Malcolm S. Murchison

Malcolm Murchison maintains a broad based commercial law practice. His variety of skills equip him to handle a wide range of legal issues for his clients, including oil and gas, real estate, corporate formations/mergers/dissolutions, commercial lending, and financing arrangements, state and local tax disputes, and land-use issues. He has significant experience in handling Louisiana mineral interest issues ranging from acquisitions, title examinations, participation, joint development, and operating agreements to Louisiana Office of Conservation (“LOC”) work involving both oil and gas and lignite regulation. The primary areas in which he practices include environmental law, energy, and natural resources law and real estate. His clients include electric utilities, oil and gas producers and pipeline companies.

Malcolm has been recognized in The Best Lawyers in America® since 2010 – Energy Law, Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental, Mining Law, Natural Resources Law, Oil & Gas Law, Real Estate Law.

Malcolm performed all of the legal services required by the owner of the Dolet Hill Lignite Mine. The Dolet Hills Mine was Louisiana’s first commercial lignite surface mine, encompassing over 30,000 acres in DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. The Mine served as the“baseload” fuel supply for the Dolet Hills Power Plant, a 640 megawatt lignite fired generating unit also located in DeSoto Parish, Lou-isiana. The work for this project included the preparation of all of the various fuel supply agreements with the Mine’s contract miner and other lignite fuel suppliers, the preliminary and supplemental lignite title opinions for the 30,000 ” acres located within the Permit Area of the Dolet Hills Lignite Mine and the land where the Power Plant is located, and the provision of opinions, advice and documents with respect to the various legal and environmental issues presented by the operations of the Mine and the Plant. Malcolm also has substantial experience in Texas oil and gas exploration and development and lignite surface mining issues, and in the negotiation, preparation and administration of Texas lignite contract mining agreements, western coal supply agreements and rail transportation agreements.

Negotiated an agreement with the Louisiana Department of Revenue and Taxation that resulted in the determination that lignite coal produced from the Dolet Hills Mine was not subject to the Louisiana sales and use tax, resulting in fuel cost savings in excess of $2,500,000 per year for the Dolet Hills Power Plant.

Representation of an electric utility in connection with the client’s development of a 4000+ acre solar energy farm. Our work involved the evaluation of the right to use the surface held by third party mineral rights owners which cover and affect the lands involved, and the negotiation of surface use agreements with the mineral rights owners to authorize the collaborative development of the subject lands.

Representation of a lignite coal mining company in its negotiations with an integrated, closely held oil and gas company for the acquisition of lignite and other surface mining rights controlled by the oil and gas company. These lands involve over 730 acres of land situated in five different governmental sections of land that hold over 3.8 million tons of minable lignite for inclusion in an integrated lignite surface mining operation in Northwest Louisiana. Our representation has included the presentation to the oil and gas company of the client’s mining plan and negotiation and preparation of the lignite and other coal leases and surface use agreements that addressed the joint, contemporaneous development of the land for both oil and gas and coal and lignite development.

Representation of an independent oil and gas exploration company in its successful acquisition from a publicly traded oil and gas exploration company of a 72% net revenue interest in 2,640+/- acres of oil and gas leases that are “held by production” and cover seven sections of land in the East Holly Field of DeSoto Parish, Louisiana. This acreage is held by natural gas production from the “Haynesville Shale” formation by third parties and includes the Cotton Valley formation and depths above the Cotton Valley formation. The Firm represented the Buyer in the negotiation and execution of the Purchase and Sale Agreement, the performance of the Buyer’s due diligence investigations, and the closing of the acquisition.

Representation of an independent oil and gas exploration company in its successful negotiation with a capital venture fund for the funding of the development of an enhanced oil recovery prospect (the “Prospect”) involving oil, gas and mineral leases covering 4,080 net acres, more or less, located in Miller County, Arkansas (the “Leases”). He negotiated and drafted the organizational documents for the formation of a limited liability company (the “Company”) operated by the parties to acquire the Leases and develop, operate, lease and sell oil, gas and mineral interests, and wells related thereto in the Prospect, and other prospects in which oil, gas and mineral leases may be acquired for development by the Company.

Representation of a capital investment client in the negotiation, drafting and execution of a “License Agreement” by which the client obtained exclusive “worldwide” development and licensing rights to a public Louisiana university’s patents for the use of nanofilament catalytic materials in the Fischer-Tropsch Synthesis (conversion of natural gas to diesel) process first developed by the Germans during World War II. The agreement identifies the development milestones to be achieved by the licensee in the development of the licensed “know-how,” and the royalties to be paid to the public university.

The Best Lawyers in America© – Energy Law, Environmental Law, Litigation – Environmental, Mining Law, Natural Resources Law, Oil & Gas Law, Real Estate Law, since 2010

Best Lawyers® Shreveport Best Lawyers Oil & Gas “Lawyer of the Year”, 2011, 2015; Best Lawyers® Shreveport Best Lawyers Energy Law “Lawyer of the Year”, 2014, 2016

Best Lawyers® Shreveport Best Lawyers Litigation – Environmental “Lawyer of the Year”, 2017 Best Lawyers® Shreveport Real Estate Law “Lawyer of the Year”, 2019

Best Lawyers® Shreveport Natural Resources Law “Lawyer of the Year”, 2020

Super Lawyers® 2008, 2010-2018 – Energy & Natural Resources, Real Estate, Business/Corporate

AV® Peer Review Rating in Martindale-Hubbell. http://www.martindale.com/ratings

“Louisiana Lignite,” The Landman Magazine, February 1987.