Blake Waggoner
Partner
Blake Waggoner represents surface owners, mineral owners, non-executive mineral interest owners, non-participating royalty owners, overriding royalty owners, and non-operating working interest owners.
- Phone
- Email
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- Address4040 Broadway, Suite 430
Biography
Blake Waggoner represents surface owners, mineral owners, non-executive mineral interest owners, non-participating royalty owners, overriding royalty owners, and non-operating working interest owners. His practice is focused on all matters related to oil, gas and energy resources, and he also supports the firm’s litigation, estate planning, and real estate departments. He is from Dallas and is the son of a landman, and is from a family of ranchers and cotton farmers in the Texas Panhandle. Prior to joining the firm, Blake worked as a title attorney in the land department for a large, San Antonio-based natural gas operator for six and a half years, worked as a field landman, and worked as an oil and gas title attorney in Houston.
Blake is married to Leslie of Coahuila, Mexico, who is a Spanish teacher at San Antonio Academy. Blake and Leslie have two sons, Ricky and Max.
Professional Qualifications
Admitted to the Texas Bar in 2010
Admitted to the North Dakota Bar in 2011
Legal Education:
Southern Methodist University Dedman School of Law
Master of Business Administration: Southern Methodist University Cox School of Business
Board Certified, Oil, Gas and Mineral Law – Texas Board of Legal Specialization, 2021
Undergraduate Education: Texas Tech University Bachelors of Arts in English (4.0 GPA)
Representative Experience
- Drafts and negotiates oil, gas, and/or mineral leases, amendments, pooling agreements, production sharing agreements, surface use agreements, water agreements, and right of way agreements
- Confirms whether oil, gas, and/or mineral leases are in continuous development and are producing in paying quantities
- Analyzes lease savings clauses (including: operations clauses, shut-in provisions, and force majeure provisions) and minimum royalty and income provisions
- Reviews division order provisions and confirms operators’ timely payments of royalties, revenues, and constructive production payments
- Confirms operators’ net revenue, expense, and revenue interest calculations
- Assists with royalty audits and reviews operators’ calculations of royalty volumes, prices paid, and post production costs as well as determines whether owners are entitled to the benefits of processing
- Interprets and drafts mineral deeds, royalty deeds, reservations, assignments of working interests, assignments of overriding royalty interests, options, and rights of first refusals
- Negotiates and drafts all types of title curative instruments
- Prepares stand-up and sit-down ownership reports, memorandums of title, mineral and royalty title opinions, and acquisition title opinions
- Assists owners with being put in pay status and recovering funds that have been held in suspense, held by receivers, or escheated
- Assists surface owners with having operators plug wells and restore surface sites
- Reviews operating agreements, COPAS accounting issues, farmouts, term assignments, subleases, participation agreements, joint venture agreements, development agreements, exploration agreements, areas of mutual interest, and letter agreements on behalf of non-operating working interest owners
- Reviews purchase and sale agreements, letters of intent, and closing agreements
- Conducts due diligence for acquisitions and cures defects for divestitures
- Assists borrowers with title verification for energy-related financing transactions, including reserve-backed and term loans, cures lender requirements, and analyzes credit agreements
Professional Affiliations and Awards
- State Bar of Texas (Oil, Gas & Energy Resources Section)
- American Association of Professional Landmen
- San Antonio Association of Professional Landmen
- Association of International Petroleum Negotiators
Presentations
- Presented “Select Savings Clauses During These Uncertain Times” on November 9, 2020 to the San Antonio Association of Professional Landmen
- Presented “Tools of the Trade – Recent Trends in Continuous Development Clauses” on September 8, 2023 at the 41st Annual Advanced Oil, Gas and Energy Resources Law Course
- Presented “Tools of the Trade – Recent Trends in Continuous Development Clauses” on January 23, 2024 at the San Antonio Association of Professional Landmen 35th Annual Mid-Winter Seminar