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SWPA Landowners Settle Class Action Lawsuit with Chief for $5.5M
It took us a while to track down this story, but we finally have details about the settlement of a class action lawsuit brought by roughly 60 landowners in Fayette County, PA, against Chief Exploration and Development, the former drilling arm of Chief Oil & Gas (now called Cyprus Exploration and Development). The lawsuit alleged that in 2008, Chief and its landman had cut a deal to lease the landowners’ property and then never paid the stipulated signing bonus. The lawsuit sought $7 million. The landowners ended up settling for $5.5 million earlier this month.
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While the commodity price of natural gas has always drifted up and down, we can’t remember a time (in our coverage of the industry) when it has been so volatile–with wide swings in both directions–as it has been in 2022. Yesterday was another “bottom is dropping out” down day when the NYMEX futures price at the Henry Hub fell by $0.52. The NYMEX price has fallen three days in a row and is down a total of $1.64 (or 23.6%) over those three days.
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