Oil and Gas Attorney

The oil and gas attorneys at Arnold & Itkin LLP represent clients who own mineral rights to protect their rights to fair royalties, environmental protection of their land, and other concerns of landowners. Landowner concerns vary widely and range from maximizing income from royalties to protecting land from unnecessary destruction and damage to ensure that it remains viable for other purposes such as farming and grazing. An oil and gas attorney from the firm can help ensure that your concerns are addressed, and when they aren't, a Houston business litigation attorney can fight for your rights, in court if necessary.

Click on a link below to read more about some of our practice areas relating to oil and gas law:

Mineral Rights

As a property owner, you may have mineral rights to the oil and gas reserves underneath your property. These rights may be sold or gifted at any time by the person who owns them. To learn more about mineral rights, talk to an oil and gas lawyer at our firm today. Click here to read more about mineral rights.

Oil & Gas Royalties

Since no agency governs the royalties for oil and gas and how they are paid to landowners, many landowners may find that they are owed more or should be receiving more from the oil and gas company that is taking from the reserve on their property. Click here to read more about oil and gas royalties.

Property & Environmental Damage

Has your property or business suffered damage due to an oil and gas companies actions? When a company fails to maintain the property and pollutes water and the environment nearby, the landowners may suffer as a result. Click here to continue reading more about property and environmental damage.

Oil & Gas Lease

As a contract stating a landowner's rights and an oil and gas company's right to extract and market the resources below an area of land, an oil and gas lease can be a very complicated document. Having an attorney review the paperwork is strongly suggested. Click here to read more about an oil and gas lease.

Barnett Shale

The area of Texas known as the Barnett Shale is one that is rich with oil and gas reserves well below the surface. Oil and gas companies often use a new form of extraction called fracking (hydraulic fracturing) to get through the tough shale below the surface. Click here to read more about Barnett Shale.

Haynesville Shale

The Haynesville Shale is an area stretching across several Gulf Coast states, including northwestern Louisiana, southwestern Arkansas and eastern Texas that is now covered with an impermeable rock. In order to seek this, many oil and gas companies have used different types of extraction methods. Click here to read more about Haynesville Shale.

About Oil and Gas Law in Texas

Oil and gas law in the United States is the body of law that relates to the acquisition and ownership of mineral rights in oil and gas both under the soil before discovery and after its capture, and adjudication regarding those rights. During the 1930s the Texas Legislature empowered the Texas Railroad Commission (TRC) to "prevent physical waste" in the oil production fields in East Texas. Through the years, Texas legislators have authorized additional authority and today the Texas Railroad Commission is the regulating authority for oil and gas production in Texas.

Recent booms in exploration and production in the Barnett Shale in Texas and the Haynesville Shale are forcing landowners to face the unfamiliar complexities of oil and gas law as they negotiate oil and gas leases with landmen for the oil and gas operators that are swarming their communities. If you hold mineral rights for land in these are other areas where there is active exploration or production you may need an oil and gas attorney.

Want to break an existing oil and gas lease?

Maybe you are caught in an existing oil and gas lease with an operator who isn't developing the field. Meanwhile operators are drilling producing wells on neighboring property and draining a shared reservoir of resources in which you have a stake. In fact, you may be experiencing money damages without even realizing it. Oil and gas companies have a duty to protect the leasehold against drainage. If you are caught in such a situation, an oil & gas attorney can help you claim damages for royalties on production that would have been produced from the well that was never drilled.

Circumstances may enable you to break an oil or gas lease without undesirable consequences. Oil and gas companies have certain implied duties including a duty to develop, a duty to protect against drainage, and a duty to market. They may also have specific duties and deadlines that are spelled out in the oil and gas lease. If any of those duties are not fulfilled within the deadlines, they may be in breach of contract affording you an opportunity to exit the lease agreement.

Nuances in oil and gas lease agreements may also limit the scope of an oil and gas company's rights based on the depth of exploration. New technologies that make deeper reserves accessible may create opportunities to renegotiate existing leases or enter new leases for deeper exploration. An experienced oil and gas attorney can help you understand your options.

Contact an Oil and Gas Lawyer

We can help you claim compensation for your losses. The oil and gas attorneys of Arnold & Itkin LLP have the experience and the resources to hold them accountable. We aggressively prosecute and defend oil and gas related matters in litigation for landowners, heirs, trustees, and family limited partnerships or limited liability corporations.

Call an oil and gas attorney from our Houston business law firm today to learn your rights.