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Court decides oil and gas revenue belongs to state

In a recent appellant court decision, the State of Louisiana stands to receive over $5.3 million of past oil and gas revenue, plus future oil and gas production from a land-ownership dispute case in Cameron Parish. State Department of Natural Resources (DNR) officials said in February, the Louisiana Third Circuit Court of Appeal reversed an earlier district court opinion that awarded private landowners oil production revenues.

The case, Riceland Petroleum Company vs. North American Land Company, Inc., Stream Family Limited Partnership, et al, and the Louisiana Mineral Board, was introduced in the 38th Judicial District Court in Cameron Parish in 2002. The dispute centers on claims by the state and private landowners as to ownership of property along the shoreline of the Gulf of Mexico. Because of accretion, the shoreline of the Gulf had moved several hundreds of feet south over the years.

Both parties claimed interests in the oil and gas production and the land adjacent to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico. In the district court decision, the federal law giving accretion to the private landowners abutting the seashore was determined to be applicable in Louisiana. In appealing the case, the state’s argument prevailed that under Louisiana law since statehood in 1812, private landowners have no right to the accretion that attaches to the shore of the Gulf of Mexico.

Officials at DNR and the Attorney General’s Office contend that other cases relied on by the district courts did not apply but that once title to lands is in the state, state property law, not federal property law applies. Moreover, state officials and attorneys representing the case, adamantly defend the position of the appeals court since there are vast amounts of land and oil and gas revenue from lands that have formed along the coast between the time Louisiana acquired title from the federal government and the present.

Editors: For more information on this topic, contact the DNR Legal Office, Executive Counsel Warren Fleet at225-342-4544 or Public Information Office at 225-342-8955.