Thursday, February 19, 2015

SETTLEMENT IN TRONOX CASE RESULTS IN 2014 YEAR END LOSS FOR ANADARKO PETROLEUM

By TONI ELLINGTON

Anadarko Petroleum Corporation (“Anadarko”) reported a net loss of $1.75 billion for 2014 in its year end 2014 report issued on February 10, 2015.  This amount included a $4.05 billion loss associated with the settlement of the Tronox v. Anadarko litigation, Case No. 09-10156, filed in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York.  Tronox v. Anadarko was case which arose from the environmental, tort, and other liabilities transferred by Kerr-McGee Corporation to Tronox, Inc. prior to Kerr-McGee Corporation’s spin-off of Tronox, Inc. in 2005. Tronox, Inc. was formerly Kerr-McGee Chemical Corporation.  In 2006, Anadarko bought Kerr-McGee Corporation’s oil and gas assets for $18 billion, and the companies merged.  Kerr-McGee Corporation, Kerr-McGee Oil and Gas Corporation, and other former Kerr-McGee subsidiaries are currently subsidiaries of Anadarko.

On January 12, 2009, Tronox, Inc. and its affiliates filed Chapter 11 cases in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. Also in 2009, Tronox filed the adversarial case of Tronox v. Anadarko, claiming that Anadarko as successor to Kerr-McGee Corporation misled investors about the environmental, tort, and other debts transferred to Tronox in the spin-off.

Tronox’s Joint Plan of Reorganization from the bankruptcy was approved and became effective February 14, 2011.  The adversarial proceeding of Tronox v. Anadarko continued following the Reorganization Plan approval, with the various trusts created out of the bankruptcy becoming the parties-in-interest in the litigation.  The U.S. government also filed a Complaint-in-Intervention in the adversarial proceeding, asserting claims under the Federal Debt Collection Procedure Act for Tronox’s environmental remediation obligations.

For more information, contact Toni Ellington at (504) 599-8500.

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