Court Opinion

ID: 9537561
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-07 07:19:54.836618+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T14:56:46.810378
License: Public Domain

Schroeder, C.J.,
dissenting: My position in these oil and gas lease cases involving the payment of royalties is fully stated in my dissenting opinion in Waechter v. Amoco Production Co., 217 Kan. 489, 521, 537 P.2d 228 (1975); and in my concurring and *864dissenting opinion in Lightcap v. Mobil Oil Corporation, 221 Kan. 448, 486, 562 P.2d 1, cert. denied 434 U.S. 876 (1977), reh. denied 440 U.S. 931 (1979),
In my opinion the regulated natural gas price of gas sold in interstate commerce has no relevance in determining the royalty to be paid at the fair market value of the gas sold, The price to be paid should be determined by what a willing buyer would pay a willing seller in a free market at the time of sale. This would require proof of the price paid for gas in the intrastate market when the gas was sold by the lessee producing the gas.