By Paul R. Yagelski, Esquire
Rothman Gordon
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
In Ascent Resources-Marcellus, LLC v. Huffman, 851 S.E. 2d 782 (W. Va. 2020) the Supreme Court of Appeals of West Virginia held that the implied right to pool and unitize could not be inferred from an unambiguous lease. In the absence of language, in an oil and gas lease showing that the parties contemplated that a lessee has a right to pool and unitize the lease with other estates, there can be no implied covenant to pool or unitize. The case concerned a ninety-four-acre tract of land (“Tract”) in Tyler County, West Virginia.
On February 6, 1980, the defendants’ predecessor in interest executed an oil and gas lease (“1980 Lease”) permitting the drilling of wells on the Tract to produce oil and gas. The 1980 Lease remained in effect because the wells on the Tract continued to produce oil and gas. Ascent held the right to drill wells on the Tract and produce oil and gas.