TXsharon@TXsharon to Justin Mikulka March 9, 2021:
Put the executives in the slammer.
Justin Mikulka@JustinMikulka:
If oil companies promise investors they can produce oil that isn’t really there, should they be held responsible? What if there is evidence from employees saying the oil wasn’t there and yet the execs still said it was? Should these frauds be prosecuted?
Pomerantz Law Firm Announces the Filing of a Class Action against Range Resources Corporation and Certain Officers – RRC Press Release by Pomerantz LLP, Mar 04, 2021, PRNewswire
NEW YORK, March 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Range Resources Corporation (“Range Resources” or the “Company”) (NYSE: RRC) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the United States District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, and docketed under 21-cv-00301, is on behalf of a class consisting of all investors who purchased or otherwise acquired Range Resources common stock between April 29, 2016 and February 10, 2021, both dates inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking to recover damages caused by Defendants’ violations of the federal securities laws and to pursue remedies under Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”) and Rule 10b-5 promulgated thereunder, against the Company and certain of its top officials.
If you are a shareholder who purchased Range Resources securities during the Class Period, you have until May 3, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at email hidden; JavaScript is required or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.
[Click here for information about joining the class action]
Range Resources operates as an independent natural gas, natural gas liquids (“NGLs”), and oil company in the U.S. The Company and its subsidiary, Range Resources – Appalachia, LLC, engage in the exploration, development, and acquisition of natural gas and oil properties in, among other U.S. regions, Fayette County, Pennsylvania. As of December 31, 2019, the Company purportedly owned and operated 1,272 net producing wells in the Appalachian region, including Pennsylvania. Under Pennsylvania regulations, Range Resources must apply for the correct designation of the status of its wells with local regulators. These status designations include, for example, “active,” “inactive,” or “abandoned.”
Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Protection (the “DEP”) enforces the regulations governing the correct designation of a well’s status. According to the DEP, “inactive” wells must be viable for future use within a certain time frame. If a well is not viable for future use within that time frame, then the well should be classified as “abandoned” and must be plugged. Improperly classified wells present serious health, safety, and environmental concerns, further highlighting the need for the correct designation of a well’s status.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements, and failed to disclose material adverse facts about the Company’s business, operations, and compliance policies. Specifically, Defendants made false and/or misleading statements and failed to disclose to investors that: (i) Range Resources had improperly designated the status of its wells in Pennsylvania since at least 2013; (ii) the foregoing conduct subjected the Company to a heightened risk of regulatory investigation and enforcement, as well as artificially decreased the Company’s periodically reported cost estimates to plug and abandon its wells; (iii) the Company was the subject of a DEP investigation from sometime between September 2017 to January 2021 for improperly designating the status of its wells; (iv) the DEP investigation foreseeably would and ultimately did lead to the Company incurring regulatory fines; and (v) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On February 10, 2021, shortly before the close of the trading session, the DEP issued a press release announcing that Range Resources had paid a $294,000 civil penalty to the agency on January 8, 2021 for violating the 2012 Oil and Gas Act. The DEP had begun investigating the Company after the agency found conflicting and inaccurate information on the status of a Company well in Fayette County, Pennsylvania—specifically concerning whether the well in question was correctly designated as inactive for the purposes of DEP regulation. After subpoenaing Range Resources for information on other wells the Company had requested to designate as inactive, the DEP found that “between Tuesday, July 16, 2013, and Monday, October 11, 2017, 42 of Range Resources’ conventional wells were placed on inactive status but were never used again” and that several of the Company’s “wells had not been in use for 12 months at the time Range Resources submitted its applications for inactive status,” even though “after 12 consecutive months of no production, the well would be classified as abandoned and must be plugged.” In addition to paying the DEP’s civil penalty, Range Resources was ultimately required to plug the wells the agency identified as having no viable future use to remediate the issue.
The following day, as the market fully digested the significance of the DEP’s announcement, Range Resources’ stock price fell $0.62 per share, or 6.08%, from its closing price on February 10, 2021, to close at $9.57 per share on February 11, 2021.
The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
email hidden; JavaScript is required
888-476-6529 ext. 7980
Pomerantz Law Firm Announces the Filing of a Class Action against Apache Corporation and Certain Officers – APA Press Release by Pomerantz LLP, March 5, 2021, PRNewswire
NEW YORK, March 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Pomerantz LLP announces that a class action lawsuit has been filed against Apache Corporation (“Apache” or the “Company”) (NASDAQ: APA) and certain of its officers. The class action, filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Texas, Houston Division, and docketed under 21-cv-00722, is on behalf of a class consisting of all persons or entities that purchased or otherwise acquired Apache common stock from September 7, 2016 through March 13, 2020, inclusive (the “Class Period”), seeking remedies under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). The action alleges that Defendants engaged in a fraudulent scheme to artificially inflate the Company’s stock price in violation of Sections 10(b) and 20(a) of the Exchange Act.
If you are a shareholder who purchased Apache common stock during the Class Period, you have until April 26, 2021 to ask the Court to appoint you as Lead Plaintiff for the class. A copy of the Complaint can be obtained at www.pomerantzlaw.com. To discuss this action, contact Robert S. Willoughby at email hidden; JavaScript is required or 888.476.6529 (or 888.4-POMLAW), toll-free, Ext. 7980. Those who inquire by e-mail are encouraged to include their mailing address, telephone number, and the number of shares purchased.
[Click here for information about joining the class action]
Apache is an independent energy company that explores for, develops, and produces natural gas, crude oil, and natural gas liquids. Apache currently has exploration and production operations in three geographic areas: the U.S., Egypt, and offshore United Kingdom in the North Sea, and is developing a purported new find in offshore Suriname. Historically, the U.S. has represented nearly 60% of the Company’s production and 70% of its estimated year-end proved reserves. At all relevant times, one of the Company’s purported key “core growth areas” was the Permian region in West Texas and New Mexico.
The Complaint alleges that throughout the Class Period, Defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding the Company’s operations and financial health, including the viability and profitability of a purported large oil-and-gas resource play in the Permian Basin called Alpine High. Specifically, Defendants made false and misleading statements and/or failed to disclose that: (i) Apache intentionally used unrealistic assumptions regarding the amount and composition of available oil and gas in Alpine High; (ii) Apache did not have the proper infrastructure in place to safely and/or economically drill and/or transport those resources even if they existed in the amounts purported; (iii) these misleading statements and omissions artificially inflated the value of the Company’s operations in the Permian Basin; and (iv) as a result, the Company’s public statements were materially false and misleading at all relevant times.
On April 23, 2019, before financial markets opened, Apache announced that it had begun a “[t]emporary” deferral of natural gas production at Alpine High. In response to this news, Apache’s stock price fell $4.03 per share, or nearly 11% over the next four trading days, from a close of $37.09 per share on April 22, 2019, to close at $33.06 per share on April 26, 2019.
Then, on October 25, 2019, Apache’s Senior Vice President of Worldwide Exploration, Steven Keenan, abruptly resigned from the Company. In response to this announcement, Apache’s stock price dropped $1.16 per share, or approximately 5%, from a close of $23.23 per share on October 24, 2019, to close at $22.07 per share on October 25, 2019. Apache’s stock traded as low as $20.57 per share on October 25, 2019, an intra-day drop of approximately 11.5%, prompting Bloomberg to issue a story titled “Apache Executive’s Departure Sparks Worst Rout Since 2016.”
A few months later, on February 26, 2020, after the close of the markets, Apache announced that it was completely de-valuing Alpine High after taking a $3 billion write down on the project. Two weeks later, on March 12, 2020, Apache announced that it had slashed its quarterly dividend by 90% (from $0.25 per share to just $0.025 per share) and was significantly reducing planned capital expenditures for the rest of 2020. On this news, the price of Apache common stock fell $0.49 per share, or approximately 6%, from a close of $8.25 per share on March 11, 2020, to close at $7.76 per share on March 12, 2020.
A few days later, on March 16, 2020, Seeking Alpha published an article pre-market noting that Apache was particularly challenged amongst its peers, carrying “the highest debt-to-equity ratio among large-cap independent [exploration and production companies],” and that “[t]he company doesn’t have a strong balance sheet” and its “financial health isn’t great.” The article observed that low gas prices had “forced Apache to shift capital away from the wet-gas rich Alpine High play which has been driving the company’s production growth.” The article noted that “Apache also reduced Alpine High’s value by $1.4 billion.”
In response to this news and other investment research downgrades, Apache’s stock price fell $3.61 per share, or approximately 45%, over two trading days, from a close of $8.07 per share on Friday, March 13, 2020, to close at $4.46 per share on March 17, 2020.
The Pomerantz Firm, with offices in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris is acknowledged as one of the premier firms in the areas of corporate, securities, and antitrust class litigation. Founded by the late Abraham L. Pomerantz, known as the dean of the class action bar, the Pomerantz Firm pioneered the field of securities class actions. Today, more than 80 years later, the Pomerantz Firm continues in the tradition he established, fighting for the rights of the victims of securities fraud, breaches of fiduciary duty, and corporate misconduct. The Firm has recovered numerous multimillion-dollar damages awards on behalf of class members. See www.pomerantzlaw.com
CONTACT:
Robert S. Willoughby
Pomerantz LLP
email hidden; JavaScript is required
888-476-6529 ext. 7980
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In our integrated Horseshoe Canyon CBM well, we’re similar in a way, although we’re vertical, but we sometimes produce over 40 zones into a single wellbore…. We’ve been doing more and more sand completions and recompletions with our CBM.