Fort Worth Oil Company Wins ‘Use It or Lose It’ Challenge to Permian Basin Leases

A Fort Worth oil and gas company has been awarded the mineral rights to a square mile in Midland County after convincing a state jury that a competitor who claimed to own the leasehold failed to produce oil and gas “in paying quantities” for more than a year.

The winner-takes-all verdict was issued Monday in favor of Centralia Permian of Fort Worth, which challenged the leasehold of Pioneer Natural Resources USA Inc., a Fortune 500 Delaware corporation whose principal place of business in Texas is in Irving. It came at the conclusion of a seven-day jury trial presided over by state District Judge Rodney Satterwhite.