Aminoil USA, Inc. v. OKC Corp.

629 F. Supp. 647, 90 Oil & Gas Rep. 234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28546
CourtDistrict Court, E.D. Louisiana
DecidedMarch 5, 1986
DocketCiv. A. 81-1169
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 629 F. Supp. 647 (Aminoil USA, Inc. v. OKC Corp.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, E.D. Louisiana primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Aminoil USA, Inc. v. OKC Corp., 629 F. Supp. 647, 90 Oil & Gas Rep. 234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28546 (E.D. La. 1986).

Opinion

FINDINGS AND CONCLUSIONS

LIVAUDAIS, District Judge.

In May, 1980, defendant, OKC Corp., entered into a liquidation of its assets and its interest in the subject matter of this lawsuit was transferred to OKC Limited Partnership. The parties have stipulated that any judgment rendered regarding OKC Corp. applies equally to OKC Limited Partnership, and both entities are collectively hereinafter referred to as “OKC.”

Plaintiff, Aminoil USA, Inc. has changed its name to Aminoil, Inc. and thereafter merged with Phillips Oil Company, which subsequently merged with Phillips Petroleum Company. Plaintiff will be referred to herein as “Aminoil.”

By letter agreement dated May 9, 1977, (the “farmout”) Aminoil farmed out to OKC Aminoil’s xk interest in a mineral lease granted by the United States, as lessor, covering South Pass Block 89 (OCS-G-1618) on the Outer Continental Shelf, offshore Louisiana. (Joint Exhibit A). Under this farmout, Aminoil retained an overriding royalty interest in production subject to the condition that when South Pass Block 89 reached a “net profits” status — in general terms, when the income from this mineral property exceeded the costs and expenses of exploration and production— the overriding royalty interest of Aminoil would convert to a very substantially greater “net profits” interest.

A dispute arose between the parties as to whether Aminoil’s retained overriding royalty interest and net profits interest in production related to all production from the above-mentioned lease, as Aminoil contended, or whether it related only to Production of reserves discovered prior to the time the farmout was executed, to be produced only from Platform A located in the northern portion of the lease block, as OKC contended. Aminoil instituted this civil action seeking declaratory judgment as to its ownership of an overriding royalty interest and net profits interest and moved for partial summary judgment decreeing that the farmout is clear and unambiguous and provides that Aminoil’s retained interest is applicable to production from the entirety of South Pass Block 89, and not merely, as OKC contended, to the production from the northern portion of the block. By minute entry dated July 27, 1984, the Court granted Aminoil’s motion, and also granted Aminoil’s separate motion in limine to exclude parol evidence offered by OKC for purposes of interpretation and/or reformation of the farmout. The Court further ordered that OKC render an accounting to Aminoil for all proceeds of production attributable to Aminoil’s overriding royalty interest and *649 net profits interest in accordance with the Court’s construction of the farmout. (Record Documents 274-276).

OKC’s accounting was served upon Aminoil (OKC Exhibit D-l), and thereafter Aminoil served exceptions to this accounting, taking issue with one of the credits and several of the charge items contained in the accounting. (Aminoil Exhibit P-1).

The Court appointed Julian P. Brignac as an expert witness under the provisions of Fed.R.Evid. 706. On August 23, 1985, Mr. Brignac submitted his written report. Thereafter, his deposition was taken in connection with this matter and was offered at the trial by Joint Stipulation of the parties as Aminoil Exhibit P-3, subject to objection by OKC as to certain portions of his testimony. (Joint Stipulation, para. 9).

The parties have amicably resolved all issues under the OKC accounting except two charges made by OKC to the net profits account: (a) OKC’s $29,966,096 interest charge; and (b) OKC’s $514,728 charge for legal expenses incurred in connection with this litigation. OKC contends it is entitled under the farmout to recoup these amounts from production from the lease before Aminoil’s overriding royalty converts to the substantially greater net profits interest. Aminoil argues to the contrary.

In its original accounting, OKC charged to the net profits account the sum of $29,-966,096 as interest on funds spent by OKC in developing the lease after the farmout based on the cost of funds to OKC. (OKC Exhibit D-l). To reflect the adjustments made to the accounting as a result of the stipulation of the parties, this interest amount, through June 30, 1984, has also been adjusted and now is calculated to be $29,666,997. (Joint Stipulation, para. 6).

Of the amount of $29,666,997 in interest which OKC claims is chargeable against the Net Profits Account, $7,900,000 was actually incurred for capital borrowed by OKC and attributable to costs of exploratory and developmental operations on, and production of minerals from, South Pass Block 89 under OCS-G-1618. The remainder of the total interest figure, $21,766,997, is imputed interest, or the time value of money utilized by OKC to participate in the operations on and production of minerals from OCS-G-1618, calculated at the rates and by the methodology reflected in the Net Profits Accounting. (OKC Exhibit D-l, Joint Stipulation, para. 6). Aminoil does not dispute the method of calculation of the “imputed” interest and has stipulated the correctness of the amount of interest actually incurred by OKC. (Joint Stipulation, para. 6).

Additionally, in its accounting, OKC charged expenses incurred by it in connection with the instant litigation against the net profits account. OKC, thus, seeks to charge against the net profits account the sum of $484,529, 1 representing legal expenses incurred in this litigation, the sum of $18,185, representing fees paid to Core Laboratories for consulting work done in connection with this litigation, and $42,272, representing payments made by OKC to potential expert witnesses retained in connection with this ligitation. 2 The parties have stipulated that these several items should be treated together as expenses of litigation. (Joint Stipulation, para. 8).

Trial proceeded to resolve the two remaining issues before the Court, namely:

1) Did OKC improperly charge its legal expenses arising out of this lawsuit to its net profits account?
*650 2) Did OKC improperly charge real and imputed interest to its net profits account?

Both sides concede that these issues must be resolved by application of the net profits accounting provisions of the farm-out, which are controlling.

Paragraph IV(c) on page 3 of the farm-out requires OKC to maintain a net profits account for the purposes of determining when net profits is achieved:

“OKC shall maintain a net profits account in accordance with the terms of this agreement and good accounting practices; ...” (Emphasis added)

OKC prepared a net profits accounting and submitted it together with a letter from Coopers & Lybrand, certified public accountants. (OKC Exhibit D-4). The letter is merely a confirmation of OKC’s arithmetic and specifically states that the procedures undertaken by Coopers & Lybrand “do not constitute an examination made in accordance with general accepted auditing standards ...” (OKC Exhibit D-4 at p. 6).

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
629 F. Supp. 647, 90 Oil & Gas Rep. 234, 1986 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 28546, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/aminoil-usa-inc-v-okc-corp-laed-1986.