All’s a Well That Ends a Well – The Developing District Split Regarding Whether Decommissioning Work “Pertains to a Well” for Purposes of the Louisiana and Texas Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts
With the recent uptick in well decommissioning work in the Gulf of Mexico fueled by the so-called “Idle Iron Initiative” undertaken post-Macondo by the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement (BSEE, see Bureau of Ocean Energy Management, Regulation and Enforcement (BOEMRE) NTL 2010-G-05), decommissioning contractors and operators should be aware of the recent developing district court split within the Federal District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana (EDLA) regarding whether plugged-and-abandoned (P&A’d) wells remain “wells” for purposes of the Texas and Louisiana Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts (TOAIA, Tex. Civ. Prac. & Rem. Code §127.001 et seq., and LOAIA, La. Rev. Stat. §9:2780). (more…)
