Services Offshore Energy & Marine

Kean Miller represents a wide range of clients in litigation, transactions, and regulatory matters involving offshore oil and gas exploration, decommissioning, drilling activities, barges, tugs and towage, marine insurance, and other maritime and energy related matters. We serve as counsel to local, national, and international oil and gas producers, vessel owners and operators, shipyards, drilling contractors, service companies, brokers, underwriters, and other members of the energy, shipping, and transportation industries.

We have extensive experience before state and federal courts, governmental regulatory and administrative bodies, and in complex litigation involving the energy and maritime contract actions, Jones Act, personal injury claims, pipeline spills, drilling rig accidents, well blowouts, cargo loss and damage, ship and barge collisions, allisions, vessel groundings, lift boat and jack-up rig accidents, dock damage matters, vessel liens, sunken barges, and abandoned oil and gas wells.

We also assist clients with various business transactions involving ships, vessel mortgages and financings of oil and gas exploration equipment as well as with international trade, finance, logistics, shipping and cargo, and marine transportation challenges and opportunities.

Areas of Expertise

• Allisions, Collisions and Groundings
• Arbitration
• Arrest and Attachment
• Cargo Claims and Losses
• Charter Parties
• Contract Disputes
• Death on the High Seas Act
• Drilling Contracts
• Explosions and Fires
• Financing Agreements
• General Average
• Governmental Affairs
• Insurance Coverage and Interpretation
• Jones Act
• Letters of Credit
• LHWCA Claims
• Limitation of Liability
• Maritime Environmental Law
• Maritime Toxic Torts
• Master Service Agreements
• Mediation
• Oil and Gas Well Blowouts
• Oil Pollution
• Oil Well Liens
• Oilfield Accidents
• Operating Agreements
• Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act
• Personal Injury
• Post 9/11 Security Issues
• Preferred Ship Mortgages
• Property Damage
• Regulatory Issues
• Sale and Finance
• Salvage
• Stowaways

Representative Experience

• Defended an offshore drilling and well construction company against dozens of personal injury and property damage lawsuits stemming from a drilling rig that was in the path of Hurricane Zeta. Developed and implemented litigation and settlement strategies and served as lead counsel in multiple Texas state court actions.
• Representation of a drilling company and its investors in a three-week jury trial involving the exploration and drilling activities for high paying sands, which did not materialize. The landowners sought $36 million in lost royalties for the lack of production from three wells. The jury returned a verdict in our clients’ favor resulting in zero recovery for the plaintiffs.
• Representation of offshore export terminal owners in the successful preparation of Deepwater Port Act License Applications filed with MARAD and the U.S. Coast Guard in the pursuit of a license to develop a $1.3 billion-dollar cutting-edge export terminal for LNG and crude oil along the Texas Gulf Coast. Led environmental compliance and licensing application process and defended project before multiple regulatory agencies.
• Representation of a leading offshore drilling contractor with an advanced fleet of service vessels in over 40 federal and state court lawsuits filed by crew members alleging negligence and physical and emotional damages incurred during Hurricane Ida. The Kean Miller team was involved from the beginning and developed a procedural strategy that resulted in all of these cases being removed and consolidated into Federal Court.  As lead counsel in this comprehensive matter, Kean Miller was engaged in all aspects of the case in Louisiana and Texas.
• Representation of a global energy producer in a jury trial in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Louisiana. The plaintiff, a contracted catering hand, was assigned to work on a spar platform in the Gulf of Mexico. The plaintiff claimed that our client was negligent under a premises liability theory as its equipment was allegedly not working. The Kean Miller trial team claimed that the catering hand did not need to use the equipment to safely do his job. The jury found that our client was not negligent and awarded no damages.
• Successful defense of a global energy exploration and production company in the Eastern District of Louisiana in a 5-day jury trial. The plaintiff contended that he was injured while working as an independent contractor on our client’s spar production platform. The trial included novel, borrowed-employer issues. The jury returned a verdict in favor of our client finding that it was the borrowed employer of the plaintiff.
• Representation of a global offshore engineering company in complex contract and personal injury litigation related to its operations in the Gulf of Mexico.
• Representation of a pipeline company for the destruction of an offshore oil and gas platform with significant criminal and civil issues, including contractual issues, property damages, and serious personal injuries.
• Representation of various drilling contractors and oil companies in lawsuits filed by offshore workers based on the Jones Act, General Maritime Law, Louisiana and Texas state law and the Longshore and Harbor Workers’ Compensation Act (LHWCA).
• Representation of shipbuilding clients in class action lawsuits filed by former employees alleging asbestos exposure and Jones Act issues.
• Representation of various drilling contractors and energy companies in EEOC claims filed by employees for sexual harassment, racial and sexual discrimination.
• Representation of the largest natural gas producer in the United States in a matter arising from blowout of one of its land wells in Louisiana, including successful prosecution of breach of contract and gross negligence claims against the wellhead contractor.
• Representation of Louisiana-based towboat operators and barge owners in defense of property damage and personal injury claims under the Jones Act and the General Maritime Law.
• Representation of various energy companies in well blow-outs and claims arising from catastrophes, including contract disputes, personal injury and death claims, environmental issues, and property damage.
• Representation of offshore oil and gas platform owners and operators in defense of personal injury claims and in prosecution of property damage claims associated with well blowouts, vessel allisions, personnel basket transfers and other issues, including analysis, and litigation of defense and indemnity contractual issues.
• Representation of an oil company in a dispute with a co-venturer over a multi-million-dollar contract involving a drilling project on the North Slope of Alaska.
• Representation of various vessel owners, oil companies, drilling contractors and service contractors in litigation concerning disputes over contracts involving Master Service Agreements.
• Representation of offshore drilling company in its $45 million acquisition of nearly a dozen offshore drilling units, including coordination of foreign and domestic vessel registry, and application and procurement of various operating licenses, permits, and documentation. This representation included forming a corporate ownership entity and other critical business matters.
• Representation vessel owners, marine and energy companies in U.S. Coast Guard, NTSB-MMS and OSHA investigations and hearings.
• Representation of platform owners in personal injury actions arising from Outer Continental Shelf operations.
• Representation of various vessel owners and oil companies in claims involving OPA 90 regulations and governmental investigations.
• Drafting of Master Service Agreements and drilling contracts.
• Preparation of bareboat, time, fully found, and voyage charters.