Insight and Analysis of Legal Issues Impacting the Energy Industry
By Kerry Murphy
On Wednesday September 2, BP drilled the world’s deepest oil well – the Tiber Prospect Well – and discovered a huge pool of crude oil. The Tiber well is located in the western Gulf of Mexico, southwest of New Orleans in U.S. waters. It is expected to rank among the largest petroleum…
By Jessica Gladney
In Center for Biological Diversity v. U.S. Department of the Interior, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit issued a ruling on April 17, 2009 vacating the Department of the Interior’s statutorily-mandated five-year offshore oil and gas leasing program for the period 2007-2012. The five-year leasing program…
By Jason Johanson
On Friday, March 6, 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar stated that the agency is considering an appeal to the United States Supreme Court of the decision in Kerr-McGee Oil & Gas Corp. v. U.S. Department of the Interior, __ F.3d __, 2009 WL57883 (5th Cir. Jan. 12, 2009), in which the Fifth…
On February 10, 2009, United States Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar detailed a four-part strategy to establish a comprehensive offshore energy plan. First, Salazar extended the public comment period on President Bush’s OCS plan by an additional 180 days. He explained the extension was necessary to “restore order to a broken process.” Second, Salazar…
A unanimous panel of the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit has held that the United States Department of the Interior violated the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act (“RRA”) by imposing price threshold conditions that require federal lessees to pay royalties when commodity prices rise. Kerr-McGee Oil & …
By Clare Bienvenu
In Marcy v. Rowan Cos., Inc., No. 06-31238, 2008 WL 588745 (5th Cir. 2008), the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s decision to dismiss a qui tam action brought under the Federal Claims Act (FCA). The action alleged that the defendants violated the FCA by concealing the discharge of…
A recent Interior Board of Land Appeals (“IBLA”) ruling, ATP Oil & Gas Corp., 173 IBLA 250 (2008), affirms an MMS denial of a Suspension of Operations (“SOO”) where the lessee submitted an revised exploration plan (“EP”) and permit to drill (“APD”) just days before the lease’s 10-year primary term…
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…
MMS’s August 22, 2007 Western Gulf of Mexico lease sale offered 3,338 tracts, or approximately 18 million acres, offshore Texas. Forty-seven companies participated, submitting 358 bids on 282 tracts. The total of all bids received was $369,496,840. MMS Director Randall Luthi observed that “the success of this lease sale once again demonstrates industry’s commitment and interest in …
On June 27, 2007, the Minerals Management Service (MMS) issued its notice advising the public of its intention to prepare an Environmental Assessment (EA) for proposed OCS Lease Sale 206, which is the Central Gulf of Mexico lease sale to be held in March 2008. Notably, the EA will not include approximately 5.8 million acres…
