Emery Resource Holdings, LLC v. Coastal Plains Energy, Inc.

915 F. Supp. 2d 1231, 180 Oil & Gas Rep. 572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46292, 2012 WL 1085718
CourtDistrict Court, D. Utah
DecidedMarch 30, 2012
DocketCase No. 2:08-cv-907
StatusPublished
Cited by6 cases

This text of 915 F. Supp. 2d 1231 (Emery Resource Holdings, LLC v. Coastal Plains Energy, Inc.) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, D. Utah primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Emery Resource Holdings, LLC v. Coastal Plains Energy, Inc., 915 F. Supp. 2d 1231, 180 Oil & Gas Rep. 572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46292, 2012 WL 1085718 (D. Utah 2012).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM DECISION AND ORDER

PAUL M. WARNER, United States Magistrate Judge.

All parties in this case have consented to having United States Magistrate Judge Paul M. Warner conduct all proceedings in this matter, including entry of final judgment, with appeal to the United States Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit.1 See 28 U.S.C. § 636(c); Fed.R.Civ.P. 73. Before the court are (1) Coastal Plains Energy, Inc.’s (“Coastal”) motion for partial summary judgment;2 (2) Emery Resource Holdings, LLC’s (“Emery”) motion for partial summary judgment;3 and (3) Emery’s motion to strike affidavits and exclude testimony.4 A hearing on the motions was held on November 9, 2011. At the hearing, Coastal was represented by Donald I. Schultz and Catherine L. Brabson, and Emery was represented by Christopher G. McAnany. The court has carefully reviewed the motions, memoranda, and other materials submitted by the parties. After considering the arguments of counsel and taking the motions under advisement, the court renders the following memorandum decision and order.

FACTUAL BACKGROUND5

Coastal is a Texas corporation which holds various oil and gas leases and operates producing natural gas wells in Emery County, Utah, on property known as the Ferron Field. Emery is a limited liability company comprised of ten individuals (“Emery’s Members”) who hold royalty mineral interests in the Ferron Field that are leased to Coastal for oil and gas development. Coastal and Emery’s Members are not the original parties to the leases; Coastal is the successor lessee and Emery’s Members are the successor lessors.

Between approximately 1952 and 1982, the original individual lessors entered into the nine6 oil and gas leases at issue in this matter (“Subject Leases”) with various oil and gas companies. Since 1957, approximately twelve natural gas wells (“Ferron Field Wells”) have been installed on the property covering the Subject Leases. Only natural gas is produced and sold from the Ferron Field Wells.

In 2002, Coastal purchased the Ferron Field Wells and associated working interests in the Subject Leases from Questar Exploration and Production Company. In June of that year, Coastal assumed operation of the Ferron Field Wells. During [1234]*12342002 to early 2004, Coastal did not own any interest in the Ferron Field gas gathering system; its production equipment ended at outlets of the wellhead separators. At that time, Questar Gas Management Company, a midstream gathering and processing company, owned the gas gathering equipment located between the wellhead and the inlet of the interstate pipeline, a location known as Map Point 148.

After the natural gas has been extracted from the well, it flows through a wellhead separator, which separates water from the gas stream. The gas gathering system includes the natural gas meters located near each well. The meters receive the gas downstream of Coastal’s wellhead separators and connect to four-inch lateral pipelines that transport the gas from each well to a six-inch gathering trunk line. The trunk line runs about four miles to a building that contains gas-fired compressors. Compression of the gas is necessary for it to enter into and be transported on the interstate pipeline owned by Questar Pipeline Company (“Questar Pipeline”) and regulated by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. After compression, the gas flows through a dehydrator to remove water vapor and then into a meter at an interconnection to the Questar Pipeline.

Once Coastal assumed operation of the Ferron Field Wells, it sold all of the gas it produced to Wasatch Energy, LLC (“Wasatch”). Coastal’s contract with Wasatch specified that Coastal was to deliver the gas to Wasatch at the wellhead facilities for an agreed wellhead price. From June 2002 through May 2004, Wasatch arranged with Questar Gas Management Company to provide the gas gathering services to make the gas suitable for entry into the Questar Pipeline. The contract between Coastal and Wasatch also provided that all gas delivered by Coastal must meet the quality and pressure specifications of the receiving pipeline. Wasatch paid Coastal a wellhead price calculated as an agreed mainline price, less 100% of the gathering charges Wasatch would have to pay Ques-tar Gas Management Company and less a service fee. During that same time frame, Coastal paid the royalty owners their respective decimal interest shares of the actual proceeds that Coastal received from Wasatch under this wellhead sales agreement.

Effective with June 2004 production, Coastal began operating the Ferron Field gas gathering system that it and other working interest owners purchased from Questar Gas Management Company. Upon purchase of the gas gathering system, the owners, including Coastal as operator, invested money to design and install a more efficient replacement gas-fired compressor. Then, in 2008, Coastal purchased a replacement electric natural gas compressor. These upgrades helped to increase revenue first by reducing gas fuel use and then by eliminating gas fuel use altogether. After Coastal purchased the gas gathering system, its sales of gas to Wasatch continued, but Wasatch no longer handled or paid for gathering and compression services. As such, Wasatch paid Coastal a negotiated mainline price for the gas (less production taxes and fees), rather than a wellhead price.

Since it purchased the Ferron Field Wells, Coastal has been calculating the royalty owed to Emery’s Members based on the condition and value of the gas as it flowed from the wellhead separators. Coastal employed a “work back” method from the mainline value by deducting a gathering rate to arrive at a royalty value at the place of production. The amount of the gathering rate set by Coastal has varied over time with fluctuations in gas prices. The gathering rate as set by [1235]*1235Coastal is also billed to the working interest owners in the leases (some own interests in the gathering system; others do not).

The royalty provisions in the Subject Leases fall into three types, although two of them are notably similar. The various royalty clauses provide as follows:

To pay lessor one-eighth (1/8) of the proceeds received by lessee at the well for all gas (including all substances contained in such gas) produced from the leased premises and sold by lessee.... 7 The royalties to be paid by Lessee are ... on gas, including casinghead gas or other gaseous substance, produced from said land and sold or used off the premises or in the manufacture of gasoline or other product therefrom, the market value at the well of one-eighth of the gas so sold or used, provided that on gas sold at the wells the royalty shall be one-eighth of the amount realized from such sale.8
The Lessee shall pay Lessor, as royalty, one-eighth (1/8) of the proceeds from the sale of the gas, as such, for gas from wells where gas only is found.... 9

Coastal and Emery filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment.

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915 F. Supp. 2d 1231, 180 Oil & Gas Rep. 572, 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 46292, 2012 WL 1085718, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/emery-resource-holdings-llc-v-coastal-plains-energy-inc-utd-2012.