Practice Contact: Eddie Hughes
eddie.hughes@taylorporter.com
225.381.0297

Since its founding in 1912, Taylor Porter has been a vital partner with the oil and gas industry in Louisiana, both on shore and offshore. Taylor Porter attorneys are well versed and experienced in virtually all aspects of energy and natural resources law. Taylor Porter attorneys advise and represent a wide range of clients, from Fortune 100 energy companies to independent exploration companies to landowners, on matters related to oil and gas contracts, mineral title examinations and title opinions, purchase and sale agreements, surface and subsurface leases, mineral leases, operating agreements, voluntary and reservoir-wide unit agreements, farmouts, subleases, assignments of leases and overriding royalties, master service agreements, drilling contracts and turnkey drilling agreements. 

Taylor Porter attorneys also have extensive expertise in pipeline matters representing both pipeline companies and landowners in matters related to right-of-way agreements, expropriation of rights-of-way, regulatory issues, and permits necessary for the transport of minerals through the state of Louisiana.

Taylor Porter attorneys also regularly practice before the State Mineral Board and the Louisiana Office of Conservation on leasing and unitization matters.

In addition to the firm’s extensive oil and gas transactional practice, Taylor Porter attorneys possess extensive expertise in oil and gas litigation, including royalty disputes, operating agreement disputes, and collection matters.  Moreover, Taylor Porter regularly represents a wide range of clients in “legacy” lawsuits, involving claims of environmental contamination and remediation, related to short-term and long-term exposure to hazardous materials, naturally occurring radioactive material (“NORM”), oil field waste, and products liability on lands with or near oil and gas operations.

Taylor Porter's representative oil and gas matters include:

• Lead counsel for the subsidiary of a Fortune 500 company defending indemnity and single business enterprise claims arising out of a previous oil and gas contamination suit.
• Lead counsel for a number of oil and gas operators in a mass tort suit filed by the SLFPA-E for damages arising out of oil and gas operations.
• Lead counsel for an independent exploration company involved in a dispute concerning an Area of Mutual Interest (AMI) and interpretation of a series of Joint Operating Agreements.
• Prosecuting and defending lawsuits arising from oil and gas well blowouts, fires, well site accidents, and environmental damage on behalf of landowners and oil companies.
• Representing property owners in boundary litigation to establish the surface dimensions of riparian tracts. Our Firm won a landmark decision in the Louisiana Supreme Court that establishes the controlling law in similar cases.
• Challenging a Commissioner of Conservation order resulting in establishing Louisiana law as to the extent of the duty of a unit operator to account to a non-operator for production.
• Negotiating and drafting oil and gas agreements, including leases, joint operating agreements, farmout agreements, servitudes, permits and unitization documents.
• Prosecuting a large claim for breach of contract damages for an interstate pipeline company against the multiple owners of a gas processing plant.
• Representing parties in unitization proceedings before the Louisiana Commissioner of Conservation.
• Representing oil and gas clients before the Louisiana State Mineral Board and other state agencies.
• Representing oil and gas working interest partners in cost and revenue accounting administrative proceedings.
• Examining mineral abstracts and issuing numerous mineral title opinions.

Articles and Publications

• "What Issues Should Landowners Consider Before Entering into Mineral Leases and Similar Agreements?" Author: Eddie Hughes, The Taylor RePorter Practice Area Blog, April 26, 2018