ENERGY, OIL & GAS

Our expertise in the practice areas of energy and oil & gas includes bringing and defending property damage and personal injury cases arising from oil and gas operations; transactional work for both the oil industry and mineral owners in connection with exploration for and production and transportation of oil and gas, both onshore and offshore; bringing and defending lawsuits in state and federal courts involving interpretation of various oil and gas agreements, royalty and working interest payments due on production; determining ownership of property and representing oil companies and mineral owners before state regulatory agencies, including the Office of Conservation and the State Mineral Board.  Specific examples include

• Prosecuting and defending lawsuits arising from oil and gas well blowouts, fires, well site accidents, and environmental damage on behalf of landowners and oil companies.
• Representing property owners in boundary litigation to establish the surface dimensions of riparian tracts. Our Firm won a landmark decision in the Louisiana Supreme Court that establishes the controlling law in similar cases.
• Challenging a Commissioner of Conservation order resulting in establishing Louisiana law as to the extent of the duty of a unit operator to account to a non-operator for production.
• Negotiating and drafting oil and gas agreements, including leases, joint operating agreements, farmout agreements, servitudes, permits and unitization documents.
• Prosecuting a large claim for breach of contract damages for an interstate pipeline company against the multiple owners of a gas processing plant.
• Representing parties in unitization proceedings before the Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation.
• Representing oil and gas clients before the Louisiana State Mineral Board and other state agencies.
• Representing oil and gas working interest partners in cost and revenue accounting administrative proceedings.