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Oklahoma
State Senate
For Immediate
Release: November 7, 2008 Senator Bingman Seeks Relief for Unpaid Oklahoma Oil and Gas Producers An attorney general’s opinion requested by Sen. Brian Bingman, R-Sapulpa, could aid the state’s oil and natural gas producers during bankruptcy proceedings for SemCrude, L.P. SemCrude, a subsidiary of Tulsa-based SemGroup, filed for Chapter 11 protection July 22 and owes and as much as $1 billion to oil and gas producers for product picked up in the weeks before the bankruptcy. The bankruptcy case is now being heard in a Delaware court. “The majority of the oil producers impacted by the SemCrude bankruptcy are small businesses without the means to represent themselves in a Delaware court,” Bingman said. “This opinion will give those producers a firm foundation to stand on in their effort to seek payment.” In an opinion filed Wednesday, Attorney General Drew Edmondson said state law approved in 1992 established the creation of “implied trusts” during the marketing and purchasing of crude oil and natural gas. Those trusts, Edmondson wrote, mean crude oil and natural gas buyers like SemCrude have “a statutory duty to pay the revenue or proceeds of oil and gas production” to the producer. “Oil and natural gas producers are a driving force in our state’s economy, providing more than $1 billion through the gross production tax,” Bingman said. “Ensuring Oklahoma’s energy sector remains robust aids the effectiveness of our state government.” Bingman, co-chair of the Senate Energy and Environment Committee, also applauded the efforts of the Oklahoma Independent Petroleum Association in the group’s effort to bring attention to the 1992 law. For more information contact:
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