Louisiana-Nevada Transit Co. v. Woods

393 F. Supp. 177, 52 Oil & Gas Rep. 333, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12506, 1975 WL 350924
CourtDistrict Court, W.D. Arkansas
DecidedMay 5, 1975
DocketT-73-C-43
StatusPublished
Cited by7 cases

This text of 393 F. Supp. 177 (Louisiana-Nevada Transit Co. v. Woods) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering District Court, W.D. Arkansas primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Louisiana-Nevada Transit Co. v. Woods, 393 F. Supp. 177, 52 Oil & Gas Rep. 333, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12506, 1975 WL 350924 (W.D. Ark. 1975).

Opinion

MEMORANDUM OPINION

PAUL X WILLIAMS, Chief Judge.

On June 27, 1973 the plaintiff, Louisiana-Nevada Transit Company, filed complaint herein seeking a declaratory judgment.

(Hereafter in this opinion Louisiana-Nevada Transit Company will be referred to as “LNT”; Texas Gas Transmission Corporation as “TGT” and United Gas Pipe Line Company as “United”).

The jurisdiction of the Court is not in question.

The actual controversy involves the rights of various parties under gas purchase contracts of natural gas produced in the Walker Creek field in Lafayette-Columbia Counties of Arkansas and specifically the following wells:

WELLS
Bodcaw — Unit 2 Woods — Stuart2 Woods — Jackl bodcaw — Unit 3 woods — Stuart 3 Woods — Stuart 4
Woods — Blackwell Woods — Powell Woods — Teutsch Woods — Stuart l Woods — knight Bodcaw — E. Kosek
Bodcaw — Jack 2.

Each contract involved in this case contains what is known as a “Favored Nations Clause,” which under certain conditions requires that the price to be paid for the natural gas shall be increased to a price equivalent to any higher price for gas sold from the Walker Creek field “under comparable conditions’’ (Emphasis added.)

The Favored Nations Clause which is set forth in each contract is as follows:

“9.3 Notwithstanding paragraph 9.1 hereof, in the event Buyer or any other gas purchaser shall pay for any gas delivered from the Walker Creek Field under conditions comparable to those provided herein, a price higher than that provided in paragraph 9.1, then the price of all gas delivered hereunder shall be increased as of the first day of the month following the commencement of such deliveries or the proposed effective date of said written offer to an equivalent price. Buyer shall have the right to require under the provisions of this paragraph, reasonable proof of the delivery of gas to any other gas purchaser and the price thereof. In determining equivalent price under comparable conditions, the price which Seller asserts to *179 be higher shall be adjusted for all factors reasonably relevant to a determination of equivalent price which may be different from those provided herein, such as pressure base, delivery point, quality, delivery pressure and gathering, transportation or compression charges. The provisions of this paragraph 9.3 shall be applicable as often as any of the events in this paragraph specified shall occur. In the event Buyer notifies Seller in writing that it will not meet any price resulting under this paragraph, Seller may terminate this Agreement as to all gas dedicated hereto upon thirty (30) days written notice to Buyer.”

The Walker Creek Field was discovered by H. A. Chapman in the spring of 1968. It is located in Lafayette and Columbia Counties, Arkansas and lies in close proximity to the Arkansas-Louisiana line. It is classified by the Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission as an oil field, but in connection with the production of oil there is also produced substantial quantities of gas. This gas is rich in liquefiable hydrocarbons which can be removed by the use of gas processing plants.

Following initial discovery of the field, development proceeded with drilling on the basis of 320-acre spacing units (that is, one well being located on each 320 acres) and at the present time the field is comprised of 46 320-acre units. The field produces approximately ten to fifteen percent of the total daily oil production of the state of Arkansas. Originally, the plaintiff “LNT” was the only purchaser of gas from this field and the first contract of sale was made between Chapman and plaintiff “LNT” under date of March 29,1968.

Subsequently, Dalton J. Woods (and other defendants associated with him in various wells and in varying degrees of interest) drilled producing wells in a geographical expansion of the field. The first Woods producer, Blackwell No. 2 well, was completed in late 1969 and the contract for the sale of gas to plaintiff “LNT” was made in 1970.

The original contracts between Chapman and Woods et al and “LNT” for the sale and purchase of gas provided that the delivery point to “LNT” would be at the well covered by the contract. Plaintiff “LNT” was, therefore, obligated by those original contracts- to gather the gas from the wells and transport it to plaintiff’s main transmission lines at plaintiff, “LNT’S” cost and there being no other gas purchaser in the field, the original contract contained no Favored Nations Clause. The original price was $0.1875 per MCF.

All of the gas produced in the field is sold, to one of three purchasers, “LNT”, “TGT” or “United”, and at no time has gas been sold to any other purchaser. Almost all of the gas in the field is processed for the removal of liquefiable hydrocarbons (LPG) at one of two processing plants. One is the Chapman Plant operated by H. A. Chapman, and is owned by certain (but not all) of the producers in the field. The Chapman Plant is physically located in the field and is adjacent to “LNT’s” main transmission line. The other processing -plant (the Beacon Plant) is owned by Beacon and is located at Minden, Louisiana, just across the state line some 20 to 30 miles south of the field.

Both plants own and operate their own gathering systems in the field. Gas is picked up at the wellhead, transported to the applicable processing plant and delivered at the tailgate of the plant (after processing) to the pipeline purchaser. The point of sale and delivery in each instance is at the tailgate of the respective plant. The Chapman Plant makes no charge to the producer for gathering and transporting a producer’s gas from its wells to “LNT”. Beacon charges its producers a gathering charge *180 of one-quarter (*4) cent per MCF for all gas picked up, gathered and delivered to the pipeline.

All gas which is processed in the Chapman Plant is sold to “LNT” and all gas which is processed in the Beacon Plant is sold to either “TGT” or “United”. The sales to “LNT” are intrastate sales whereas the sales to “TGT” and “United” are interstate sales and subject to Federal Power Commission jurisdiction.

At the time “LNT” first began purchasing gas in the field the Chapman Plant had not yet been constructed. The original “LNT” gas purchase contracts required “LNT” to build its own gathering lines to each individual well from which it purchased gas. This “LNT” did and until the Chapman Plant became operational.in May, 1971, all gas sold in the field to “LNT” was picked up by “LNT” at or near the wells in its own gathering system.

Soon after the field was discovered, the producers recognized the advantage of extracting the liquefiable hydrocarbons contained in the gas produced. In mid-1970 a decision was made by certain of the producers in the field, including Chapman and Woods, to build the Chapman plant for the processing of gas. One of the problems was that of gathering the gas and transporting it from the wells to the Chapman Plant.

Past experience with the “LNT” system was unsatisfactory to producers. All producers selling the “LNT” had suffered at times the flaring of gas due to the inadequacy of the “LNT” system and Mr.

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393 F. Supp. 177, 52 Oil & Gas Rep. 333, 1975 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 12506, 1975 WL 350924, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/louisiana-nevada-transit-co-v-woods-arwd-1975.