Welcome to LawShelf’s video course on Oil, Gas and Mineral Rights. This course focuses on the ownership, exploration and accessing of subterranean resources.

This is an intermediate level course, as it builds on principles of real property law. Nevertheless, it can be taken and understood by someone without a background in property law.

The first module looks at the development of oil, gas and mineral law and looks at common law rules that affect the subject including the rule of capture and the doctrine of correlative rights. We will also look at the roles of state conservation and land use regulations. Finally, the module discusses basic property ownership principles of subsurface rights and causes of action available to owners of these resources.

The second module looks at the various rights held by the landowners and discusses how these can be transferred. We will look at mineral deeds, mineral leases and mineral states that can be created through dormant mineral statutes.

In module three, we will turn to mineral rights leases, including the natures of these arrangements and the ways in which they are conveyed. We will discuss the most common forms of natural resource leases and various state rules that limit what leases can convey. We will also discuss many common contractual provisions that frequent these leases.

In the fourth module, we will turn to other types of mineral contracts and transactions, including express and implied rights in mineral granting clauses, delay-rental terms and royalties. We will also focus on mineral lease negotiations.

Module five wraps up the course with a discussion of resource extraction from public lands. This includes the federal land use policy under various pieces of federal legislation, the discussion of the administrative agencies that regulate resource extraction and permits to extract resources from public lands.

This course will supply you with an in-depth understanding of the unique applications of property law to natural resources and the unique issues faced by owners, buyers and leasors of land that has the potential to extract oil, gas and mineral resources.

Best of luck and we welcome your feedback!