What is “pooling” and the Pugh clause?
The Pugh clause is too complicated for me. See this site. If you know of a better site, let me know. Here’s a bit more on the Pugh clause. Pooling is easier to describe: instead of finding every last mineral rights owner and contracting with each mineral rights owner on an individual basis (lots of time wasted), the producer/operator asks the state for permission to “pool” all mineral rights owners, thereby setting remuneration based on agreement reached with a majority of the mineral rights owners. It appears that the right to pool is the last step in the paperwork/bureaucratic process before preparation for drilling actually begins.
