Tenneco Oil Co. v. El Paso Natural Gas Co.

The opinion holds that the district court may settle disputed claims to participation rights conferred by, and acquirable through compliance with, the terms of a forced-pooling order of the Corporation Commission [Commission or Agency]. Because I deem these controversies to lie within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Commission, I recede from today’s pronouncement.

I

THE DISPUTE

The dispute arises from a pooling order conferring on Tenneco [appellee] provisional operator status conditioned on commencement of operations within ninety days. If Tenneco failed to do so within this period, El Paso…