The rule of capture, which precludes trespass liability for drillers where oil and gas drains from surrounding lands in the course of conventional extraction from an underground pool, does not apply where shale gas is extracted through hydraulic fracturing, the Pennsylvania Superior Court has ruled in an apparent case of first impression.
In a published opinion issued April 2 in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production, a two-judge panel of the court reversed a Susquehanna County trial judge’s decision granting summary judgment to defendant Southwestern Energy Production Co. on claims of trespass and conversion by a group of property owners.
