Gray Reed & McGraw LLP (LexBlog Mexico)

Co-author Travis Nadalini The negotiators and scriveners of the purchase and sale agreement in Matter of PetroQuest Energy, Incorporated would have been well served to consider all the potential ramifications, however remote, flowing from the definitions in their agreement. (Potential reply: “Who woulda thunk THAT would happen?”) The Fifth Circuit, applying Louisiana law, held that...

At issue in RKI Exploration and Production LLC v. AmeriFlow Energy Services LLC and Crescent Services, LLC. were two Master Service Agreements.  RKI was the operator of a well in Loving County; AmeriFlow and Crescent were contractors. A sand separator exploded at the well site injuring or killing three workers who worked for another subcontractor....

Co-author David Leonard McFarland Land & Cattle, Inc. v. Caprock Solar I, LLC considered what is the required under New Mexico law to establish a public prescriptive easement, and brings to life the full meaning of “100 feet of bad road”. The facts A state road runs along section lines that divides property owned by...

A fellow walks into a bar in New Orleans. “What’ll it be?” “A Corona and two Hurricanes,” says he. “Here you go. That’ll be $20.20.” Co-author Rusty Tucker Now, on to operations in hurricane-free New Mexico. Lessons from BEPCO, L.P. v. RMTDC Operations, LLC d/b/a Total Energy Services: Hire a good company man and trust...

Did Texas law or New Mexico law apply to knock-for-knock indemnity provisions in a Master Work and Services Agreement?  When a contract explicitly calls for Texas law, that is likely to be the outcome, as it was in North American Tubular Services LLC v. BOPCO, LP. Takeaways Decide before something bad happens what law you want...

Co-author Sheena Shaghaghi Benjamin Franklin would be relieved. Just when it seems that the taxman always wins, he doesn’t. In CGG Americas, Inc. v. Commissioner the U. S. Tax Court concluded that a taxpayer need not own underlying hydrocarbons in order to take a deduction for geological and geophysical expenses. Counterintuitive, you say? Read on. CGGA “shoots seismic” for a living....

In a case displaying the tactics of anti-fossil fuel advocates, Earthworks’ Oil & Gas Accountability Project v. New Mexico Oil Conservation Commission, a court rejected a challenge to the Commission’s amendment of the “Pit Rule”.  This post is not so much about the Pit Rule itself as it is the absence of legal and factual...

Co-author Alexandra Crawley In Elm Ridge Exploration Co., LLC v. Engle we are reminded of a little-used provision in the 1989 Model Form Operating Agreement. Article VI.D.1 allows the operator to use its own equipment, but his charges may not exceed prevailing rates in the area, and the rates must be agreed to in writing before...

Co-author  Alexandra Crawley                                             Is freedom to contract a good thing for everybody?  First Baptist Church of Roswell v. Yates Petroleum Corp. says yes, and confirms that the public policy in New Mexico is freedom to contract. In this case, it was to avoid the Proceeds Payment Act requirement for payment of interest on well proceeds once a legal...

Ron Curry is the EPA’s new administrator for Region 6, which is responsible for enforcement of federal environmental laws in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Arkansas.  Mr. Curry replaces Al “Crucify ’em” Armendariz, who was sacked earlier this year after comments, caught on video, in which he likened his tactics to the Romans of antiquity who supressed the villages they...

BY CHANCE DECKER The oil patch breathed a collective sigh of relief on June 13 when the US Fish and Wildlife Service announced it would withdraw its proposal to list the dunes sagebrush lizard (which inhabits parts of eastern New Mexico and Texas’s Permian Basin) as threatened or endangered under the Endangered Species Act (the ESA)....

Paige Turner works at a small bookstore in El Paso, Texas directly on the U.S./Mexico border. As a result of a string of armed robberies in the same shopping center, Paige wants to carry a handgun while at work. After weeks of research, Paige finally settles on a Glock 9 mm, attends a concealed handgun...