CHAPTER 10 ADAPTING FEDERAL UNITS AND UNIT OPERATING AGREEMENTS TO ACCOUNT FOR HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT

• Jurisdiction: United States

Horizontal Oil & Gas Development
(Nov 2012)
CHAPTER 10
ADAPTING FEDERAL UNITS AND UNIT OPERATING AGREEMENTS TO ACCOUNT FOR HORIZONTAL DEVELOPMENT
J. David Chase
Bureau of Land Management, Reservoir Management Group
Casper, WY
Gregory J. Nibert
Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin, L.L.P.
Roswell, NM
Jared A. Hembree
Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin, L.L.P.
Roswell, NM
Paul S. Conner
UnitSource Incorporated
Denver, CO

DAVID CHASE is the chief of the Reservoir Management Group (RMG) for the Department of the Interior Bureau of Land Management (BLM) in Casper, Wyoming. He is responsible for the following BLM programs in Wyoming: unitization and communitization, drainage, gas storage, Indian diligence and reasonable foreseeable development scenarios for NEPA documents. After receiving a B.S. degree in petroleum engineering from the University of Wyoming in December 1983, he started his BLM career in Lander in February 1984 as a drilling and production engineer. He transferred to Rock Springs in June 1987 to work with the BLM as a reservoir engineer. In August 1993, when the RMG was formed, Dave moved to Casper to work as a reservoir engineer before becoming the chief in July 2008. Dave has a wide range of knowledge working with all aspects of unitization agreements, including lease suspensions and unavoidable delay requests, paying well determinations and establishment and revision of participating areas.

GREGORY J. NIBERT is a resident partner in the Roswell, New Mexico, office of Hinkle, Hensley, Shanor & Martin, L.L.P., and is assigned to the firm's Oil and Gas Department. Mr. Nibert's practice is primarily limited to oil and gas law, including title examination, financing, contract preparation, acquisitions and divestitures, division orders, oil and gas administrative agency matters and all other aspects of oil and gas law. He is a New Mexico Board of Legal Specialization recognized specialist in oil and gas law. Mr. Nibert is the annual update author of Chapter 18, "Unitization and Communitization," of the Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases and has presented papers and speeches to a number of organizations on oil and gas law topics, including the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation ("RMMLF"); American Association of Professional Landmen (AAPL); the State Bar of New Mexico Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law; The University of Texas School of Law Oil, Gas & Mineral Law Institute; New Mexico Landmen's...