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Enron Mail |
---------------------- Forwarded by Richard B Sanders/HOU/ECT on 09/03/99
10:03 AM --------------------------- Enron Capital & Trade Resources Corp. From: nmanne@susmangodfrey.com 09/02/99 09:25 PM To: Linda R Guinn/HOU/ECT@ECT, ataylor@bracepatt.com, Richard B Sanders/HOU/ECT@ECT, gharrison@susmangodfrey.com cc: cpatman@bracepatt.com, kgalvin@bracepatt.com, mcarroll@bracepatt.com, pdelapena@bracepatt.com, scooper@bracepatt.com Subject: Wollschlager Update -Reply Geez Andy, leave us something to try! Great job. Thanks. <<< "ataylor@bracepatt.com" 09/02/99 02:37pm <<< THIS IS A CONFIDENTIAL E-MAIL COMMUNICATION FROM BRACEWELL & PATTERSON, L.L.P. IF YOU RECEIVE THIS E-MAIL BY MISTAKE, PLEASE DELETE IT BEFORE READING, AND CALL ANDY TAYLOR AT (512)472-7800. THANK YOU. Wollschlager Team: I took depositions Monday and Tuesday of Wollschlager's expert, David Cotner, and the two pumpers, Royce and Devon Creager (Father / son team). Cotner did nothing but plug numbers into spreadsheets for Wollschlager, and did not apply any of his engineering or gas contract expertise to his analysis. He did not analyze the contract, amendments or the dealings between the parties (such as price amendments, Panhandle program releases, etc.), for purposes of his damage calculations. He did not evaluate the true delivery capacity of the well, but relied totally on Wollschlager's assessment. He admitted that he would not be comfortable submitting the calculations he performed to a court of law as a valid damages claim, because he has not reviewed the contract to see what the pricing, take-or-pay, credits, force-majeure, etc. provisions are, and he agreed that those types of issues must be included to present a valid contract damages claim. We are drafting a motion to exclude his testimony and calculations. Royce Creager (mid-late 60's) was the pumper who pumped the well in 1983 when the "event" occurred. He remembered driving up to the well the morning after the equipment failure (we're not calling it a blowout - it was a failure of the operator's equipment). He noticed something strange, and then realized that the "stack-pack" (heater and separation equipment) was not there. He first thought someone must have stolen it, and then he saw the broken flowline, pointing up in the air, and of the "stack pack" about 200 ft. away in one direction, and the other half of the equipment about 200 ft. away in the other direction! He does not remember any gas flowing out of the flowline, and he's sure he would remember it if the gas had been flowing to the atmosphere. (Logical conclusion: when the equipment failed and blew up, the emergency shut-down valve on the wellhead did what it was supposed to, and shut the well in, to prevent any damage to the wellbore or waste of gas, by shutting off the flow of gas.) He has absolutely no recollection of the well being shut in prior to the failure, and no recollection of Intratex's rate requests in general. He agreed that it is the operator's (his) responsibility to carefully monitor the flow of gas from a well being brought back on-line after it has been shut-in, to make sure no damage occurs. His son, Devon Creager, has been pumping the well since early 1985, and generally has no knowledge or memory of any facts relevant to the case. However, he does not know of anything unusual about the well's production since that time, except that it has gradually declined in production, which is what he would expect with any gas well. Wollschlager's deposition is scheduled for September 14. I am contacting Harper Estes today, to get possible dates for the elusive mediation. Judge Gilles called me today (after talking to Morgan) to see if we needed his help to get a mediation scheduled. I thanked him and told him I thought we would be able to schedule a mutually agreeable date, but told him we may call him next week if we needed him to "help" us. Stay tuned . . . Andy Taylor
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