As the dreaded packet arrives in the mail from a Bankruptcy Court, many mineral owners are being introduced to the third “B” of the oil business — Boom, Bust, Bankruptcy. Wade Caldwell and Zach Fanucchi of Barton, East & Caldwell in San Antonio offer a quick primer, published on EagleFordForum.com, for mineral owners faced with this situation.

The authors say a mineral owner should usually look at bankruptcy issues in the following order:

• What kind of bankruptcy has been filed?
• What kind of legal relationship do I have with the bankrupt company?
• What can I do in response to the bankruptcy filing?
• How does this affect the royalties I am owed, or that will become due?
• How does this affect my lease?

They explain the different types of bankruptcy, tell mineral owners what they can do in response, describe the complete process, tell how long it can take, and explain how the process can affect a lease and royalties.

Read the article.

A decade-old oil leak that could last for another century was caused by an “act of God” during a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico, the president of the company responsible said Wednesday, according to an Associated Press report.

“This event hits home for us,” said Taylor Energy President William Pecue, the last remaining full-time employee at the New Orleans-based company. “This is our community. We live here and it is very special to us.”

The AP said the public meeting at an LSU research center is a requirement of a court settlement that Taylor Energy reached in September with environmental groups, which accused the company of withholding information about the leak.

Read the article.

Rigzone.com reports that oil and gas chief information officers (CIO) faced with budget cuts in 2016 will implement plans for preserving innovation while making low-cost investments to minimize business operational costs, according to a recent forecast by IDC Energy Insights.

“When oil traded at $100/barrel, oil companies were more focused on expanding their geographic footprint, but the decline in oil prices now has companies focusing instead on reducing costs, either through layoffs or spending cuts. Reducing costs is the top priority behind IT spending, followed by improving efficiency and productivity of processes and boost revenues, Chris Niven, research director for IDC Energy Insights, told Rigzone.”

“Niven said IDC estimates that 25 percent of all oil and gas companies will be using cognitive plus advanced analytics in the oilfield by 2019 to improve performance and production by 10 percent,” wrote Karen Borman.

Read the article.

Principal Energy Institute has posted a free on-demand webinar designed to help energy project developers, operators and investors understand the risks associated with those projects, and how to mitigate them. The presenter is energy risk expert, Christopher Lohmann , VP of Alternative Energy Solutions, Energi, Inc.

Large renewable energy projects require substantial capital investments, and depend on predictable, long-term cash flows in order to provide investor returns that can attract that capital, the institute says on its website.

The webinar addresses the questions of:

• What are the risks in renewable energy projects, and to which party can they be assigned?
• How can risks be managed, and at what cost?
• Which risks can be eliminated?

Watch the on-demand webinar.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp. must pay a $159.5 million civil fine for its role in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil well whose blowout that caused the largest U.S. offshore oil spill, reports Reuters.

But in his ruling, U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier in New Orleans said Anadarko was not at fault for the spill.

His order said “the company’s 25 percent ownership stake in the Macondo well made it part of the “polluting enterprise” responsible for the April 20, 2010, disaster, which began with an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig, killing 11 workers.”

Read the article.

Lawyers with Dallas-based Gruber Hurst Elrod Johansen Hail Shank won a $33 million verdict in a gas transportation contract dispute and a $28 million verdict in a fraud/fiduciary breach claim in the oil patch in recent weeks.

A Minnesota federal court has entered a $32.9 million judgment on behalf of Great Lakes Gas Transmission Limited Partnership, a Houston-based interstate natural gas pipeline company, finding that an Indian conglomerate violated the company’s contract to provide natural gas transmission services. The judgment was entered on September 16 by U.S. District Judge Susan Richard Nelson, following a jury trial in Duluth.

“This case has been resolved after more than six years of attempts by the defendants to avoid the simple principle of honoring a written contract,” says attorney David W. Elrod of Gruber Hurst Elrod Johansen Hail Shank, who represented Great Lakes throughout the litigation. “Given the issues involved and the size of this judgment, the case offers important precedents for determining an appropriate discount rate in future litigation involving long-term contracts, as well as federal court jurisdiction.”

In the other case, a Texas jury has awarded more than $60 million to two groups of oil and gas investors who were defrauded of significant profits from oil and gas production leases covering thousands of acres in West Texas. The Aug. 19 verdict includes more than $28 million awarded to Lowry Hunt of Mansfield’s L.W. Hunt Resources and Richard Raughton of Fort Worth, and is believed to be the largest ever in Fisher County and the surrounding counties.

The 3½-week trial heard in Judge Glen Harrison’s 32nd District Court included evidence that attorney Kerwin Stephens of Stephens & Myers in Graham and Abilene oilman Chester Carroll of Alpine Petroleum concocted a fraudulent scheme to cut existing partners out of an oil and gas partnership and take the profits for themselves.