What Constitutes Oil, Gas, and Other Minerals in a Changing Market?

For over a century, the interpretation of "minerals" in property grants has perplexed courts, especially when paired with terms like "oil and gas" or "hydrocarbons." This presentation delves into whether "minerals" encompasses critical minerals like copper, lithium, and cobalt, essential for renewable technologies, and explores legal tests and canons that guide these determinations, including the "ordinary and natural meaning" and "surface destruction" tests, and the ejusdem generis rule.

Credit(s)

0.8

CO Approval ID

849637

Original Program Date

July 18, 2024

Duration

38 minutes

For over a century, courts have struggled with the meaning of the term "minerals" in a grant or reservation, including when "other minerals" is preceded by a conveyance of "oil and gas," "oil rights," "hydrocarbons," or other substances. When does the term "minerals" or "other minerals" include increasingly essential critical minerals for renewable and battery technologies such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt, and rare elements, or other minerals important for the energy transition such as uranium and helium? Does the term "gas" include natural gas liquids or non-hydrocarbon gases such as CO₂? This presentation will examine these and similar questions in the context of a changing energy market, including historical rules such as the "ordinary and natural meaning" test, the surface destruction test, and the substance-by-substance approach, the application of canons of construction such as the ejusdem generis rule, and the admissibility of surrounding circumstances evidence to determine when a substance is or is not conveyed.

Video presentation from the 70th Annual Natural Resources and Energy Law Institute.

Speakers

Credits

Materials

1 CLE Credit – Approval ID: CO ID - 849637

This course has been accredited for CLE credit in Colorado. CLE credit hours shown are for Colorado only. A CLE course number for Colorado will be provided to attendees on their certificates of attendance once a course has been completed. New Mexico attorneys who complete a course must notify us (cle@rmmlf.org) because we are required to report credits for you. If this course has been approved for RPL/CPL credit with the American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL), the credits will be listed below in a separate section for AAPL. If applicable, Component Codes for AAPL recertification will also be provided. Please contact RMMLF if you need independent verification by the provider of your attendance or participation for CLE purposes. Except as provided above, RMMLF generally does not apply for accreditation from any other MCLE/CPD organizations for its online legal education program. Upon completion of a program a certificate of attendance will be issued to all attendees. Except as provided above, attendees must verify with their respective state bars and CPD organizations and their specific rules as to whether or not the certificate of attendance will be recognized by that body for MCLE/CPD purposes, and the number of CLE/CPD credits that may be available. The live presentation of the on-demand program has been accredited in most mandatory states as part of a larger course, but such accreditation does not assure recognition of the on-demand program.

BEN HOLLIDAY, a graduate of Texas A&M University and St. Mary’s University School of Law, he began his career as field landman leasing in South Texas and along the Gulf Coast. Shortly thereafter, he moved in-house with David H. Arrington Oil & Gas as a member of the Barnett Shale asset team. Since 2010, Ben has focused on representing operators with a focus on regulatory and title examination. Ben is the President of Holliday Energy Law Group and Massive Minerals Management, is Board Certified in Oil, Gas, and Mineral Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, is the current South Texas Regional Director for AAPL, and a Past President of the San Antonio Association of Professional Landmen.