Coal-bed methane (CBM) is betwixt and between. It’s a natural gas, but it’s extracted from coal beds. And that’s created a problem in Canada. Who owns the rights to produce CBM on a property—the owners of the coal rights, or the owners of the natural gas rights?
On July 7, Justice C.A. Kent of the Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench declared that natural gas rights holders are entitled to produce CBM. The decision is the first by a Canadian court in the long-standing dispute. The plaintiffs have appealed, but if Kent’s ruling is upheld, it will end litigation that has been going on since 2004.
