Brian A. Annes

Brian Annes is an associate at Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, where his practice focuses largely on upstream and midstream transactional matters for the oil and gas industry. His practice also includes acquiring, developing, and protecting water supplies and facilities.

Mr. Annes represents clients in the drafting and negotiation of various midstream agreements, including purchase, gathering, processing, transportation, marketing, and disposal agreements for natural gas, crude oil, liquids, and water, as well as purchase and sale agreements, exchange agreements, master services agreements, connection agreements, and other agreements pertaining to the exploration, development, and production of oil and gas and related infrastructure. He has experience advising clients regarding easements and rights-of-way issues and with Indian oil and gas leasing issues, including representing companies in administrative appeals before the Interior Board of Indian Appeals.

Mr. Annes also has experience with oil and gas and water rights due diligence, including the preparation of all forms of title opinions covering fee, state, and federal lands. He has experience negotiating agreements with municipalities and has assisted an international government agency in the development of environmental and technical requirements for unconventional oil and gas exploration.

In 2020, Mr. Annes accepted a role as Secretary of the Energy and Natural Resources Section of the Wyoming Bar Association. He is also an active member of the Colorado Bar Association. Mr. Annes currently serves on the Advisory Board for the Institute for Energy Law (IEL) and is a member of the IEL Young Professionals Council. He was named among the 2022 “Ones to Watch” in the area of Oil & Gas Law by Best Lawyers.

Mr. Annes received his J.D. from the University of Wyoming, where he served as editor-in-chief of Volume 15 of the Wyoming Law Review and concurrently received his M.A. in Environment and Natural Resources. Brian graduated with distinction from the University of Virginia where he earned a B.S. in Systems and Information Engineering.

Publications and Presentations

• Brian Annes, “Full Steam Ahead with Geothermal Resource Development,” DGS Renewable & Alternative Energy Newsletter, January 2021
• Brian Annes, Craig Gleaton, and Rachael Lechner, Presentation, Master Service Agreements, DGS Webinar (October 2020).
• Brian Annes, Presentation, Everything you ever wanted to know about Wellbore Assignments, Denver Association of Lease and Title Analysts (November 2019)
• Connie Rogers and Brian Annes, “NEPA Strategies: Legal Companies and Process Efficiencies,” NEPA Special Institute, Rocky Mtn. Min. Law Fdn. (RMMLF), November 2017.
• Brian Annes, Presentation, Unbundling — Steps and Strategies, Permian Basin Association of Division Order Analysts (Annual Seminar 2017).
• Brian Annes, The Value of Water in the Colorado River Basin: A Snapshot of a Fluid Landscape, COLO. RIVER GOVERNANCE INITIATIVE (2015).
• Brian A. Annes, Note, WATER LAW — Cooperation Abandoned to Allow Hoarding of Water: The Supreme Court Denies Right to Divert Water Across State Borders Under the Red River Compact, 14 WYO. L. Rev. 1 (2014).