The Alberta Court of Queen’s Bench has released its highly anticipated decision in Redwater Energy Corporation (Re), 2016 ABQB 278 (“Redwater”).
Last year’s list of the top ten judicial decisions of import to the Canadian Oil and Gas Industry (found here) illustrated that 2014 was a high-water mark for important judicial decisions affecting the oil and gas industry. In 2015, we have seen several of the key 2014 cases applied, confirmed or addressed, in particular in relation to Aboriginal title, contract interpr
A new wave of bankruptcy filings for leveraged oil and gas companies has begun and this time it may involve more prepacks and less optimism. Beginning in late 2015 and continuing through 2017, downtown Houston was filled with bankruptcy lawyers. Highly leveraged exploration and production (or E&P) companies had become crippled by falling oil prices and the resulting impact on the value of their producing and non-producing reserves in their borrowing bases.
Pacific Gas and Electric Company and PG&E Corporation (together “PG&E”) filed for relief under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California on January 29, 2019.
Citing historically low electricity prices and a challenging business environment for power generators, Chicago-based Exelon Corp. filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections for Exelon Generation Texas Power LLC (“EGTP”) — a merchant generation unit Exelon owns in Texas. The unit will continue to own and operate the 1,265 MW Handley Generating Station in Fort Worth, Texas, in exchange for a $60 million payment to the lenders.
In In re FirstEnergy Solutions Corp., 2019 WL 6767004 (6th Cir. Ct. App.), the United States Court of Appeals affirmed in part, reversed in part, and remanded to the bankruptcy court for further consideration, the determination that the bankruptcy court held exclusive and unlimited jurisdiction and therefore could enjoin FERC from taking action regarding energy contracts because under the BJR they were financially burdensome on FES and as such could be rejected.
Facts
A dispute over whether the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”) can order one of Northern California’s largest natural gas and electric companies – Pacific Gas & Electric Company (“PG&E”) – to reject wholesale power purchase contracts (“PPCs”) will be decided by the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California (“Bankruptcy Court”), instead of the United States District Court for the Northern District of California (“District Court”).
The recent decision of Justice B.E.
The highest profile duty to consult case this past year was the Federal Court of Appeal’s decision in Coldwater First Nation v. Canada (Attorney General), 2020 FCA 34, relating to the Trans Mountain Pipeline Expansion Project (TMX Project). This was a judicial review of the federal Cabinet’s decision to approve the TMX Project for the second time subject to numerous conditions. The TMX Project involves the twinning and expansion of an existing pipeline from Edmonton, Alberta to Burnaby, British Columbia.