In fact, the SemGroup executives’ struggle with a would-be bidder, the New York billionaire John Catsimatidis, is only getting started, sources say. Too much money and too much of the company’s future is at stake.

“Their plan will not go unchallenged,” the Tulsa money manager Fred Russell, who has watched the SemGroup battles for 10 months, said Wednesday. “I would think this is just the first round in an increasingly bitter and complicated struggle about who will control this company.”

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Brendan L. Shannon gave SemGroup the exclusive right to file a plan on how to emerge from Chapter 11. That right expires Friday. A company spokesman, Tom Becker, could not give details about what that specific plan might offer, but CEO Terry Ronan’s earlier memo to employees hinted that it might emerge as a public entity focused on its SemCrude unit.

“The company remains on schedule to file a plan of reorganization on May 15,” Becker said. “I can’t provide any color of what the plans are going to look like.”

The aftermath, however, promises to be colorful. Ronan and other executives have waged a legal battle with Catsimatidis almost since the New Yorker visited Tulsa with promises of keeping the tiered oil, gas and asphalt terminal, pipeline and transportation company intact and in town.

Catsimatidis has experience with saving Chapter 11 companies, having guided United Refining

Ronan initially said that he welcomed Catsimatidis’ interest in helping the company.

Later, the SemGroup CEO warned that the billionaire erred in not trying to work through court-approved consultants such as Blackstone Advisory Group and AlixPartners.

Catsimatidis’ group has said that it believes that the consultants are bleeding the company financially. Catsimatidis’ attorney, Nelson Happy, who is a member of the SemGroup management committee, said his side is trying to stay open-minded about the reorganization plan but believes that the bankruptcy consultants are sure to try to gain from it.

“I think the same professionals who have taken out $50 million (in fees) are going to paper themselves into the deal going forward,” Happy said. “They are not about to let go of this plum.”

Ronan and other SemGroup officials have said that the consultants, some of whom are paid $795 per hour, perform critical, specialized services that help the company survive during the Chapter 11 process. Many of those consultants also could receive bonuses once SemGroup sells off some assets and emerges from the bankruptcy.

And then there’s the matter of who actually controls SemGroup. Shannon will oversee a May 28 hearing — nearly two weeks after the reorganization plan is filed — in which Catsimatidis and SemGroup attorneys will argue over which of them truly represents the debtor in possession.

“If it’s not a valid DIP plan, then it’s going to create an issue,” Happy said. SemGroup also needs court and creditor approval for the reorganization plan to proceed, reports say. And even then, Russell said, the reorganized company faces an uncertain future.

Forget Catsimatidis vs. Ronan. What about a rapidly shifting oil and gas market, the involvement of federal investigations, hedge funds and the constricted credit environment?

“I don’t see a very easy solution,” Russell said. “Everybody seems ready to fight.” Rod Walton 581-8457