Barnett Shale

Networking site for oil and gas mineral-rights owners

For those who are owners of oil and gas mineral rights, there's a new Web site, www.mineralrightsforum.com,

It provides information on oil and gas issues, as well as allowing you to ask questions, share photos and videos and create blog posts. The forum features four discussion categories: general mineral rights, natural gas shale plays, oil and gas leasing help group and mineral rights tax issues. The site also offers a collection of informative videos on topics such as horizontal drilling with hydraulic fracturing and the setting up of a drilling rig. The site also includes news from the energy industry.

--Jack Z. Smith

 

Title insurance firms get a break on covering mineral rights

One more example of how the Barnett Shale has changed things: The Texas Department of Insurance settled a dispute between title insurance companies and real estate lawyers about whether the title companies have to check the ownership of mineral when they issue a title policy.

The insurance companies won, but keep an eye on the Texas Department of Insurance, which is scheduled to rule in November on whether consumers will get a discount on title insurance.  

http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1624915.html

Here's a previous story, with comments from more attorneys: http://www.star-telegram.com/804/story/1624915.html

-- Mike Lee

Mineral rights: Do you own them?

The biggest questions homeowners have been asking about themselves about mineral rights lately: 1) Do we own them? 2) How do we find out if we own them? 3) Do we hold on to them if we sell our house?And 4) What are the chances that we get them if we buy a home?

Here's Jim Fuquay's story on what you should know about mineral rights, and his account of what happened when he sought to determine whether he owns the mineral rights on his Arlington home.

-- Scott Nishimura