No oilman expects to easily re-enter an abandoned well, but Glenn Lynch couldn't fathom why his drills had trouble piercing almost every old hole he tried to open in 1993. The unexpected snags, hidden thousands of feet below oil-rich Refugio County, more than doubled the drilling costs for some wells. Other holes proved impossible to reopen or, if completed, produced below expectations. At first, Lynch chalked it up to bad luck, a common oil field affliction. Six years later, however, a Refugio County jury fingered a far different culprit: Exxon Corp., then, as now, the nation's leading oil producer. Jurors found that Exxon, before abandoning the oil field in 1991, maliciously sabotaged the wells by cutting underground pipe, placing thick cement plugs at random depths and dropping metal junk down the holes - including one perforating gun still loaded with explosive charges. Exxon was ordered to pay $18.6 million, but the emphatic verdict was only the opening salvo in a legal war that continues today, pitting a historic Texas oil family and Lynch's small independent company against a multinational giant...Austin American-Statesman
Monday, March 30, 2009
A Texas tale: Oil, business meet history and sabotage
No oilman expects to easily re-enter an abandoned well, but Glenn Lynch couldn't fathom why his drills had trouble piercing almost every old hole he tried to open in 1993. The unexpected snags, hidden thousands of feet below oil-rich Refugio County, more than doubled the drilling costs for some wells. Other holes proved impossible to reopen or, if completed, produced below expectations. At first, Lynch chalked it up to bad luck, a common oil field affliction. Six years later, however, a Refugio County jury fingered a far different culprit: Exxon Corp., then, as now, the nation's leading oil producer. Jurors found that Exxon, before abandoning the oil field in 1991, maliciously sabotaged the wells by cutting underground pipe, placing thick cement plugs at random depths and dropping metal junk down the holes - including one perforating gun still loaded with explosive charges. Exxon was ordered to pay $18.6 million, but the emphatic verdict was only the opening salvo in a legal war that continues today, pitting a historic Texas oil family and Lynch's small independent company against a multinational giant...Austin American-Statesman
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Destroyed the format, prevented re-entry after abandonment, sabotage...guess all ecoterrorists don't fly the earth first! banner. Looks like lots of them work for the largest corporation in the world.
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