Federal Court Upholds Mandatory Deep Water Royalty Relief
On October 30, 2007, the Federal District Court for the Western District of Louisiana granted summary judgment in favor of Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas Corporation in a dispute between Kerr-McGee and the Department of the Interior over the enforceability of "price threshold" clauses that Interior inserted into deep water leases granted during the years 1996-2000. The court ruled that Interior's price threshold clauses unlawfully deprived Kerr-McGee of the statutory right to produce minimum volumes of oil and gas royalty-free, as mandated by Congress in the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act of 1995. CLICK here to view the decision
