EP Energy Wins Fight With Landowners Over Oil Production Pause

March 10, 2026, 10:23 PM UTC

EP Energy E&P Co.'s 40-day voluntary pause on South Texas oil production following the start of the Covid-19 pandemic didn’t automatically terminate its mineral leases, an appeals court ruled.

Houston-based EP Energy’s leases allowed it to either restore production or restart drilling within a 120-day window, which the company did in time to keep its leases, a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit said in an opinion Tuesday.

The panel’s decision affirms lower court rulings and is a win for the reorganized EP Energy, now owned by Verdun Oil Company LLC. The company was ...

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