Oil & Gas Law - Texas: Laws on Leasing, Exploration, and Production 2010 Revised Edition (Nationwide Comparison of Laws on Leasing, Exploration, and Production)

The current trend in developing shale gas prospects in a number of states has solidified the need for a concise reference guide to aid landmen and attorneys in their leasing and title examination efforts. Many of these prospects cross state boundaries and therefore require the practitioner to have knowledge of individual state rules and requirements. While many states base their oil and gas law on Texas decisions, they differ in many ways. This makes it essential for those working in various states to know these differences.

George Snell, Texas title attorney, developed an outline of the essential topics relative to the acquisition of oil and gas leases and rights and invited a group of “friends”, title attorneys, in each of the states to address the topics and issues relative to their respective state. Over time the outline was broadened and tweaked to include essential parts of four key areas of oil & gas law:
• Characteristics of the Mineral-Royalty Estate
• Who Can Lease
• Interpretation of Provisions of the Oil & Gas Lease
• Other Topics (Seismic, Recording, coal, use of county records)

Each of these broad topics has been expanded to cover most of the essential areas of oil and gas law essential for the acquisition of leases and other matters affecting titles and other matters. The group of “friends” initially covered the major oil and gas producing states around Texas and was later expanded to cover the Rocky Mountain and Gulf Coast states. This volume has been expanded to cover most of the states in the current shale gas plays:
Arkansas, California, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Texas, Utah, West Virginia, and Wyoming