Gregory J. Nibert

• Oil & Gas Law, Title Examination

Mr. Nibert is active in the Independent Petroleum Association of New Mexico and serves on its Board of Directors and is a past President, and the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association.  He is active in the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation and has served as its Treasurer, member of the executive board trustee, Chair of the 57th Annual Institute, Chair of the Oil and Gas Section of the 54th and 46th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute, and Chair of the Landman’s Section of the 38th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute.  He also serves as a Research Fellow of the Southwestern Legal Foundation.

Mr. Nibert served on the Board of Directors of the Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Law of the State Bar of New Mexico from 1985 to 1992, and 1996 to 2004, and was Chair of the section for the year 1990-1991.  He is a member of the State Bar of New Mexico, Chaves County Bar Association (past President), New Mexico Landman’s Association, and American Association of Professional Landmen.

Mr. Nibert is active in the community.  He serves in the New Mexico House of Representatives, representing District 59, Chaves and Lincoln Counties.  He is on the executive board of the Energy Council, representing the State of New Mexico.  Prior to being elected to the New Mexico House, Mr. Nibert served as a Chaves County Commissioner from 2007 to 2015, was President of the Roswell Chamber of Commerce for

2007-2008, served on the Roswell Chaves County Economic Development Corporation’s Executive Committee and was Chairman of the Chaves County Republican Party for 2001-2003.  He was also District Chairman of the Rio Hondo District, Conquistador Council, Boy Scouts of America from 1997 to 2004 and is an Assistant Scout Master for Troop 2 in Roswell.   He is a past member of the Roswell Independent School District Board of Education.  He is a member of the Roswell Kiwanis Club and is a past Lt. Governor and a Distinguished Past President.

Honors and Awards

• Listed Best Lawyers in America since 1993
• Listed in Chambers USA Leading Lawyers for Business since 2005
• Listed in Southwest Super Lawyers from 2007 to 2014 and 2019-2020
• Legislature of the Year by the New Mexico Rural Water Users Association 2018
• Lawyer of the year by the New Mexico Bar Section on Natural Resources, Energy and Environment Law 2015
• Hixon Fellow, Kiwanis International

Education

• Pepperdine University School of Law, Malibu, California
  • J.D. cum laude – 1983
  • Law Review: Editor in Chief of the Pepperdine Law Review, 1982 – 1983
• University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • B.A. – 1980
  • Honors: Blue Key and Mortar Board Senior Honors

Fraternities/Sororities

• Phi Delta Phi
• Sigma Phi Epsilon

Bar Admissions

• New Mexico, 1983
• U.S. Federal Courts, 1984
• United States Supreme Court 2010

Professional Associations and Memberships

• The State Bar of New Mexico
• Chaves County Bar Association, 1983 – Present
• Roswell Kiwanis Club
• New Mexico Landman’s Association
• American Association of Professional Landmen
• Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation
• The Energy Council
• New Mexico House of Representatives

Mr. Nibert is the annual update author of Chapter 18, “Unitization and Communitization,” of the Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases and is chair of the Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course of the Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation (“RMMLF”). He has presented papers and speeches to a number of organizations on oil and gas law topics, including (RMMLF); American Association of Professional Landmen (“AAPL”); the State Bar of New Mexico Section of Natural Resources, Energy and Environmental Law; The University of Texas School of Law Oil, Gas & Mineral Law Institute; New Mexico Landmen’s Association; Tulsa Landmen’s Association; National Association of Division Order Analysts; Southwestern Association of Division Order Analysts; and the Houston Bar Association.

Mr. Nibert, T. Calder Ezzell, and Mona Binion prepared a paper titled “We Know What It says But How Does It Work, Practical Solutions to Tough Operational Questions Under the Form 2 Unit Operating Agreement” for the 54th Annual RMMLF Institute held in July, 2008. He has spoken at the Mineral Title Examination special institutes of RMMLF and presented a paper titled “Title Curve Balls Thrown by Units.”

Mr. Nibert was the Co-Chair of the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Pooling and Unitization 2006 RMMLF special institute and presented a paper “The Impact of Unit Events on a Federal Oil and Gas Lease” and is a speaker at the RMMLF’s Federal Oil and Gas Leasing Short Course. An article jointly prepared by Mr. Nibert, George Snell, Tim Dowd, Tom Daily, John McDavid, and Richard Revels: “A Comparative Review of Oil and Gas Law in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, New Mexico, Mississippi, and Louisiana” published in Landman, November/December 2002 by the AAPL, was selected as the Best AAPL Published Article at the AAPL annual meeting in June 2003.

Other papers for RMMLF special institutes include: “Communitization of Federal Lands: An Overview,” “Final Decisions and Appeal Procedures in Drainage Cases,” and “Non-Record Title Considerations.” His paper for the Center for American and International Law (formerly the Southwest Legal Foundation) Annual Institute on Oil and Gas Law in 2002 was “Federal Unitization: Onshore Oil and Gas Unit Agreements for Unproven Areas” 53 Inst. Oil & Gas L. 10 (2002).

Published Works

• Annual Supplement Author, Unitization and Communitization Law of Federal Oil and Gas Leases – Updated Annually