Overview: Withers, Gough, Pike, Pfaff & Peterson LLC is one of the leading oil and gas firms in the State of Kansas. We represent many independent producers, large producers, exploration companies, drillers, landmen, operators of extraction plants, and operators of gathering systems in a wide variety of legal matters involving the oil and gas industry.
 
Title Opinions, Operating Issues, Purchase and Sale of Oil & Gas Interests: We maintain an extensive practice in title examination for drilling, division order, acquisition and financing. We work from traditional abstracts when available but also travel regularly throughout the state to prepare 'stand-up' opinions directly from county records. John Pike of our firm has served for several years on the Title Standards committee of the Kansas Bar Association, as a director and member of the Wichita Association of Petroleum Landmen, and as President of the Oil & Gas Mineral Law Section of the Kansas Bar Association in 2005-2006. Steven D. Gough of our firm is a member of KIOGA and is a frequent lecturer on litigation and regulatory proceedings that affect Kansas producers. We also assist our clients in preparation of the documents and agreements in daily use in the industry, including oil and gas leases, assignments, deeds, operating agreements, joint venture agreements, seismic permits, purchase and sale agreements and all manner of title curative instruments.
 
Regulatory Proceedings: Our attorneys have been involved in virtually every major regulatory hearing before the Kansas Corporation Commission ("KCC") involving the oil and gas industry since 1985. These include regulatory proceedings involving the largest gas fields in Kansas, namely the Kansas Hugoton Field and the Panoma Gas Field where our clients operate over 2,000 gas wells. Recent regulatory hearings have involved the issue of who is liable for plugging wells abandoned many years ago and what rules should apply to the development of coalbed methane fields in southeast Kansas. We have represented producers before the KCC in connection with operation of gathering systems, utility regulation and compulsory unitization for secondary recovery. We have worked out remediation plans that were approved by the KCC to clean-up oil and salt water spills, and have represented producers in connection with enforcement proceedings by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. We have appeared on behalf of various producers before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") on a variety of matters. Several of these regulatory proceedings are described in the following reported cases: See, e.g., Southwest Kansas Royalty Owners Association v. Kansas Corporation Commission, 244 Kan. 157, 769 P. 2d 1 (1989); Mobil Exploration & Producing US v. Kansas Corporation Commission, 258 Kan. 796, 908 P. 2d 1276 (1995); United Cities Gas Co. v. Brock Exploration Co., 995 F. Supp. 1284 (D. Kan. 1998); and Plains Petroleum Co., v. First Nat'l Bank of Lamar, 274 Kan 74, 49 P. 3d 432 (2002).
 
State and Federal Litigation: We have represented producers in both state and federal court in lawsuits involving the right to be compensated for helium extracted by interstate pipelines from the natural gas stream. We have represented major oil companies in defending class action lawsuits filed by royalty owners. See, e.g., Smith v. Amoco Production Company, 272 Kan. 58, 31 P. 3d 255 (2001). We have successfully defended producers against environmental claims, by establishing that producers are not strictly liable for the escape of natural gas from gas wells. Williams v. Amoco Production Company, 241 Kan. 102, 734 P. 2d 1113 (1987). We have defended tool testers and producers in gas explosion cases where serious burn injuries resulted during the drilling of a well. We have represented pipeline companies who have been sued as a result of major oil spills. Wood River Pipeline Company v. Willbros Energy Services Co., 241 Kan. 580, 738 P. 2d 866 (1987). We have represented producers in cases involving disputes over operating agreements, unitization agreements, royalty clause interpretation, express and implied lease covenants, lease cancellation, the Kansas Dormant Minerals Act, quieting title to mineral rights, salt water disposal, surface damage disputes and drainage claims. See, e.g., Smith v. Amoco Production Company, 272 Kan. 58, 31 P. 3d 255 (2001); Kan. City Royalty Co., LLC v. Thoroughbred Associates LLC, 215 F.R.D. 628 (2003); Amoco Production Company v. Wilson, 266 Kan. 1084, 976 P.2d 941 (1999); and Akandas, Inc. v. Klippel, 250 Kan. 458, 827 P. 2d 37 (1992).

Marketability of Natural Gas and Permissible Deductions in Calculating Royalty. Our firm has taken a leading role in defending producers in lawsuits filed by royalty owners against claims that improper deductions were taken in calculating royalty under a variety of legal theories such as: (1) the gas was not marketable at the well; (2) compression was used to "produce" gas rather than transport gas; (3) gas is not marketable until it meets interstate pipeline transportation specifications; and (4) gas is not marketable if any processing of the gas stream is performed to remove inert gases, liquids or water. Vincent Youngren v. Amoco Production Company, Case No. 89 CV 22, District Court, Stevens County, Kansas. We have developed extensive evidence to support the marketability of natural gas at the well in various fields, to demonstrate the role of compression in the transportation of natural gas and to show the wide-ranging local use of natural gas as a fuel in Kansas before the gas is treated, compressed or processed. We have also developed and presented evidence of the market value of natural gas at the well to show that the royalty paid by the producer satisfied the royalty obligation under "market value at the well' leases.

Representative Clients: BP America Production Company (formerly Amoco Production Company); Chesapeake Operating Co.; Gould Oil, Inc.; Harris Oil & Gas Company; J. Fred Hambright, Inc.; Lario Oil & Gas Co.; Pickrell Drilling Company, Inc.; Presco Western LLC; Woolsey Petroleum Co.; XTO Energy, Inc.; EOG Resources, Inc.; PetroSantander (USA) Inc.; Osborn Heirs; Ensign Operating Company.

Firm members who practice in this area: John G. Pike and Steven D. Gough.

Steven D. Gough was selected to be included in the 2007 and 2008 editions of The Best Lawyers in America® in the specialty of Mining Law. For additional information, please see www.bestlawyers.com.