Oil and Gas Lien Litigation
Represented joint interest owners of offshore federal and state oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico. The owners were sued by another joint interest owner-operator to enforce oil and gas lien rights. The litigation expanded into a complex audit of fraudulent operator expenditures for the joint account, non-consent penalties for newly proposed gas wells, gas balancing, physical assault and seizure of an operating offshore gas production platform, an avoidable hurricane loss to an offshore semi-submersible drilling rig, insurance coverage for the blow-out of a gas well during drilling and multi-jurisdictional enforcement of oil and gas liens. The litigation was settled when the operator-owner bought out the client’s interests for a premium price.