Guide · surface & right-of-way

What should a Texas pipeline or pad agreement say?

A pipeline right-of-way easement or surface use agreement stays in the county deed records and binds your land long after the construction crew leaves. The company's first form is almost always a blanket, perpetual grant unless you narrow the corridor, the pipe count, the construction rules, and the termination clause in writing.

Last checked . General information for surface and ranch owners, not legal advice. We are independent landmen, not attorneys.

In one paragraph

Before signing a pipeline right-of-way agreement or well-pad surface agreement in Texas, check six things: (1) whether the company is operating under an existing oil and gas lease on your tract, a private midstream gathering contract (where you can say no), or common-carrier eminent domain (where Texas Property Code Chapter 21 and the Landowner's Bill of Rights apply); (2) whether the easement is restricted to a surveyed centerline plat with a fixed permanent width and a temporary workspace that reverts to you on a set date; (3) whether the grant is limited to a single buried pipeline of a maximum outside diameter carrying a named product; (4) whether the construction terms require at least 48 inches of cover, double ditching of topsoil, and bore crossings under roads and creeks; (5) whether all surface valves, launchers, and compressor stations are barred unless paid for under a separate surface site agreement; and (6) whether the easement automatically terminates and must be released of record after a continuous period of non-use (such as 24 months).

Does the company have to have your signature?

Start by asking which authority the right-of-way agent is relying on:

  • Off-lease gathering or produced-water line without eminent domain: If the line carries gas or produced water from a neighbor's well across your tract and the pipeline company is not a common carrier for that line, the company has no right to cross your land without your voluntary agreement. Route, terms, and price per rod (one rod is 16.5 linear feet) or per foot are completely open to negotiation.
  • Common-carrier pipeline or transmission utility with eminent domain: In Texas, an entity with eminent domain authority must provide you with the Texas Attorney General's Landowner's Bill of Rights when it first represents that it possesses eminent domain authority and at least seven days before making a final offer (Tex. Prop. Code § 21.0112), along with a written bona fide offer and survey plat (§ 21.0113). Ask for the company's Railroad Commission Form T-4 permit and the tariff or basis for its common-carrier claim.
  • Lessee operating on the leased premises: If the operator holds an oil and gas lease covering your tract, the mineral estate is dominant in Texas and the operator can use as much of the surface of the leased premises (or pooled unit) as is reasonably necessary to produce the minerals from that lease or unit, subject to the accommodation doctrine and any restrictions in the underlying oil and gas lease. Even then, operators routinely sign surface damage agreements to fix locations, road gates, and payment schedules in advance.

Surveyed corridor vs. blanket easement

Never sign an easement that describes your entire ranch or farm (`"all of Section 12, Block A"`) without attaching a surveyed Exhibit A centerline plat and metes-and-bounds description. A blanket description clouds title to the whole tract when you or your children later sell or finance the property. Require a fixed permanent easement width (for example, 30 feet centered on the as-built pipe) and specify that any wider temporary construction workspace expires automatically upon completion of initial construction and reseeding.

Pipe size, product, depth of cover, and double ditching

  1. One pipe, stated diameter, stated substance: Strike `"one or more pipelines"` and `"or other substances."` Limit the grant to one pipeline not to exceed a stated outside diameter (in inches), transporting only the named substance (for example, natural gas, crude oil, or produced saltwater).
  2. Depth of cover and no above-ground appurtenances: Require a minimum depth of 48 inches from the top of the pipe to the finished grade across pasture and cultivated land, with no above-ground valves, pig launchers, drips, or meter skids unless covered by a separate surface site agreement.
  3. Double ditching and reseeding: Require the contractor to strip the top 12 inches of topsoil, stack it separately from the caliche or clay subsoil, compact the trench to prevent sunken ruts, return the topsoil to the top of the trench, and reseed with the landowner's specified native grass mix.

Well pads, roads, caliche, and water on leased land

When negotiating a Surface Use Agreement (SUA) for a drilling pad, tank battery, or lease road, spell out: (1) which existing ranch gate and road the operator must use, with locked double-chained gates or cattle guards; (2) speed limits and dust suppression; (3) no hunting, firearms, alcohol, or dogs on the property; (4) no use of fresh groundwater or surface stock ponds without a separate water purchase contract; and (5) removal of caliche, buried lines, and anchors and ripping/reseeding of the pad when operations end.

Abandonment, release, and assignment

Printed right-of-way forms are `"perpetual."` Add a termination clause stating that if the pipeline ceases to transport the permitted product for 24 consecutive months, the easement terminates automatically and the grantee must record a formal Release of Easement in the county deed records within 60 days of written request, and purge, cap, or remove the idle pipe as agreed.