Arrow Oil & Gas, Inc. v. J. Aron & Co. (In re SemCrude L.P.)

864 F.3d 280
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Third Circuit
DecidedJuly 19, 2017
DocketNos. 15-3094, 15-3095, 15-3096 & 15-3097; No. 15-3121, No. 15-3123, No. 15-3124
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 864 F.3d 280 (Arrow Oil & Gas, Inc. v. J. Aron & Co. (In re SemCrude L.P.)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Arrow Oil & Gas, Inc. v. J. Aron & Co. (In re SemCrude L.P.), 864 F.3d 280 (3d Cir. 2017).

Opinion

OPINION OF THE COURT

AMBRO, Circuit Judge

Appellants, who are oil producers, sold their product to SemGroup L.P. and affiliates (including SemCrude L.P.), midstream oil and gas service providers and the Debtors in the underlying Chapter 11 cases. SemGroup sold oil to and traded oil futures with Appellees, downstream oil purchasers. The producers took no actions to protect themselves in case of Sem-Group’s insolvency. The downstream purchasers did; in the case of default, they could set off the amount they owed Sem-Group for oil by the amount SemGroup would owe them for the value of the outstanding futures trades. Accordingly, when SemGroup filed for bankruptcy, the downstream purchasers were paid in full while the oil producers were paid only in part.

Because the oil producers did not take precautionary measures to ensure payment in case of SemGroup’s insolvency, all they have to rely on are local laws they contend give them automatically perfected security interests or trust rights in the oil that ended up in the hands of the downstream purchasers. But the parties who took precautions against insolvency do not act as insurers to those who took none. Accordingly, we affirm the grant of summary judgment in the downstream purchasers’ favor.

I. Background

SemGroup’s Two Businesses

SemGroup L.P. and its subsidiaries (jointly and severally referred to as “Sem-Group”) provided “midstream” oil services. It purchased oil from producers and resold it to downstream purchasers. It also traded financial options contracts for the right to buy or sell oil at a fixed price on a future date. At the end of the fiscal year [286]*286preceding bankruptcy, SemGroup’s revenues were $13.2 billion.

Two of SemGroup’s operating companies, SemCrude, L.P. and Eaglwing, L.P., purchased oil from thousands of-wells in several states and from thousands of oil producers, including from Appellants, producers located in Texas, Kansas, and Oklahoma. The producers act on behalf of many parties who have interests in the oil at the wellhead. These interest owners include the person or entity who owns the land in fee simple, and thus owns the rights to the minerals. That person or entity transfers the mineral rights to an oil company through a lease. The company holds the “working interest”—the right to drill and sell the oil from the leased land. The working-interest owners appoint an operator to work the well. Most of the producers in this appeal are owners of working interests or operators.

After purchase, SemGroup moved the oil via trucks and pipelines and stored it in' major aggregation centers in Oklahoma, Kansas, and elsewhere. Per industry custom, SemGroup purchased the oil on credit, paying for it on the 20th day of the month following the sale. For example, oil purchased in January would be paid for on February 20.

SemGroup always paid the producers for the oil in full until the bankruptcy filing. It then resold the product to downstream purchasers, including to Appellees, J. Aron & Company and BP Oil Supply Co., both large oil distributors. SemGroup expressly warranted to the downstream purchasers that it sold them oil “free from all royalties, liens, and encumbrances.” See, e.g., Conoco General Provisions § B, J.A. 2505. Again, per industry custom the downstream purchasers bought the oil on credit, with payment due the 20th of the following month. J. Aron and BP had no communication with the thousands of oil producers from whom SemGroup purchased the- oil and only knew of the existence of some of the larger producers. J. Aron and BP dispute whether they even purchased any of Appellants’ oil and contend that Appellants cannot trace the oil they sold, as it was mixed with millions of barrels of oil from innumerable other producers.

Until the bankruptcy filing, J. Aron and BP paid in full for the oil they bought. BP also sold oil to SemGroup, so when payment was due they would net out their obligations—ie., if BP bought $10 million from SemGroup and SemGroup bought $8 million from BP, then BP would just pay $2 million to SemGroup,

In addition to midstream oil services, SemGroup also traded oil futures with J. Aron and BP. This trading strategy lead to SemGroup’s insolvency. Essentially Sem-Group bet that the price of oil would drop, while J. Aron and BP wanted to secure a low price of oil in the event that prices would rise. SemGroup would win the bet if the oil price dropped while J. Aron and BP would win if the price rose. The (simplified) mechanics are as follows.

SemGroup sold what are known as call options. In exchange for an upfront premium, the purchaser of the call option received the right to purchase oil at a specified price and date. To illustrate, if in December J. Aron purchased the right to buy 10,000 barrels of oil at $50 a barrel on March 1, but the market price that date was $45 a barrel, that option was worthless because J. Aron could buy oil at a cheaper price on the market; the $50 buying right did not save J. Aron money. SemGroup therefore would make money: it received the upfront premium J. Aron paid for the option, but did not end up losing the bet because it would not have to sell oil at less than market price. Conversely, if the market price on March 1 was $55 a barrel, J. Aron would be “in the money”—SemGroup [287]*287would have to sell J. Aron 10,000 barrels of oil at $50 a barrel, $5 below the market rate. SemGroup thus would lose $50,000 dollars on the option because, if J. Aron did not have the buying right, SemGroup could have sold that oil on the market for the going price of $55. These options did not “physically settle.” That is, SemGroup would not actually sell these oil barrels; it would just owe J. Aron $50,000.

SemGroup’s gambling strategy was in stark contrast with hedging oil prices. To hedge a drop in the price of oil, SemGroup could have acquired put options—the right to sell oil at a specified price. This would protect them against price drops while still allowing them to take advantage of selling at high oil prices.

As it turns out, SemGroup was a bad gambler. Oil prices rose throughout 2007 and 2008. Its CEO believed that eventually oil prices would drop. So each time Sem-Group lost money on these options, rather than realize the financial loss, it would sell more options to cover the loss. This is referred to as “rolling” in the industry, and is essentially doubling down on a lost bet. For example, if SemGroup lost $1 million on the March 1 trade, it would resell new options and collect $1 million in new premiums, thus betting that the price of oil would drop on a date in the future. SemGroup thought that, if it kept “rolling” these options, eventually the price of oil would drop and all the options would be worthless. If that happened, SemGroup would have acquired all of these upfront premium payments at no cost. This doubling-down strategy had a downside, however. Rolling options greatly increased SemGroup’s exposure to future losses. By July 2008 it was exposed to a potential $2.8 billion loss if the option bets did not pay off.

Liquidity Problems, Setoff Rights, and the Bankruptcy Filing

SemGroup had to pledge cash collateral to margin accounts to cover its exposure on the options. The cash in these margin accounts assured the trading counterparties that SemGroup could pay for any loss on the options.

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Bluebook (online)
864 F.3d 280, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/arrow-oil-gas-inc-v-j-aron-co-in-re-semcrude-lp-ca3-2017.