What Are Federal Lease Rentals and When Are They Required?
Federal oil and gas leases require annual rental payments until a discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on the leased lands. This means that, upon the completion of a well capable of producing...
View ArticleHow Are Federal Oil and Gas Leases Pooled and Unitized?
In the context of federal oil and gas leases, the terms “communitization” and “unitization” are distinct concepts which are subject to different statutes, regulations, and procedures. As such, the...
View ArticleBLM Directives Rein In the Federal APD Environmental Review Process
In the first two weeks of June 2018, the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) issued two directives streamlining and clarifying the environmental review process undertaken by the BLM to approve an...
View ArticleWhat Is the Difference Between Leasing BLM and Forest Service Lands?
Leasing on National Forest System lands requires coordination between the BLM and the Forest Service throughout the leasing process. The BLM and the Forest Service share the responsibility over oil and...
View ArticleWhat Are the Types of Interests in Federal Oil and Gas Leases and How Are...
Federal oil and gas leases are administered by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) pursuant to the Mineral Leasing Act of 1920, as amended (“MLA”), and the implementing federal regulations. Federal...
View ArticleWill My Federal Lease Be Extended?
Like virtually all modern oil and gas leases, federal leases have a fixed primary term (typically 10 years)[1] and a habendum (i.e., “so long thereafter”) clause. But understanding the provisions of...
View ArticleHow Do I Access the Lands Under a Federal Oil and Gas Lease?
At the end of Disney/Pixar’s “Finding Nemo,” a group of fish escape from their tank by jumping into plastic bags that are filled with water and then securely tied at the top. After hopping out of a...
View ArticleHow Do I Examine Title to a Federal Oil & Gas Lease?
For federal oil and gas leases, examination of the title documents is vital for the operator to understand the ownership and identify any title defects or other potential business risks prior to...
View ArticleCan a Terminated Lease Be Reinstated?
Federal leases can be terminated for a number of different reasons. The question answered here is whether or not they can be reinstated. The simple answer to that question is the same as all other...
View ArticleWhat Are Sliding-Scale Royalties?
Most leases on federal lands administered by the Bureau of Land Management (“BLM”) have flat royalties of 12.5% (evidenced by the use of the standard Schedule A to the BLM oil and gas lease form).[1]...
View ArticleWhat is a Federal Right-of-Way Lease for Oil and Gas?
As mentioned in the first article published in “The FAQs of Federal Oil and Gas Leases” series,[1] the oil and gas under certain federal rights-of-way can only be leased under the Right-of-Way Leasing...
View ArticleWhat Are the Types of Federal Oil and Gas Leases?
An Introduction to Federal Oil and Gas Leasing The federal government is responsible for oil and gas leasing under three different types of land: onshore public lands, offshore public lands, and tribal...
View ArticleUtah Supreme Court Invalidates Tax Title as to Severed Minerals on Due...
Can Utah’s four-year statute of limitations for challenging a tax sale prevent a property owner who never received notice of the sale from contesting it? In prior years, the answer may have been...
View ArticleSaving the Best for Last – What Is All That Stuff at the End of My Lease?
On this blog, we have posted our complete Fee Lease 101 Series covering many of the standard fee oil and gas lease provisions from the granting clause to the pooling clause. However, there is typically...
View ArticleTop Leases: Assessing (and Avoiding) the Risks of Novation
You only have three more months on the primary term of an oil and gas lease that was issued nearly five years ago with a 1/6th royalty. A drilling permit should be issued any day now, and you...
View ArticleForce Majeure – May the Force Be With You and Save Your Oil and Gas Lease
In Star Wars, the force means an “energy field created by all living things… It binds the galaxy together.”1 In French, force majeure means superior force. In a fee oil and gas lease, the force majeure...
View ArticleUtah Oil & Gas Update
UTAH COURT OF APPEALS APPLIES THE OPEN MINES DOCTRINE, REJECTS PETITION TO CONSTRUE WILL IN FAVOR OF LIFE TENANTS In re Estate of Womack, 2016 UT App 83, 2016 WL 1729528, involved a decedent whose...
View ArticleUnitizing the Lessor’s Interest: No, It’s Not the Same as Pooling
The terms “pooling” and “unitization” are often used interchangeably, but they have different meanings. Pooling is “the bringing together of small tracts sufficient for the granting of a well permit...
View ArticleWhite House Announces Regulation of Methane Emissions from Existing Oil and...
The White House announced yesterday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will begin to “immediately” develop “regulations for methane emissions from existing oil and gas sources.” Although no...
View ArticlePractical Advice Regarding Pooling Clauses
Pooling is a fundamental concept within oil and gas law, but one that is often misunderstood. Pooling is most commonly defined as “the combining of two or more tracts of land into one unit for drilling...
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