District Court Denies Dismissal of OCSLA Decommissioning Dispute Over Hurricane-Damaged Gulf Platform

Arena Energy sued Maritech Resources and TETRA Technologies for breach of contract after defendants allegedly failed to perform decommissioning obligations on a Hurricane Ike-damaged platform at EC Block 328 in the Gulf of Mexico, despite a 2002 Purchase and Sales Agreement requiring Maritech to assume all plugging and abandonment liabilities. The Southern District of Texas denied both defendants' motions to dismiss, though the court's full reasoning was not available in the published excerpt.