The Firm represents owners of mineral rights, land owners, ranch owners, owners of working interests in oil and gas wells, and other parties in Texas oil and gas litigation.  The range of oil and gas litigation and disputes is lengthy.  Clients of the Firm may pursue oil litigation for failure to pay royalties, failure to produce oil and gas according to leases, to enforce property rights, leasehold interests, mineral leases, oil and gas leases, drilling contracts, production contracts, investments in oil and gas interests and wells, and contracts for oil and gas royalties by litigation in Texas.

Clients of the Firm may own property, land, mineral interests, oil and gas interests as well as leases in the West Texas oilfields. This also includes the far East Texas Oilfield, South Texas Oilfield including the Eagle Ford shale field, the Barnett Shale gas field north of Fort Worth, the huge Haynesville Shale gas field that straddles the border between far East Texas and Louisiana, or in other fields.

Extensive oil and gas exploration and production in Texas also occurs offshore, on the intercontinental shelf extending along the Texas Gulf Coast.  Although BP’s Deepwater Horizon blowout at the Machando Well occurred off the coast of Louisiana, hundreds of other offshore oil facilities are located along the Texas coast.

Claims for environmental damage from spills and leaks, damage to watersheds and water reservoirs from fractionating fluids in the Barnett Shale, as well as damage to surface rights, i.e., real estate, can arise against exploration, production and service companies when easements are misused.

Oil and gas litigation in Texas includes civil lawsuits to recover damages for fraud, fraudulent investments in oil and gas interests and wells, misrepresentations about production, real property, leases, environmental damage, and breach of contract.  Attorneys of the Firm are familiar with high stakes litigation on behalf of oil and chemical companies, and litigation for owners of minerals interests and oil & gas interests in Texas.

Ethan L. Shaw leads the Firm’s oil and gas litigation practice from our office in Austin, Texas. Mr. Shaw, and other BSYC attorneys are experienced in a diverse range of Texas oil and gas litigation as well as oil royalties litigation in Texas.

Oil and gas litigation in Texas can include civil litigation for breach of contract, breach of royalty agreements, underpayment of royalties, overstating expenses, breach of fiduciary duty in oil and gas partnerships, nonpayment of royalties for oil and gas interests and mineral interests in Texas. This civil litigation can also include violation of securities laws, and fraud in promotion of oil and gas deals and transactions in Texas.

Owners of mineral leases, owners of oil and gas leases, beneficiaries of oil and gas leases, beneficiaries of leases for mineral rights, parties to oil and gas royalty agreements, parties who are owed and must collect underpaid royalties for oil and gas interests and working interests in leases can suffer damages due to breach of contract.

Parties may also suffer systematic underpayments, unfair bookkeeping, overstatement of post-production expenses, and frequently are damaged or defrauded by incorrect accounting methods for oil and gas royalties that are used to defraud land owners and other owners of mineral rights.

The Firm also represents owners of surface interests who must sue for trespass by improper use of mineral rights easements on their property. As an example, when oil and gas operators and services fail to restore their property and ranches.  The Firm investigates claims against oil and gas operators for property damage at sites of oil and gas wells and exploration activities. These may include over-pumping or over-production from oil and gas wells, theft of oil and gas by pumping wells with flow meters disconnected, completion of wells to unlicensed depths. They may also include misrepresentations by executives of oil and gas companies, faulty well completion, leakage and seepage that can contaminate groundwater, and excessive surface contamination to property caused by chemicals used in oil and gas operations.

Oil and gas production is heavily regulated.  Fair, high quality oil and gas leases can protect your interests.  When operators violate oil and gas leases – also known as mineral leases – it is important for landowners to demand adherence to the terms of the same oil and gas leases.  Otherwise, protections for the landowner can be waived. Similarly, the landowner must demand adherence when royalties are not paid in a timely manner, are underpaid, or are reduced by unfair accounting for post-production expenses and questionable or simply unclear allocations of expenses.

It is essential for persons who are owed royalties for oil and gas interests to seek the advice of an experienced oil and gas attorney in Texas.  The Firm represents clients throughout Texas in oil and gas litigation throughout Texas, including Midland, Odessa, Amarillo, across the Permian Basin, Abilene, Fort Worth, Dallas, Houston. Also, in Austin, San Antonio, Corpus Christi, Brownsville, South Texas and Beaumont.

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