Sam Niebrugge

Sam Niebrugge focuses his practice on transactional matters. His versatility as a lawyer and familiarity with the business trends impacting different industries make him an asset to legal teams assisting clients with complex transactions in a range of sectors.

Sam’s practice has, for instance, involved the drafting and negotiating of purchase and sale, development, exploration, joint operating, farmout, and master services agreements, in addition to other agreements in the oil and gas and mining industries. He has experience in both asset and equity transactions, as well as in the preparation of all forms of title opinions covering fee, state, and federal lands.

Sam received his J.D. from the University of Denver Sturm College of Law and was admitted into the Order of St. Ives, an honor awarded to graduates ranking in the top 10 percent of the graduating class. He earned a B.S.E. from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, in Mechanical Engineering in 2003. He is a registered patent attorney.

Sam has authored several papers and spoken extensively to in-house counsel and at continuing legal education events on his transactional work. In 2024, Sam was named a Top Lawyer in Natural Resources law by 5280. He was named a “Rising Star” by Colorado Super Lawyers from 2014 to 2020. He was also selected for inclusion in Who’s Who Legal: Energy 2015-2023. Sam has been selected as a “Leader of Their Field” for Chambers USA in Energy & Natural Resources.

Sam is a member of the Colorado and Denver Bar Associations and the State Bar Associations of New Mexico, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Wyoming. He is a founding member of the Denver Zoo’s Leadership Council and currently serves on the Advisory Board of the Institute for Energy Law. Sam serves as the president on the board of directors for the Colorado Lawyer Trust Account Foundation, an innovative partnership between Colorado lawyers and the banking community, whereby the interest on lawyers’ pooled trust accounts is used to improve access to civil justice. He has volunteered for Denver Public Schools as a substitute teacher and has been a mentor at the University of Denver Sturm

College of Law. He is a trustee and member of the Site Selection Committee of The Foundation for Natural Resources and Energy Law (FNREL). He is also a former chair of the FNREL Young Professionals Committee. He currently serves as the chair of the Lex Mundi Energy and Natural Resources Practice Group. Within the firm, Sam was previously a member of the Davis Graham Diversity, Equity & Inclusion and Technology Committees. Sam was recognized as one of the world’s leading practitioners in the Who’s Who Legal: Energy 2024 report. 

Representative Transactions

• $1.8 billion sale of producing and non-producing assets in Wyoming
• $1.5 billion sale of producing and non-producing assets in the Delaware Basin in Texas in a combined asset and equity transaction
• $1.1 billion sale of producing and non-producing assets in North Dakota in a combined asset and equity transaction
• $1 billion transaction for the sale of producing and non-producing assets in the Anadarko Basin
• $925 million purchase and sale agreement in the Jonah Field of Wyoming
• $880 million purchase and sale agreement in the Eagleford Basin of Texas
• $400 million participation agreement for the development of several federal units
• $335 million purchase and sale agreement in the Wind River and Powder River Basins of Wyoming and Garfield County, Colorado
• $330 million purchase agreement in Divide and Williams County, North Dakota
• $250 million sale of producing and nonproducing assets in Colorado
• $214 million purchase and sale agreement in the DJ Basin of Colorado
• $208 million purchase and sale agreement in Pennsylvania

Publications

• Co-author, “Evaluating the Purchase and Sale Agreement in Light of Potential Royalty and Tax Claims,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal, Volume 46, No. 1, 2009
• Co-author, “Industry Agreements Affecting Record Title,” Nuts and Bolts of Mineral Title Examination, Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Special Institute, 2012
• Author, “Oil and Gas Law Jurisprudence: The Latest Jurisprudence, Legislation, and Regulation,” 58^th Annual Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Institute, 2012
• Co-author, “Industry Agreements Affecting Record Title,” Rocky Mountain Mineral Law Foundation Journal, Volume 52, No. 2, 2015
• “Force Majeure Clauses in Your Oil & Gas Leases,” Davis Graham Legal Alert, March 27, 2020
• Comments published in “US Shale M&A Poised for Inventory-Driven Growth,” Energy Intelligence, April 25, 2023