Texas jury rules against Talisman in $100M Eagle Ford fraud case

A small Houston energy company was awarded nearly $100 million in damages by a Texas jury that found Canada's Talisman Energy violated their partnership agreement and committed accounting fraud.

The district court jury in La Salle County sided with Matrix over the multibillion-dollar company in the Eagle Ford Shale dispute that dated back to 2011. Talisman was later acquired by Spanish energy giant Repsol in 2015 in an $8.3 billion deal. Talisman, now known as Repsol Oil & Gas Canada, can still appeal the jury decision.

Matrix is a very small, privately owned energy company in Houston that's represented by The Kim Law Firm, of Houston. The argument centered on Talisman allegedly violating their joint operating agreement.

Matrix alleged Talisman signed on with them to drill wells on Cooke Ranch fields in 2011, but Talisman instead drilled wells on a competing, adjacent lease and later lied about production volumes and revenues for more than five years. Matrix was a non-operating partner on the Cooke Ranch land.

Read more: http://www.mrt.com/business/energy/article/Texas-jury-rules-against-Talisman-in-100M-Eagle-12221627.php