Bowles Rice has long been recognized as a leader in the natural resource industry in the Appalachian Basin, serving our clients since 1920. Bowles Rice is a full service law firm with offices in
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ATYNUMB attorneys and 150 professional support staff practicing in the region.
We have a strong tradition of providing solutions to our
oil and natural gas clients. Bowles Rice attorneys have served consecutively as the adjunct professor of Coal, Oil & Gas Law at the
West Virginia University College of Law for the last 30 years. Because of our recognized expertise in the oil and gas industry, Bowles Rice was selected to serve as general counsel to the
West Virginia Independent Oil and Gas Association.
We have assisted our clients in both complex and simple purchase and sale transactions and related financing arrangements; litigation matters involving
mineral leases and contract preparation;
title examinations;
environmental regulation and other issues generated by the
oil and natural gas industry. We have acted as legal counsel in
title disputes, oil and gas lease violation disputes, including
disputes over royalty, exploration and development and production obligations. We also are skilled in advising clients in gas contract litigation matters and litigation arising out of the
sale and purchase of oil and gas properties. Our clients include production companies, operating companies, well servicing companies, pipeline companies, small utility companies, construction companies and land holding companies.
We have a depth of experience representing clients in other oil and gas and energy-related transaction and business arrangements. We represent clients in all aspects of planning, zoning and other land use matters, including compliance with state and federal sales registration requirements. We have negotiated and drafted documents relating to the joint operation of oil and gas projects, including
joint venture agreements,
participation agreements, and
affiliation agreements. We regularly provide assistance with the pipeline approval process,
rights-of-way,
permitting and
reclamation issues, and can assist with negotiations with pipeline companies regarding capacity issues.
The firm has a highly effective
government relations team available to assist with matters before municipal, state and federal government agencies, as well as assist with drafting and monitoring legislation that may affect the oil and natural gas industry. We can provide consultation on legislative and regulatory matters, monitor legislation, provide written summaries of legislation, draft bills for introduction, draft amendments and amendments to regulations, prepare written comments, attend hearings related to legislation and regulation, and related matters.
Marcellus and Utica Shale Formations
Our firm also has a wealth of knowledge regarding the
Marcellus and Utica Shale formations and our attorneys are assisting clients in all aspects of the Marcellus and Utica development. One of our partners currently serves as in-house counsel to one of the
leading oil and gas production companies in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. As such, he is responsible for assisting the company in developing its Marcellus holdings in West Virginia and Pennsylvania. His responsibilities include strategic planning; acquisition and leasing of mineral interests and pipeline right of ways, and permitting Marcellus wells. The firm also is acutely aware of the water issues facing the oil and natural gas industry and it has assembled a team of attorneys and an environmental chemist that can assist clients with their evaluation of the new water guidelines, injection wells, water treatment facilities and proper land application.
Representative Work Highlights
- Bowles Rice has completed title examinations on thousands of mineral titles and provided title opinions in the tier one Marcellus counties in West Virginia.
- Bowles Rice represented five of the largest developers of the Marcellus Shale formation in West Virginia and Pennsylvania in recent acquisitions.
- Bowles Rice negotiated on behalf of two of our clients for the sale of approximately 400,000 acres of Marcellus Shale.
- Bowles Rice served as oil and gas counsel to a top private equity firm in connection with a $350 million investment in a large independent oil and gas producer.
- Bowles Rice teamed with a large international New York law firm and performed all mineral related due diligence on behalf of an operating company regarding a major transaction involving the potential acquisition of another operating company.
- Bowles Rice assisted a client in the installation of an extraction facility for the removal of liquids from natural gas.
- Bowles Rice provided all legal work, including environmental, permitting, property acquisition, and certificate of site approval for Longview Power, Inc. a 695 MW coal-fired power plant being constructed in Morgantown, West Virginia. This is a $1.8 billion plant that will employ 1900 workers.
- Bowles Rice intervened in two cases before the West Virginia Public Service Commission in an effort to monitor the sale of a public utility in West Virginia and to allow access to West Virginia producers to use an existing interstate pipeline.
- Bowles Rice is currently working on several title projects and rendering title opinions in several major acquisitions in north-central West Virginia, southwestern Pennsylvania and eastern Ohio.
- The Bowles Rice oil and gas team is assisting several clients, representing nearly 500,000 acres, in mapping the acreage and creating horizontal Marcellus units to maximize production.
- Bowles Rice is working with a mid-stream pipeline company in right of way acquisition, permitting and transmission agreements.