Eastern District of Texas Denies TRO Seeking to Block Gulf of Mexico Well Abandonment in Joint Operating Agreement Dispute

W&T Energy sought emergency injunctive relief to prevent Murphy Exploration from plugging and abandoning the Medusa SS06 well in the Gulf of Mexico, arguing the well could be reworked to extract significant reserves despite a 2016 sand control system failure. The court denied the motion, holding that economic harms from lost future production and prior investments are calculable as monetary damages and do not constitute irreparable injury warranting preliminary injunctive relief.