Arbitration Agreements in Class Actions
FBFK Law attorney Desireé M. Malone, along with Tyler Boyce of King & Spalding LLP and Panuswee Dwivedi of ADI Analytics, LLC, examines the evolving legal and commercial landscape surrounding produced water ownership in Texas in the latest issue of The Energy Dispatch, published by the Institute for Energy Law.
In “Ownership of Produced Water,” the authors analyze the Texas Supreme Court’s decision in Cactus Water Services, LLC v. COG Operating, LLC, which held that produced water belongs to mineral interest owners under standard oil and gas leases. The decision established an important default rule for produced water ownership while also leaving several issues unresolved, including questions involving contractual reservations, unleased minerals, and the ownership of valuable substances contained within produced water.
The article also examines how rising produced water volumes are reshaping the commercial and regulatory landscape across the oil and gas industry. As operators explore increased recycling and reuse, new water infrastructure, and technologies designed to extract commercially valuable minerals such as lithium, produced water is increasingly being viewed as more than a costly byproduct of oil and gas production.
These developments have important implications for operators, mineral owners, landowners, midstream companies, investors, and technology providers as ownership rights, contractual provisions, infrastructure needs, and potential revenue opportunities continue to evolve.