Insights
What is changing in Texas energy and critical-minerals law, and what to do about it — written by the partners who handle the work. First articles publish this fall.
We are preparing a series on the Texas and federal developments that matter to operators, developers, investors, and landowners in the Smackover trend, the Permian, Oklahoma, and Utah — written by the partners who handle the work, with sources cited and no client information. First pieces publish this fall.
In the queue:
Smackover Lithium's September 8, 2026 preliminary economic assessment for the Franklin Project describes 1,196 brine leases across Hopkins, Franklin, and Titus counties and up to 70,000 tonnes a year of lithium carbonate. Here is what the numbers mean for the legal work ahead.
Scott BeckmenTexas has no statute or appellate decision assigning dissolved lithium in Smackover brine to the surface or mineral estate. Here is where the law stands after the Texas Supreme Court's produced-water decision and the 2025 session, and how projects are managing the gap by contract.
Rand MarshThe Railroad Commission's brine production rule took effect February 18, 2025. A practical guide for developers to the permit, the Class V spent-brine injection authority, financial assurance, and the issues the first applications are raising.
Rand MarshTexas assigned geothermal energy to the surface owner in 2023 and expanded the Railroad Commission's role. Two deep geothermal permits and thousands of shallow ones later, here are the title and permitting questions the statute left open.
Rand MarshNon-op funds raised significant capital in 2026 and public non-ops screened billions of dollars of deals in a single quarter. What sponsors and investors should get right in the fund documents, the PSA, and the JOA.
Scott BeckmenA conventional oil and gas title opinion answers who owns the hydrocarbons. A Smackover lithium project needs an opinion that answers who owns the brine minerals — a different examination, from a different starting point. What a brine mineral title opinion covers and why lenders will ask for one.
Rand MarshWant a note when the first article is out? Tell us and we will let you know.