In a Texas courtroom, a case is being layed out to verify allegations that a natural gas pipeline company waged market manipulation during the 2021 Winter Storm Uri—the same kind of claims that Oklahoma Attorney General Gentner Drummond made in recent lawsuits against two companies.
The case in Texas involves CPS Energy, the nation’s largest municipally owned elecctric and gas utility, which went to court claiming its natural gas supplier conspired to jack up prices during the storm that left 246 people dead in the state of Texas.
Ever since the storm, CPS Energy refused to cough up $350 million in payments to Energy Transfer LP and Enterprise Products Partners LP because it ccontends the two firms unfairly inflated prices during the winter storm. The case was in court last week as CPS started making its case of market manipulation.
Energy Transfer and Enterprise Products contend the actions of CPS Energy amount to fraud, reported Bloomberg.
The case is very similar to the claims made by Oklahoma Attorney General Drummond in lawsuits filed April 10 in Osage County District Court against ET Gathering & Processing and Symmetry Energy Solutions.
Osage County District Court Judge Stuart Tate ruled this week to grant a 28-day extension of time to Bartlesville attorney Jess M. Kane who was recently hired by ET Gathering to represent the firm in the case. Kane explained ET Gathering had not been formally notified of the lawsuit until April 15. The judge set a June 3 hearing for the next step in the lawsuit. (case CJ-2024-00077).
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