EARTHWORKS

Forced Pooling

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In Texas, some forced pooling allows drillers to (a) remove a property-owners gas without their consent (as does all forced pooling) and (b) not compensate the property owner, even if they own the mineral rights.

It's called "Rule 37".  And it appears to amount to state-sanctioned theft.

From ProPublica:

Forced pooling compels holdout landowners to join gas-leasing agreements with their neighbors. The specific provisions of the laws vary from state to state, but drillers are generally allowed to extract minerals from a large area or "pool"--in most states a minimum of 640 acres--if leases have been negotiated for a certain percentage of that land. The company can then harvest gas from the entire area. In most cases, drillers aren't allowed to build surface wells on unleased land, so they use horizontal wells or other means to collect the minerals beneath those parcels.


For more information:

Tagged with: texas, oil and gas, forced pooling, drilling

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