Valence Operating Co. v. Dorsett

Decision Date20 May 2005
Docket NumberNo. 03-0836.,03-0836.
PartiesVALENCE OPERATING COMPANY, Petitioner, v. Elmagene W. DORSETT, Respondent.
CourtTexas Supreme Court

Michael E. Warwick, Abney & Warwick, Marshall, Thomas A. Zabel, Burns Wooley Marseglia & Zabel, L.L.P., Houston, for petitioner.

Edwin E. Buckner, Law Offices of Edwin E. Buckner, Jr., Marshall, for respondent.

Everard A. Marseglia Jr., Burns Wooley Marseglia & Zabel, L.L.P., Morgan L. Copeland Jr., Catherine B. Smith, Ara L. Ayles, Vinson & Elkins L.L.P., Gary C. Johnson, Senior Vice President & General Counsel, Houston, for amicus curiae.

Justice WAINWRIGHT delivered the opinion of the Court.

In this case we construe the meaning of certain notice provisions of a commonly used oil and gas operating agreement. Working interest owner Elmagene Dorsett sued Valence Operating Company in a dispute arising from a joint operating agreement. The trial court granted partial summary judgment against Dorsett on her breach of contract claims, finding that Dorsett failed to consent to participate in the wells at issue, and that a contractual non-consent penalty for that failure was enforceable against her. The court of appeals reversed and rendered judgment in favor of Dorsett, holding that Valence breached contract provisions that required Valence to give notice to Dorsett before commencing drilling operations. 111 S.W.3d 224. The determinative issue before us is whether the agreement requires a thirty-day notice period to expire before the operator can commence work on the proposed operations. Because the non-consent penalty is enforceable and because we find nothing in the agreement prohibiting Valence from commencing work on the proposed operations before the expiration of the notice period, we reverse the court of appeals and render judgment in favor of Valence.

I. Factual and Procedural Background

Elmagene Dorsett is a 4.05391 percent working interest owner in 677.04666 acres in the Mobley Gas Unit in Harrison County, Texas. In 1981, Dorsett, with three other minority working interest owners, and TXO Production Corporation, as operator and majority working interest owner, executed a modified 1977 American Association of Petroleum Landmen Form 610 Model Form Operating Agreement.1 The Model Form Agreement is a contract between oil and gas lease owners and interest holders for the exploration and development of designated oil and gas within the geographical area described in the Agreement. A.A.P.L. Form 610-1977, preamble (1977). The Model Form Agreement designates a single party as "operator" who is responsible for the management and control of drilling, development, and production activities. Id. preamble, art. V., VI.A., C. All other parties are designated "non-operators." Id. preamble. The parties to the Agreement have the option on each project to share operating costs and liabilities, to own equipment, and, if exercised, to then benefit by sharing in production revenues in proportion to their respective percentages of ownership. In such cases, these participants are called "consenting parties." Id. art. I.G., VI.B. Parties who elect not to participate in a proposed operation, called "non-consenting parties," are subject to a "non-consent penalty" which operates as a temporary relinquishment of the interest owner's share of production revenue from the project to the consenting parties.2 Id. art. I.H., VI.B. After the consenting parties recoup their investment costs and receive a limited return on their investments, the non-consenting parties share in production revenues in proportion to their ownership interests. Id.

The relevant portion of the Model Form Agreement is Article VI.B. on Subsequent Operations:

1. Proposed Operations: Should any party hereto desire to drill any well on the Contract Area ..., the party desiring to drill ... shall give the other parties written notice of the proposed operation, specifying the work to be performed, the location, proposed depth, objective formation and the estimated cost of the operation. The parties receiving such a notice shall have thirty (30) days after receipt of the notice within which to notify the parties wishing to do the work whether they elect to participate in the cost of the proposed operation.... Failure of a party receiving such notice to reply within the period above fixed shall constitute an election by that party not to participate in the cost of the proposed operation. Any notice or response given by telephone shall be promptly confirmed in writing.

2. Operations by Less than All Parties: If any party receiving such notice as provided in Article VI.B.1. or VI.E.1. elects not to participate in the proposed operation, then, in order to be entitled to the benefits of this article, the party or parties giving the notice and such other parties as shall elect to participate in the operation shall, within sixty (60) days after the expiration of the notice period of thirty (30) days ... actually commence work on the proposed operation and complete it with due diligence....

....

... Upon commencement of operations for the drilling, completing, reworking, deepening or plugging back of any such well by Consenting Parties in accordance with the provisions of this Article, each Non-Consenting Party shall be deemed to have relinquished to Consenting Parties, and the Consenting Parties shall own and be entitled to receive, in proportion to their respective interests, all of such Non-Consenting Party's interest in the well and share of production therefrom until the proceeds of the sale of such share, calculated at the well, or market value thereof if such share is not sold (after deducting production taxes, royalty, overriding royalty and other interests existing on the effective date hereof, payable out of or measured by the production from such well accruing with respect to such interest until it reverts) shall equal the total of the following:

(a) 100% of each such Non-Consenting Party's share of the cost of any newly acquired surface equipment beyond the wellhead connections (including, but not limited to, stock tanks, separators, treaters, pumping equipment and piping), plus 100% of each such Non-Consenting Party's share of the cost of operation of the well commencing with first production and continuing until each such Non-Consenting Party's relinquished interest shall revert to it under other provisions of this Article, it being agreed that each Non-Consenting Party's share of such costs and equipment will be that interest which would have been chargeable to each Non-Consenting Party had it participated in the well from the beginning of the operation; and

(b) 300% of that portion of the costs and expenses of drilling reworking, deepening, or plugging back, testing and completing, after deducting any cash contributions received under Article VIII.C., and 300% of that portion of the cost of newly acquired equipment in the well (to and including the wellhead connections), which would have been chargeable to such Non-Consenting Party if it had participated therein.

....

If and when the Consenting Parties recover from a Non-Consenting Party's relinquished interest the amounts provided for above, the relinquished interests of such Non-Consenting Party shall automatically revert to it, and, from and after such reversion, such Non-Consenting Party shall own the same interest in such well, the material and equipment in or pertaining thereto, and the production therefrom as such Non-Consenting Party would have been entitled to had it participated in the drilling, completing reworking, deepening or plugging back of said well. Thereafter, such Non-Consenting Party shall be charged with and shall pay its proportionate part of the further costs of the operation of said well in accordance with the terms of this agreement and the Accounting Procedure, attached hereto.

A.A.P.L. Form 610-1977, art. VI.B. (1977).

In 1981, TXO drilled the initial test well, Mobley Well No. 1. In 1994, Valence acquired ownership of 94.28446 percent of the working interest in the unit from Marathon Oil Company (successor to TXO) and became unit operator. From 1996 to 2001, Valence drilled eight more gas wells in the unit. Valence provided Dorsett with written notice of its intent to drill each of the eight wells, as required by the Model Form Agreement, but in each case began preparatory work, and in some cases drilling, before thirty days had elapsed after Dorsett's receipt of the notice. Dorsett received the notices but did not consent to and did not contribute to any of the costs incurred in drilling the wells. Valence then imposed on Dorsett the non-consent penalty described in the Model Form Agreement.

Dorsett disputed the imposition of the non-consent penalty. Specifically, Dorsett contended that the Model Form Agreement required Valence to allow the thirty-day notice period to elapse before commencing work on proposed operations. She argued that Valence's failure to do so constituted a breach of contract, thereby preventing enforcement of the non-consent penalty. She also contended that the non-consent penalty was an unenforceable liquidated damages provision. In 2000, Dorsett sued Valence for breach of contract, specific performance, and conversion. She asserted causes of action for damage to the surface of her land stemming from Valence's failure to accommodate surface use and negligence; she also requested a declaratory judgment of her rights under the Agreement and a full accounting.

The parties filed cross-motions for partial summary judgment. Dorsett moved for partial summary judgment on the breach of contract, accounting, and declaratory judgment claims and requested severance of her surface damage claims. Valence moved for partial summary judgment on the contract claims as well. The trial court granted Valence's motion for partial summary judgment on the...

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