The Ohio shale boom started slowly when a few small companies quietly began acquiring mineral leases for as little as $25 per acre. This soon gave way to a full blown land rush in the fall of 2010. But as lease prices skyrocketed through the Fall of 2011, disillusioned lessors who signed before the peak… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Oil and gas
Contradiction In The Ohio Dormant Minerals Act
Posted in Contracts and Leases, Mineral Interest, Ohio, Real Estate, RegulatoryInconsistencies and ambiguities in the Ohio Dormant Minerals Act, Ohio Revised Code § 5301.56 (the “ODMA”), set the stage for legal battles that are just beginning. Oil and gas operators may get caught in the crossfire. Operators need to be aware of at least one glaring inconsistency in the current version[1] of the ODMA that sometimes… Continue Reading
Implied Covenants May Require Mineral Lessees to Develop Deep Rights
Posted in Contracts and Leases, Exploration & ProductionUntil recently, most lessors and their lawyers were not educated about technical nuances of oil and gas law, such as implied lease covenants. But the recent shale boom and expected production from horizontal wells in the Marcellus, Utica, and Rose Run formations has revolutionized the relationship between lessors and lessees. The disinterested, ill-informed masses of… Continue Reading
A Bonus Payment is Not Relevant to the Validity of an Oil & Gas Lease.
Posted in Contracts and Leases, Real Estate, RegulatoryIn Eastern Ohio, before 2010, a customary signing bonus for an oil and gas lease was usually less than $25 per acre, as it had been for years. By the fall of 2011, after the shale boom hit, lease bonus prices had risen in leaps and bounds to their peak (so far) of about $6,000… Continue Reading