Pan American Petroleum Corp. v. Southland Royalty Co.

396 S.W.2d 519, 23 Oil & Gas Rep. 815, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2959
CourtCourt of Appeals of Texas
DecidedOctober 27, 1965
Docket5733
StatusPublished
Cited by10 cases

This text of 396 S.W.2d 519 (Pan American Petroleum Corp. v. Southland Royalty Co.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals of Texas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Pan American Petroleum Corp. v. Southland Royalty Co., 396 S.W.2d 519, 23 Oil & Gas Rep. 815, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2959 (Tex. Ct. App. 1965).

Opinion

FRASER, Chief Justice.

This is an appeal from a summary judgment rendered by the District Court of Winkler County, Texas, in response to a motion therefor presented by plaintiffs. The said judgment recites that there is no substantial dispute as to any material fact and that the plaintiffs are entitled to judgment as a matter of law, and there are no items of expense incurred by the defendants that are properly chargeable against the proceeds of the sale of gas and distillate except taxes levied by the State of Texas. (There appears to be no dispute as to the amounts representing sales and taxes.)

This case was tried once before, and the Supreme Court of Texas handed down its opinion reversing the judgments of both the trial court and this Court of Civil Appeals. Because of the nature of this case, we feel it necessary to present somewhat lengthy excerpts from the last and controlling decision by the Supreme Court, construing the lease involved in this controversy. It is well to note that at the conclusion of the majority opinion, the Supreme Court, speaking through Justice Hamilton, said: “ * * * and the cause *521 is remanded to the District Court for further proceedings in accordance with this opinion.” This opinion by the Texas Supreme Court is found in Volume 378 S.W. 2d, page SO. The Supreme Court, in a thorough and well-documented opinion, construes the lease herein involved and the meaning of its terms. We quote from said opinion as follows:

“In 1925 H. G. Hendrick and wife Ida Hendrick leased to J. W. Grant 10,240 acres of land in Winkler County for the purpose of mining and operating for oil, gas, potash and other minerals, subject to certain covenants. We will quote the pertinent parts of said lease:
‘ * * * do grant, lease and let unto the said lessee for the sole and only purpose of mining and operating for oil and gas potash or other minerals * * *.
Tt is agreed that this lease shall remain in force for a term of 20 years from this date, and as long thereafter as oil or gas, potash or other minerals or either of them is produced from said land by the lessee.
‘In consideration of the premises the said lessee covenants and agrees:
‘1st. To deliver to the credit of lessor, free of cost, in the pipe line to which they may connect their • wells, the equal one-eighth part of all oil produced and saved from the the leased premises and Y of the net proceeds of potash and other minerals at the mine.
‘2d. To pay the lessor One Hundred Dollars, each year in advance for the gas from each well where gas only is found, while the same is being used off the premises, and lessor to have gas free of cost from any such well for all stoves and all inside lights in the principal dwelling house on said land during the time by making their own connections with the well at their own risk and expense.
‘3rd. To pay lessor for gas produced from any oil well and used off the premises at the rate of Fifty and No/100 Dollars per year for the time during which such gas shall be used, said payments to be made each three months in advance.
******
‘Lessee shall have the right to use, free of cost, gas, oil and water produced on said land for all operations thereon, except water wells of lessor.’
“This lease is on a printed form in which the blanks have been filled in with a typewriter and certain inter-lineations made in longhand on the printed portions thereof. The inter-lineations in the quoted part above are italicized. The respondents are the present owners of the lease in so far as it covers three-fourths of a section of land (480 acres) of the 10,240 acres included therein, and petitioners are the owners of varying mineral interests in the lands covered by the lease, including the 480 acres of land which is involved in this lawsuit.”

The court then recounts the history of the development of this lease, pointing out therein that respondent-defendants paid $50.00 per well per year where gas was being taken from a well producing both oil and gas, and $100.00 per well per year where the well produced gas only. Respondents had from time to time been selling some gas to other operators for use in developing and processing on their own properties. The court then goes on to say:

“ * * * Petitioners were not notified of such sales, nor did the respondents pay petitioners Y& of the proceeds of such sales. It is undisputed that the petitioners had no knowledge of any such sales.
*522 “Respondents drilled a deep gas well on petitioners’ portion of the T. J. Hendrick lease in 1956 which produced gas only. They began selling the gas from this well in 1958. Two other deep gas wells were completed, one in 1958 and one in early 1959, from which respondents began selling gas. Petitioners learned of such sales shortly before filing this suit in 1959, at which time respondents were selling gas from these three wells at the rate of more than a million dollars’ worth per year.
“Petitioners contend that respondents are obligated to them for the payment of of the proceeds of the sale of gas from their portion of the premises covered by the lease as provided in the first royalty clause therein. Respondents contend that they are only obligated to pay for gas used or sold under the provisions of paragraphs 2 and 3, contending that the first royalty provision does not provide for royalty on gas. The Court of Civil Appeals has held that the first royalty provision does not provide for the payment of royalty on gas, and that respondents are liable only under 2 and 3.”
* * He * * #
“On the face of the lease as finally written and executed by the parties there is a possible conflict between the first royalty clause and the second and third royalty clauses. The first royalty clause, as amended, imposes a clear legal obligation to pay royalty of l^th of the net proceeds on gas sold, including gas sold for use by others off the premises, and which in its second and third royalty clauses does not impose clear legal obligations to pay flat-rate royalties on gas sold for use by others off the premises but are ambiguous in that respect. If we construe the second and third clauses as imposing obligations to pay the flat-rate royalties while gas is being used off the premises by others to whom the gas is sold, as well as by the lessee, we either create an absolute repugnancy between the royalty clauses or we impose an obligation to pay both the percentage and the flat-rate royalties for gas sold. On the other hand, if we construe the second and third royalty clauses as imposing obligations to pay the flat-rate royalties only while gas is being used off the premises by the lessee, repug-nancy is avoided. The obligation would be to pay the percentage royalty on gas sold and the flat-rate royalty on the gas used off the premises. Thus none of the clauses are nullified and all three clauses are given meaning and operative effect. Sound rules of construction require us so to construe them. Woods v. Sims, 154 Tex.

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396 S.W.2d 519, 23 Oil & Gas Rep. 815, 1965 Tex. App. LEXIS 2959, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/pan-american-petroleum-corp-v-southland-royalty-co-texapp-1965.