Cassius Dio, (8/27/2009 11:08:56 PM)

If Oklahoma law puts a prior claim in favor of oil suppliers ahead of other creditors, it would seem that no matter what contract a bank had with SemGroup, the Oklahoma has to prevail as the oil porducers were not a party to the contract and thus could not have thier Oklahoma given rights taken away from them by either the banks or SemGroup.

No wonder then B of A is putting more money on the table.

Just1Man, (8/28/2009 7:29:51 AM)

Pay the little oil producers everything they are owed and then the giant banks can have whats left. That would be the right thing to do. But, when has the right thing been done when big money and little people are at odds?

ok producer, (8/28/2009 9:50:47 AM)

The Appellate Court is very eager to expedite their decision about "is money for Oil and/or Gas part of the bankruptcy estate before or after the producers are paid". This now has both BOA and SemGroup running for any early settlement with the producers. SemGroup/BOA's new offer changes from their previous 8% offer to somewhere between 30% and 75% depending on how much Oil and/or Gas a producer sold during the last 20 days before bankruptcy.

The new offer gives 75% for Oil and/or Gas sold in the last 20 days mainly because the Judge said early in the trial that ALL Vendors will get 100% of what was sold to SemGroup during the last 20 days. The problem is, SemGroup is playing a game of disputing every single claim for items sold during the last 20 days so they can prevent paying what the Judge said they must pay, which ends up leaving more money for the main lending bank (BOA).

Very few producers will qualify for 75%, but most might get close to 40%. Yes 40% is more than 8%, but Oklahoma Law still says SemGroup must pay 100% of ALL Oil and/or Gas sold both BEFORE and DURING the last 20 days before bankruptcy.

I still say wait for the Appellate Courts ruling before confirming the reorganization plan, or set aside (out of BOA's money) the full amount owed to producers plus some (not some disputed and reduced amount), then wait for the Appellate Court to rule where the money really should go.

Hawktalk, (8/28/2009 10:08:07 AM)

ok producer:
Every remaining division and every last stick of furniture should be sold off to make the producers whole. The producers made the company what it was.

Cassius Dio, (8/28/2009 3:04:30 PM)

Hawktalk is correct. The producers made SemGroup a going concern, while the banks busted it.

The law has to go in favor of those who acted honorably, for example Clyde Touchstone, and come down hard on the goniffs that control banks and outfits like Aron.

What's doubly infuriating is the USG give-a-ways to the cronies.

BTW how many people know that Ben Bernanke, Lloyd Blankfein (Goldman Sachs CEO and the last say on Aron) and Barney Franks all belonged to some Harvard Club called the Winthrop House.

Crony helping crony is death to a free economy

ok producer, (8/28/2009 5:02:58 PM)

It is true, without the producers, SemGroup would not have their base product (Oil and Gas) to purchase, transport, bill for storage, make other products, leverage, sell, trade, etc. They do need to make the producers whole, but I'm not sure they need to sell every thing to do that.

SemGroup has money to make the producers whole, they just want to give money that really belongs to the producers (per Oklahoma Law) to the banks before the Appellate Court has a chance to make a final ruling. The producers need to have their day in the Appellate Court before the incorrect reorganization plan is confirmed.

The current court is slowed by excessive court documents. Of todays twenty filings (not a busy day), half are producers protecting their 20 day claim (Schedule E) since SemGroup changed their schedules with a global dispute of every single 20 day claim that has been listed as "Not Disputed" in their previous filings for many months in the past. See Court Documents 5204 thru 5212 filed on 8/13/09. All this is draining money that really needs to go to the bankruptcy Creditors.

ok producer, (8/28/2009 10:22:09 PM)

Sorry, I posted court Docket numbers too early. From 5 pm until almost 9 pm cst, the number of court dockets for today went from 20 to 65. 43 of these documents were producers filing to protect their 20 day claim (schedule E) because SemGroup is disputing every single 20 day claim that was listed as greater than zero dollars ($1 and up) and non-disputed prior to 8/13/09. There are thousands of 20 day claims with more than zero value that SemGroup is disputing.

Expect this filing of excessive court documents to continue until middle of next month unless SemGroup re-files their schedules to correctly list all 20 day claims, or The Honorable Brendan L. Shannon stops the global SemGroup dispute with some type of court order. This is just another example of SemGroup not doing "The Right Thing".