WV Developer Must Pay Nearly $1M for Trespass re Marcellus Lease
In December a jury in Ritchie County, WV awarded the county’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) nearly $1 million in damages in a trespassing case. The case is complicated, but at its heart is the issue of a Marcellus-focused company, Ronald Lane Inc., and land Lane deeded to the local EDA. A lawsuit against Lane alleged the company leased the deeded land for “oil and gas purposes” (to Columbia Gas as a heavy equipment storage facility) and that Lane never told the EDA about the lease nor shared the profits received from that lease.
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Back in June, MDN told you about a long-running lawsuit in Tioga County, PA by landowners who claim that UGI has taken their mineral rights as part of operating the Meeker Storage Field, an underground natural gas storage facility (see 
The Pennsylvania Dept. of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR) published a notice in the November 20 Pennsylvania Bulletin that it has signed an oil and gas lease agreement with BKV Operating, LLC (Banpu, Thailand’s largest coal mining company and an investor/operator drilling shale wells here) covering 198.5 acres of the Susquehanna River located in Mehoopany and Washington Townships in Wyoming County.
Over the years we’ve covered a number of stories about companies buying future royalty payments from landowners (and rights owners) for an upfront, one lump sum payment now. Back in May, we told you about a relative newcomer to our region doing this, Verde Bio Holdings (see 
EV Royalty Partners, an affiliate of EnerVest Ltd., has retained Oil & Gas Asset Clearinghouse for the sale of a Utica Shale overriding royalty interest (ORRI) package across multiple counties in Ohio. The package on offer includes portions of ORRI in some 340,894 acres. The acreage is actively leased and developed by Encino Energy, Ascent Resources, and Southwestern Energy. Bids are due by Dec. 2nd.
Last week MDN was (as far as we can tell) the first to bring you news of a new lawsuit filed in Allegheny County Court of Common Pleas against EQT alleging the company had not made required royalty payments to at least two residents, and likely many more residents (see 
In early 2019, EQT, the largest natural gas producer in the U.S. (and in the Marcellus/Utica) settled a class action lawsuit in West Virginia with landowners and rights owners ending EQT’s practice of post-production deductions from royalty checks (see 
Ever hear of a “market enhancement” royalty clause? If you’re a Pennsylvania landowner, or perhaps a landowner in Ohio and West Virginia, you likely have. Even if you (as a landowner) have a lease that disallows post-production deductions from your royalty check, many leases have market enhancement clauses that allow the driller to deduct certain expenses if they can process the gas and sell it to a distant customer for more money than they can get locally. A higher price for the gas theoretically means you the landowner get a bigger royalty check, right? Not so fast…
An extensive story running in the Youngstown Business Journal tackles the thorny issue of violated expectations for Ohio landowners who thought they would get rich from Utica Shale wells on their land but didn’t. The article contains some good information and is a cautionary story for landowners. However, we’re concerned the story doesn’t present the full picture–that some landowners DO get significant revenue from royalties and signing bonuses.
A new bill just introduced in the Pennsylvania House by State Rep. Eric Davanzo (Republican from Westmoreland County), House Bill (HB) 1763, clears up the confusion and bastardization of the term “royalty,” making it easy for everyone to know what can and cannot be deducted from royalties with respect to oil and gas leases. Davanzo got 23 of his fellow House members to co-sponsor the bill. It is a refreshingly simple bill that does not change any existing contracts. It defines the point to establish the value of gas (or oil) as that point when it is sold to an unrelated third-party purchaser. Simple!
A relatively short jury trial last week in a Belmont County, OH court resulted in a quick, three-and-a-half-hour decision in favor of a landowner against Rice Drilling (now EQT) and Gulfport Energy in a trespass case. The jury awarded the landowner, Tera LLC (owned by Thomas Shaw), a $40 million judgment. It’s believed to be the single largest jury award in Belmont County history.
Several weeks ago we brought you the news that landowner Gateway Royalty was sounding the alarm over a new bill quickly advancing in the Ohio legislature. Ohio’s House Bill (HB) 152 would use forced pooling if 65% of a proposed unit’s landowners are leased (too low a bar) and also would force the landowner to accept a 12.5% royalty and force them to accept post-production deductions with royalties in some cases potentially going down to nothing (see 
The Democrats in Congress are making another run at punishing (eliminating) the use of fossil fuels. About a month ago Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (wacko from Oregon) and 24 fellow Senate Democrats introduced a bill called “The Clean Energy for America Act”–an overhaul of the federal energy tax code, aimed at combating nonexistent human-caused climate change. This time around the Dems are targeting (among other things) repeal of the percentage depletion allowance that landowners and investors use in offsetting royalty payments for tax purposes. In other words, mom and pop landowners that receive royalties will see their federal income tax bills go up. Unless you stop this disgusting bill now, before it becomes law.