Mark W. Hanna

Energy Advice & Transactions

• Advised multiple publicly traded and private companies on regulatory and legal issues related to the development of their oil and gas assets in the Eagle Ford Shale, Permian and Delaware basins, including advice on drilling permits, lease amendments, pooling authority, title issues and operating agreements
• Advised clients in the renewable and green energy spheres, including projects related to carbon sequestration, solar-, wind- and geothermal-power generation, and lithium mining
• Advised clients on negotiating and complying with joint operating agreement (JOA) provisions, including well proposals, operator removal and non-consent issues
• Advised clients on issues related to brine mining and storage caverns, including issues related to surface use, storage lease terms, and regulatory compliance
• Advised clients on oil and gas pooled unit formation, drafting production sharing agreements, and drilling allocation wells
• Advised clients on oil and gas lease drafting and interpretation issues, including retained-acreage provisions, continuous-development issues, and lease-termination questions

Energy Litigation

• Represented an Eagle Ford operator in a AAA Arbitration on drainage and royalty claims
• Represented numerous operator clients in title litigation, working-interest owner disputes, and lessor disputes
• Won summary judgment on behalf of a Permian operator on retained acreage claims
• Won summary judgment on a title claim in Reagan County, Texas
• Represented an oil and gas operator in title litigation filed in East Texas, securing a favorable settlement that cleared the way for the client to develop its leases
• Represented a client in a title-defect arbitration related to lease acquired under a purchase and sale agreement, obtaining a favorable final arbitration award
• Defended a publicly traded oil and gas company in defending lease termination and failure to develop claims on a several-thousand-acre lease in South Texas

Royalty Litigation and Advice

• Represented multiple operators in royalty litigation, related to post-production costs, non-participating royalties, market value issues, and allocation issues throughout Texas courts
• Advised multiple operators on fieldwide review of oil and gas lease royalty provisions
• Assisted numerous oil and gas companies in responding to royalty audits
• Advised clients in response to royalty demand letters
• Represented clients in connection with General Land Office audits of royalty payments

Texas Railroad Commission Practice

• First-chaired numerous administrative trials to final orders
• Advised clients on permitting of horizontal and vertical oil and gas wells, including issues related to Rule 37 exceptions, allocation wells, PSA wells, and no-perf zones
• Represented clients in obtaining new and amended field rules
• Represented clients in enforcement and complaint proceedings
• Represented clients in forced pooling (MIPA) applications
• Represented clients related to pipeline permitting issues
• Represented clients related to brine mining issues
• Represented clients related to cavern storage issues
• Represented clients related to carbon injection issues

Commercial Litigation

• Represented an Austin company in business-divorce and fiduciary-duty litigation, obtaining a temporary restraining order and settlement
• Represented a service company in claims of stolen corporate opportunity and trade secrets
• Represented an Austin engineering firm in recovering fees for work performed and defending counter-allegations