A comprehensive guide to and analysis of the complex legal document known as the Oil and Gas Lease, including all the relevant cases that have been handed down since publication of the second edition.

Long recognized as the standard work on the topic, The Oil and Gas Lease in Canada discusses the legal document that determines the process by which a freehold mineral owner may grant oil companies the right to search for and produce minerals. Subjected to ongoing litigation and governmental regulation, the Lease continues to evolve as the body of common law surrounding it grows and develops. The substances covered by the Lease are unique in that their occurrence is uncertain until discovery, and they are capable of moving from place to place within a reservoir. These qualities have led to the development of new legal concepts, basically creating a separate and distinct branch of the law. This fourth edition of The Oil and Gas Lease in Canada guides the reader through the complexities of the Lease and the legal issues attached to it. John Bishop Ballem brings the text up to date on recent developments, including changes and additions to the terms of the Lease, the effect of recent court decisions, and the growth of coal bed methane as an energy source. Of particular interest is his examination of what takes place following a Lease's involuntary termination. Ballem deals with specific examples of this situation, detailing its consequences for both individual mineral owners and companies, as well as for future judicial pronouncements. The fourth edition of The Oil and Gas Lease in Canada is indispensable for mineral owners, oil companies, land agents, lawyers, and legal institutions.

What does the future hold for oil and gas, what can we learn from the past and what role does law have to play in this? Using a unique temporal lens, this Research Handbook examines core themes in oil and gas regulation from historical, contemporary and forward-looking perspectives.

Onshore unconventional gas operations, in most jurisdictions, operate on the legal principle that all activities during exploration and extraction are ‘temporary’ in nature. The concept that the onshore unconventional gas industry has a temporary effect on the land on which it operates creates a regulatory paradox. On one hand, unconventional gas activities create energy security, national wealth and a bourgeoning export industry. On the other, agricultural land and agriculturalists may be significantly disadvantaged by unconventional gas activities potentially producing permanent damage to non-renewable fertile soils and spoiling the underground water tables. Thus, threatening future food security and food sovereignty. This book explores the socio-regulatory dimensions of coexistence between agricultural and onshore unconventional gas land uses in the jurisdictions with the highest concentration of proven unconventional gas reserves – Australia, Canada, the USA, the UK, France, Poland and China. In exploring the differing regulatory standpoints of unconventional gas land uses on productive farming land in the chosen jurisdictions, this book provides an original three-part categorisation of regulatory approaches addressing the coexistence of agricultural land and unconventional gas namely: adaptive management, precautionary and, finally, statism. It offers a timely and topical approach to socio-legal natural resource governance theory based on the participation, transparency and empowerment for agricultural landholders, examining how differing frameworks such as the collective bargaining framework can create equitable and sustainable contractual arrangements with unconventional gas companies.