unfortunately, the increase in production has resulted in several significant environmental and safety incidents,...
One of the more loosely used terms from Colorado’s Conservation Act and Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission (“COGCC”) Rules, and one of many lawyers’ favorite words to analyze, is the term “reasonable.” When filing for an involuntary pooling application in...
The University of Wyoming’s Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (“EORI”) recently made available to the public a new Interactive Data Platform (“IDP”). The IDP allows users to display and identify oil and gas information from the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation...
Colorado House Bill 16-1310 was introduced on March 2, 2016, by State Senator Morgan Carroll (D) and State Representative Joseph Anthony Salazar (D). Under current Colorado law, to prevail on a claim against an oil and gas operator, the surface owner must present...
Developers and owners of real property typically enter into a variety of contracts concerning the use of real property. This is particularly true in the natural resource extraction industry. Generally, under Colorado law contractual obligations may be deemed personal...
The American Association of Professional Landmen recently released its 2015 Model Form Operating Agreement. The A.A.P.L form 610 - Model Form Operating Agreement has established the operating framework within the United States since 1956, and the last major...
In Pennaco Energy Inc. v. KD Company LLC, 2015 WL 7758324 (Wyo.) (“Pennaco I”), the Wyoming Supreme Court recently confirmed a precedent that subjects lessees and operators to liability for successors’ acts and failures under surface use agreements. At issue was the...
In September, the Colorado Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases that have the potential to settle the state/local battle over fracking regulations. The conflict roots back to 2013, when voters in Longmont passed a ban on hydraulic fracturing, and Fort Collins passed...
The Conservation Basics A primary objective of the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Act (the “Act”) has always been conservation through prevention of waste and enforcement of efficient drilling and production practices. In other words, traditionally the Act served...
The KISS principle that systems perform best with simple rather than complex designscan apply in the world of legal drafting. This lesson was recently learned by lawyers who drafted a complex “work-around” to avoid a judicial interpretation of standard oil and gas...
On August 19, 2015 the Fourth District Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas, ruled that, because the surface estate owner controls “the matrix of the underlying earth,” it could grant an oil and gas operator the right to site wells on the surface owner’s property...