A reader send me
a link to this article regarding Chesapeake royalty payments. The
Star-Telegram is reporting:
Fort Worth investor Ed Bass and more than a dozen other landowners
in far south Tarrant County have sued Oklahoma City-based Chesapeake
Operating and Chesapeake Exploration in federal court in Dallas,
accusing the energy company of cheating them out of potentially millions
of dollars in royalties.
The plaintiffs own 3,952 acres which
include Trinity Valley School, which sits on 74 acres, and the 660-acre
Rall Ranch. The property, including Bass's Winscott Ranch, is located at
the Tarrant and Johnson county line, south of Benbrook Lake. They
leased their mineral rights to Chesapeake and gave the company rights to
drill on their land for a share of the money made off those wells,
according to the suit, which was filed today.
But Chesapeake
allegedly underpaid those royalties, improperly passed along production
costs and made up "sham transactions" with two affiliate companies for
the sale of gas at the wellhead to set the price on which royalties were
paid, breaching the terms of the lease, the lawsuit contends.
One can see
this stand-alone post, same subject, posted back on August 11, 2011.
Read more here: http://www.star-telegram.com/2013/03/14/4689707/ed-bass-other-plaintiffs-sue-chesapeake.html#storylink=cpy
IIRC, Total attorneys said CHK was overpaying by not deducting some expenses. CHK went along with the Total approach.
ReplyDelete----
Is a midstream subsidiary a sham? How about a marketing sub?
Let's ask a jury!
Lawyers can ruin things for everyone. But, do they care? No.
Anon 1
Lawyers will sue anyone with deep pockets.
Delete