The oil and gas practice of the Firm is diverse in client base and broad in scope.  Our representation includes exploration and production companies, gas processing and pipeline companies, gas storage companies, refineries, service companies, manufacturers and distributors of parts and equipment used in the industry, and end users.  Our extensive litigation expertise in this area includes successfully defending or prosecuting hundreds of complex oil and gas actions involving, among other claims, breach of contract; drainage; proper accounting for post-production costs; underreporting and underpayment of royalty; construction of oil and gas leases; surface and subsurface damages; construction of joint operating agreements; propriety of intra-company sales; determination of payout; gas balancing and oversold reserves; gas pipeline transportation, compression and dehydration charges; breach of warranty and products liability relating to down-hole failure cases; class actions; affiliate transactions; impropriety in natural gas liquids extraction plant operations; piercing the corporate veil; fraud, bad faith and tortious conduct giving rise to punitive damages; and RICO and anti-trust violations.  Further, we have collected millions of dollars of unpaid joint interest billings; successfully perfected and enforced oil and gas liens on behalf of both oil and gas companies and vendors; and prosecuted and defended lien avoidance actions. Our extensive transactional and tax expertise in this area includes serving as lead issuer or underwriter's counsel for numerous initial or secondary public offerings, and advising clients regarding annual reporting and disclosure requirements; closing significant mergers and acquisitions; successfully counseling publicly traded companies in negotiating and closing syndicated and directly funded financing projects; negotiating and finalizing oil and gas leases, drilling contracts, service contracts and joint development agreements; advising clients regarding the structuring and federal and state tax implications through debt placement, private placement offerings and initial public offerings; protecting creditor and debtor rights, including representing numerous creditors and debtors in bankruptcy; and issuing thousands of drilling and/or division order title opinions.

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