Disputes Over Gas and Oil

Highly Qualified Attorneys can help with Disputes over Leases, Royalties, and other conflicts between Drilling Companies and Landowners.

Anytime a property owner in a resource rich area allows an oil or gas company to drill on their land for the extraction of these resources, a lease agreement is arranged. This lease is designed to set expectations for how much a drilling company will pay for the use of the privately owned land, and a fair price for any material that is produced from the drilling operation. It is unfortunate, but all too often property owners do not receive the financial gains they expected and ultimately question if there is anything that can be done legally to make sure they are being paid fairly, and fully according to the terms of the lease.

Recent and numerous investigations have found that there are many unethical practices in place by drilling companies to try and pay the landowners as little as possible, and some practices are downright illegal. It is important to know exactly what kinds of things oil companies may try to get out of paying any royalties at all. These practices include setting up companies to purchase the extracted materials at extremely low costs, reducing the dollar amount of the percentages agreed to in the lease, then using those materials for their own equipment. Other times, inflated and unnecessary transportation and refining costs are deducted from the total royalties owed leaving landowners with much less than they expected. Some leases do allow for the deduction of these charges, but confirming the charges are legitimate and not inflated would require access to the oil company’s records. The best way to get this done is through a legal process called Discovery, which is one of many reasons having an Oil/Gas Royalty Lawyer so important.

Are you in a lease with a drilling company and think you might not be getting the correct Royalties? Has your lessee only offered partial payment, or been delaying the payment entirely? Are there other disputes regarding the use of the land, or is the drilling company charging excessively for extraction/transporting/refining leaving you with next to nothing?

IF YOU ARE A BUSINESS INVOLVED IN AN OIL OR GAS ROYALTY DISPUTE OR ANY TYPE OF BUSINESS LITIGATION, CONTACT THE TEAM OF CARABIN SHAW AT 800-862-1260 DAY OR NIGHT, 7 DAYS A WEEK FOR YOUR FREE CONSULTATION.