There are deadbeats in every industry, including (unfortunately) the oil and gas industry. Some O&G producers in West Virginia are gaming the system by not paying landowners/rights owners the royalties they are due. Typically, this does not apply to shale drillers, mostly larger companies. However, with (some, very few) smaller conventional drillers, they just don’t…
Read More...The Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) owns and manages more than 1.5 million acres of state game lands throughout the Commonwealth. The primary purpose of these lands is the management of habitat for wildlife and providing opportunities for lawful hunting and trapping. You might think PGC gets most of its revenue from hunting and trapping licenses…
Read More...Yesterday, Rising Phoenix Capital, an investment firm specializing in oil and gas royalty acquisitions, announced the launch of the La Plata Peak Income Fund, a $20 million royalty fund. Rising Phoenix is looking for investors to buy into the fund. Once the company hits its target (maybe before), it will go on the hunt for…
Read More...A lawsuit that slipped by us (and is still playing out) that began in Carroll County, OH, has major ramifications for landowners and drillers across the state. The case is EAP Ohio LLC v. Sunnydale Farms LLC, et al. in which 13 oil and gas leases were executed in 2008 and 2009 in Carroll County,…
Read More...In something of a surprise (for us), the Ohio State Senate passed House Bill (HB) 308 yesterday, a bill that extends the standard lease terms for drillers who want to drill under (not on) state-owned land from three years to five years. The bill also extends the total amount of time fracking operations can last…
Read More...There is an important development for landowners AND drillers in a class action case that began some seven years ago. A civil suit was brought by Harrison County oil and gas owners against Antero Resources Corp., claiming the company had deducted post-production costs from royalties not allowed under the leases they had signed. In 2022,…
Read More...MDN first reported on a lawsuit by a group of Wyoming County, PA, landowners back in January 2019 (see Fed Court Allows PA Royalty Lawsuit Against Chesapeake to Proceed). The lawsuit was originally filed in February 2018 by landowners against Chesapeake Energy and Equinor, claiming post-production deductions were made from royalty checks that should not…
Read More...Runaway Bride Our observation is that WhiteHawk Energy is smitten with PHX Minerals. For the last 15 months, WhiteHawk has been trying to get PHX down the marriage aisle in any way it can. PHX has repeatedly given WhiteHawk the cold shoulder. WhiteHawk’s latest attempt, which we told you about yesterday, was an appeal to…
Read More...Some 15 months ago, WhiteHawk Energy, headquartered in Philadelphia with ownership of mineral and royalty interests for over 1 million gross unit acres and over 3,400 producing horizontal shale wells between the Marcellus and the Haynesville, proposed marriage to PHX Minerals, based in Fort Worth, Texas, owner of 75,000 leased mineral acres principally located in…
Read More...Today, we bring you news about a lawsuit filed just over three years ago, in September 2021, by four landowners in southwestern Pennsylvania who leased their land to Range Resources for drilling. The lawsuit is just now coming on our radar screen. Range did drill and, claims the landowners, deducted expenses from royalty checks for…
Read More...WhiteHawk Energy, headquartered in Philadelphia and owning mineral and royalty interests for over 1 million gross unit acres with over 3,400 producing horizontal shale wells between the Marcellus and the Haynesville, announced yesterday the acquisition of additional Marcellus Shale natural gas mineral and royalty assets for an undisclosed amount. The deal added 435,000 gross unit…
Read More...In 2015, a group of nearly 60 landowners in northeastern Pennsylvania who had leased their land for fracking filed a lawsuit against Chesapeake Energy, Anadarko, Statoil (now Equinor), Mitsui E&P, and Access Midstream (later bought by Williams), alleging the companies had improperly deducted post-production costs (e.g., gas gathering and transportation expenses) from royalties owed to…
Read More...Here’s a lawsuit that flew under our radar — until now. Several landowners in West Virginia sued Jay-Bee Oil & Gas, alleging “improper royalty deductions” were made from royalty checks for post-production work from 2010 to 2023. The landowners (their lawyers) convinced a court to turn the lawsuit into a class action. Jay-Bee denies the…
Read More...A study led by Binghamton University and the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) claims it has uncovered that energy companies pressure landowners into allowing hydraulic fracturing (fracking) on their properties, “often resorting to persistent and personalized tactics.” In other words, those nasty frackers bully poor landowners into signing leases. We have no doubt there…
Read More...We spotted news that the Cambridge City School District (in Guernsey County, Ohio) has signed a second lease with Encino Energy (EAP Ohio LLC) to allow shale drilling under 4.8 acres. The first lease (which we missed) was signed in February of this year, allowing Encino to drill under 182 acres. The land is located…
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