Estate of Tawney Ex Rel. Goff v. Columbia Natural Resources, L.L.C.

MAYNARD, Justice.

In this case, we address two certified questions from the Circuit Court of Roane County which we reformulate 1 into the following single question:

In light of the fact that West Virginia recognizes that a lessee to an oil and gas lease must bear all costs incurred in marketing and transporting the product to the point of sale unless the oil and gas lease provides otherwise, is lease language that provides that the lessor’s 1/8 royalty is to be calculated “at the well,” “at the wellhead” or similar language, or that the royalty is “an amount equal to 1/8 of the price, net of…