Jordan Mullins

Author: Jordan Mullins

Jordan Mullins represents individuals and businesses in commercial disputes with an emphasis on energy industry clients. He has represented energy industry clients in actions in Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Louisiana, and Wyoming. Jordan’s strength lies in distilling factual details into persuasive themes to present to a jury, ultimately making the most complicated cases understandable and the client’s position clear. He is experienced in matching litigation tactics to business objectives. His litigation skill has been recognized by his peers, including as one of the Texas Super Lawyers Rising Stars in 2017 and 2018.

11Jun

Texas Supreme Court Holds that Assignment Conveyed Entire Lease Interest, Not Merely A Wellbore Interest

Posted by: Jordan Mullins and Michael Szymanski in Case Law Update

Piranha Partners v. Neuhoff, No. 18-0581, 63 Tex. Sup. Ct. J. 474, 2020 Tex. LEXIS 136 (Tex. Feb. 21, 2020)

Where parties assign an interest in a lease with a single existing well, disputes can sometimes arise when the leasehold is further developed. Was the parties’ intent for the assignment to be limited to that single wellbore or did it also include production from later-drilled wells? The Texas Supreme Court reviewed a dispute as to whether an assignment of an overriding royalty interest conveyed an interest limited to an entire lease, a single well, or to the lands identified in the assignment.

15May

Highway to Oil: Strip-And-Gore Leads to 30-Acres of Minerals Underlying a Highway

Posted by: Austin Brister and Jordan Mullins in Case Law Update

Green v. Chesapeake Expl., L.L.C., No. 02-17-00405-CV, 2018 Tex.; App. LEXIS 10307 (Tex. App.-Fort Worth Dec. 13, 2018, no pet.)

In urban oil and gas plays such as the Barnett Shale, horizontal drilling has “paved the way” for oil and gas operators to drill through and produce minerals underlying highways, streets, and roadways. Even in rural areas across Texas, after help has been used to get mineral rights, numerous horizontal wells have been drilled underneath roads and highways. As a result, several reported cases in recent years have involved title to minerals underlying roadways. Landmen of the vertical era may have paid little attention to mineral title underlying roadway tracts. After all, one option may have been simply to drill the vertical well next to the road or to omit the roadway tract from the unit. However, horizontal drilling significantly altered this analysis, as geological implications and long horizontal laterals may dictate that the horizontal wellbore pass under the roadway, significantly increasing the odds that a roadway tract will be a “drillsite tract.” The result is that mineral title and pooling issues are more likely of critical concern.