Proposed Pennsylvania Bill Would Result in Lease Expiration as to Land Not Being Used for Oil or Gas Production
This post was written by Nicolle Bagnell and Ariel Nieland.
In addition to a number of other Marcellus Shale-related bills introduced in the Pennsylvania House and Senate over the past few months, Senate Bill 722 was also laid on the table last week. The bill proposes to amend the Oil and Gas Act in order to spell out exactly what would happen to leased land that neither contains a well nor is included in a production unit. The bill is, in effect, a statutory version of a Pugh Clause commonly found in oil and gas leases. According to the language of the bill, any land covered by a lease, but not included in the unit, would be released.
