August, 2016 | The Law Offices of Gregory D. Jordan

Texas Appeals Court rules against lessee in offset well dispute

The Fourth Court of Appeals in San Antonio, Texas found that a lessee had failed to prove that it had drilled an offset well as required by oil and gas leases.

In the case, Shirley Adams et al. v. Murphy Exploration & Production Co.-USA, the lessors and royalty owners sued lessee Murphy for breach of contract, claiming that Murphy had failed to drill an offset well to protect two tracts of land against drainage.

Murphy was assigned oil and gas leases executed by lessors in the Eagle Ford Shale. The parties did not dispute that the leases required the lessee, if a well was completed, to drill an offset well to prevent drainage. A lower court granted Murphy’s motion for summary judgment based on evidence that a well had been drilled and Murphy’s expert’s testimony that it was an offset well.

The Fourth Court of Appeals held that in order for Murphy’s summary judgment burden to be met, Murphy had to conclusively prove that the well was an offset well as a matter of law, thus disproving the element of breach. However, the appeals court found that Murphy failed to meet that burden, as it failed to prove that the well met the commonly understood meaning of the term “offset well,” which is a well used for protection from drainage. The appeals court reversed the grant of summary judgment and remanded the case to the trial court for further proceedings.

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