ConocoPhillips Gas Flare Class Action Lawsuit Removed to Federal Court
By Anne Bucher
A class action lawsuit accusing a ConocoPhillips Co. unit of flaring gas to avoid paying royalties will be removed to federal court, according to a notice filed on Nov. 14.
Gary and Martha Sorenson initially filed the class action lawsuit on Oct. 16, 2013, seeking to represent a class of mineral rights owners who claim Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co., a ConocoPhillips unit, has been flaring gas to avoid paying them royalties, in violation of North Dakota law. They are seeking repayment for the royalties they claim they are owed.
Companies that drill for oil and gas sometimes enter into agreements with landowners to pay royalties on the resources they mine. According to the class action lawsuit, Burlington entered into an agreement with the Sorensons and other landowners to pay them for the use of their land near the Bakken oil formation in western North Dakota. The Sunline 34-12H well began to produce hydrocarbons in April 2009. Under state law, Burlington was allowed to flare gas from the well for only the first year of its operation. After that one-year period, they would no longer be allowed to burn the gas, increasing the amount of royalties that would be owed to the putative Class Members.
Flaring involves a controlled burn of excess gas, and it is used to control the amount of pressure while gas is being produced. It is typically used during testing and maintenance of a well. However, Burlington regularly flares gas to avoid paying royalties to the landowners, the class action lawsuit alleges.
Burlington allegedly flared more than 30 million cubic feet (MCF) of gas from the Sunline 34-12H well after the one-year cutoff allowed under North Dakota law, and therefore “has not paid royalties for the 29,764 MCF of gas produced and flared from the Sunline 12H well after the first year of production.”
The plaintiffs allege Burlington continued to flare gas from the time of first production in 2009 through at least August 2013. According to the class action lawsuit, after the first year of production, flaring of gas from the well must cease. Under North Dakota law, instead of flaring gas, Burlington should have taken one of the following actions:
- Capped the well
- Connected the well to a gas tethering line
- Equipped the well with an electrical generator that consumes a minimum of 75 percent of the gas from the well
- Equipped the well with a system that intakes at least 75 percent of the gas and natural gas liquids for beneficial consumption, including conversion to liquid fuel, transport to a processing facility, or producing petrochemicals or fertilizer
- Equipped the well with approved systems that reduce the volume or intensity of the flare by at least 60 percent
Proposed Class Members include all persons or entities owning royalty interests in North Dakota for horizontal or horizontal re-entry natural gas wells operated by Burlington, and who have not received royalty payments.
The Sorensons are represented by Derrick L. Braaten and Lindsey R. Nieuwsma of Baumstark Braaten Law Partners.
The Burlington Gas Flaring Class Action Lawsuit is Gary Sorenson, et al. v. Burlington Resources Oil & Gas Co., Case No. 4:13-cv-00132, in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota.
All class action and lawsuit news updates are listed in the Lawsuit News section of Top Class Actions
One thought on ConocoPhillips Gas Flare Class Action Lawsuit Removed to Federal Court
My mother use to receive oil mineral royalty checks from a company that purchased her 2.5 acres of land. In the purchase agreement she sold the land for $177,000 but they only paid her $1,000 per month for 12 months. On the same date of purchase they immediately sold the land to someone else. They were able to do this by slipping the warrant deed in with all other paper work to be signed. And no my mom did not have an attorney, my father talked her out of getting one. Sometime during the year or at the end of 12 months, they filed bankruptcy so they could not be touched. So basically they did a bait and flip on her. Very sad, R Foy Phillips of Houston, TX was the culprit and he not only did this to her, he did this to several others that lived in the area. Eventually mineral rights royalty checks stopped completely and we were told the well was capped.