TLD 002 - Rethinking Renewables Development with Brad Gibbs + Brent Broussard

With a continued increase in renewables development across the country, are developers adequately accounting for mineral rights? We invite Texas attorney Brad Gibbs of Oliva Gibbs LLP to join us for a conversation on the challenges of renewables development and what developers need to consider as they approach new projects.

Show Notes

‍00:00 - Intro to Oliva Gibbs LLP
‍02:26 - Accommodations Between Mineral & Surface Owners
‍06:22 - How Much Mineral Accommodation?
‍10:23 - The Influence of Historic Activity on Renewables Development
‍14:04 - Securing Waivers From Underlying Mineral Owners
‍17:52 - CCS In Texas
‍24:01 - Permitting Primacy for CCS
‍26:06 - Boots Meets Birkenstocks
‍31:34 - Oil & Gas Trends

Snippets About The State Of Land

“[Renewables developers] need to be thinking about the mineral estate in Texas. This shouldn't be an afterthought.” - Brent Broussard

“We've been seeing our oil and gas knowledge get a lot more traction with renewables developers because they're just not aware of some of these [mineral] issues and they're coming to light on the back end when there's already a lot of sunk cost.” - Brad Gibbs

“Another hot topic in Texas is the idea of an allocation and production sharing agreement… if you can get 65% of the owners to sign off on a production sharing agreement for these types of wells, that's enough to get permitted for a psa.” - Brad Gibbs

“Like anything in business, it's what your risk tolerance is and what your economics can handle.” - Brent Broussard

“I think you should try to start identifying these issues as early as possible. It should really be part of initially analyzing a potential tract.” - Brad Gibbs

“How can we determine the value of your minerals if you've never tried to market them in any way?” - Brad Gibbs

“Solar facilities are very surface use intensive. They blanket nearly the entire surface unless you specifically designate a small drilling area somewhere. So that's the reason that covering a parcel of land with a solar facility can essentially destroy all value of the minerals underneath it, at least from a legal standpoint.” - Brad Gibbs

“A lot of the decision making on our part is around, ‘what surface owners also own minerals? Let's try to build our project there so that by virtue of securing our carbon leases, we've also minimized our risk on the mineral estate side.” - Brent Broussard

“ I would expect the Gulf Coast states to want to get in line and try to streamline the Permitting Primacy process in the coming months and years.” - Brent Broussard

“The value that a good broker familiar with the area really brings to the table is they understand mineral title. Many title insurance companies and underwriters don't really know the first thing about oil and gas titles.” - Brad Gibbs

“You're dealing with people and people are proud of what they have. You have to respect them and do your best to educate them, but also represent your client and negotiate in your client's best interest.” - Brent Broussard

“Everybody’s busy. We're seeing more capital discipline. A lot of companies are running less rigs, but trying to get a lot more value out of them. Drilling more, but in infill type locations, maximizing their value as much as possible.” - Brad Gibbs