Kansas - Oil & Gas

摘要

This is the most recent chapter in the continuing saga of Northern Natural Gas Company's (Northern) use of its Cunningham Storage Field to conduct certificated gas storage operations. See Vol. XXVII, No. 4 (2010); Vol. XXVIII, No. 4 (2011); and Vol. XXX, No. 3 (2013) of this Newsletter. Northern began storing gas in the reservoir in the late 1970s, and by the 1990s suspected it was losing storage gas to producing wells in the area. After several unsuccessful attempts to address the matter through litigation, Northern turned to condemnation to extend its storage boundaries to include newly discovered portions of the storage reservoir not previously under its control. In Northern Natural Gas Co. v. Approximately 9117 Acres, No. 10-1232-MLB-DWB, 2014 WL 858209 (D. Kan. Mar. 5, 2014), the court addressed how a landowner should be compensated for storage gas that has migrated into its land and resides, in place, at the time of condemnation.