- Did Winter Storm Uri prevent Pioneer’s delivery of natural gas under the parties’ NAESB Base
force majeure
Texas Business Court Addresses Another Winter Storm URI Force Majeure Dispute
Co-author Taylor Hall

In Marathon Oil Co. v. Mercuria Energy America, LLC, the Texas Business Court (11th Division) considered a North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) contract to buy and sell natural gas. With three opinions to discuss, this post will be longer than usual.
When the storm hit Texas, seller Marathon failed to…
Uri Force Majeure Cases Still Percolating

Thought you’d heard the last of force majuere cases arising from Winter Storm Uri? Think again.
In Marathon Oil Company v. Koch Services LLC. the question was how to measure damages suffered by Koch for Marathon’s failure to deliver gas.
Under a Base Contract Marathon was obligated to deliver gas at the Bennington Hub.
Winter Storm Uri – No Summary Judgment This Time

Unit Petroleum Company v. Koch Energy Services, LLC is another force majeure case arising out of winter storm Uri. Unlike a similar case, summary judgment was denied because, said the United States District Court,
The word “reasonable”, although not ambiguous, is a question of fact that must be answered by looking into the circumstances of…
Lessee Can’t Satisfy Texas Supreme Court’s Force Majeure Requirements
Imagine these facts in a force majeure dispute (as presented in Point Energy Partners Permian LLC et al. v. MRC Permian Company).

Lessee (MRC) invokes the force majeure provision of an oil and gas lease, asserting that “wellbore instability” on a well on an unrelated lease requires the lessee to effectively redrill portions of…
More Force Majeure Fallout From Uri

MIECO, LLC v. Pioneer Natural Resources presented a challenge to a force majeure defense in a dispute arising from Winter Storm Uri. The defense carried the day.
MIECO agreed to purchase 20,000 MMBtu/day of natural gas from Pioneer. Pioneer delivered residue gas from the tailgate of a Targa processing plant to two points near the…
Coronavirus and the Energy Industry: Drilling into Force Majeure Clauses

Co-authors Preston Kamin and Ryan Frankel
Schools are closing, major events have been cancelled, businesses are telling workers to stay home, and Texas oil and gas producers are preparing to see how the coronavirus will affect their operations.
Many oil and gas contracts – leases and JOAs for example – have force majeure clauses. The…
Hurricane Harvey and Oil and Gas Operations – What To Do
UPDATED
In light of the adverse effects the storm, floods and tornadoes will have on oil and gas production, transportation and processing operations, we offer several bits of advice:
Force majeure
Winds and floods are among the very reasons for the seldom-invoked force majeure provisions of your oil and gas leases, operating agreements, transportation agreements and other contracts. If your operations are affected by the storm, study your contracts and be mindful of what you will need to do and when in order to invoke the protections force majeure clauses offer.
Continue Reading Hurricane Harvey and Oil and Gas Operations – What To Do
