Big oil and gas company engaged in ‘sham’ sales transactions, royalty owners’ lawsuits claim
HOUSTON – Beaumont-based law firm, Provost Umphrey, has filed a series of individual lawsuits in Harris County, Texas, against Equinor, a Norwegian-based energy company (formerly Statoil) and its related oil and gas entities. The firm is representing over 200 mineral owners who have been underpaid oil and gas royalties by the international energy company.
“Equinor disregarded both express and implied provisions of its lease agreements and entered into ‘sham’ transactions with its own gas and oil sales and marketing companies in order to manipulate the price it had to pay on minerals produced since 2013,” says Provost Umphrey attorney and lead-counsel Bryan O. Blevins, Jr. “These transactions, combined with runaway cost deductions, have resulted in royalty owners being left holding the short stick from a company that they trusted would pay them what they were rightfully owed.”
Equinor/Statoil entered the Texas oil and gas market in 2010 by acquiring leases and wells in the Eagle Ford Shale under a 50/50 joint venture agreement with Repsol (formerly known as Talisman). Ultimately, the joint venture included some 4,000 royalty owners, 2,800 oil and gas leases covering 59,000 net acres, and 494 producing wells. In October of this year, Equinor announced an agreement to sell its interest in the Eagle Ford Shale to Repsol so that it could concentrate on its offshore assets.
Provost Umphrey believes Equinor/Statoil has engaged in practices that violate not only the express and implied terms of royalty owner leases but also provisions of the Texas Natural Resources Code.
“Our clients have been systematically and purposely underpaid by Equinor/Statoil for their mineral rights, and our goal is to make sure that the appropriate parties are held accountable,” says Blevins.
About Provost Umphrey Law Firm
For 50 years, our firm’s mission has remained to seek justice for those most in need – those who have suffered harm or loss due to the wrongful conduct of others. Our attorneys fight for our clients nationwide with offices in Beaumont and Houston, Texas, and Nashville, Tennessee. We continue to be one of the most successful trial law firms in the nation by remaining Hard-Working Lawyers for Hard-Working People. To learn more, visit http://www.provostumphrey.com.
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