Energy

MBK’s energy team represents local and national energy companies involved in the exploration and production, gathering, processing, fractionation, transportation, and marketing of Marcellus gas.  The Marcellus Shale formation is among the largest natural gas fields in the world and has attracted strategic investments from regional, national, and international operators. Recognizing the importance and rapid development of this resource over the last decade, MBK cultivated a dedicated and adept energy practice that has earned a reputation for sophisticated, first-chair and lead counsel representation to participants  in the exploration and production, midstream, downstream, and marketing sectors.  We advise clients on matters ranging from day-to-day operations to high-stakes litigation and commercial negotiations with enterprise-wide implications.  Our attorneys regularly find themselves toe-to-toe, or side-by-side, with national law firms, delivering legal excellence that results from true subject matter expertise, courtroom experience, and a unique geographical proximity to our clients’ assets and operations in the Marcellus Shale region and the courts that decide these disputes.

MBK has a diverse and multi-disciplinary energy team that includes former corporate counsel to one of the largest pipeline transportation and midstream businesses in the United States.  Our energy team serves as primary Pennsylvania counsel to national exploration and production and midstream companies, including Fortune 500 companies.  Through its collaborative and team approach, MBK’s energy team combines the collective knowledge and skill set gained from years of energy industry experience to provide strategic advice and counsel.

When disputes and litigation arise, MBK has skillfully represented energy industry participants in stand-alone, mass, and class litigation in state and federal courts and in various alternative dispute resolution forums.  We have decades of experience in the very courts that decide disputes arising from Marcellus gas activities and operations and we have litigated and argued key industry issues of first impression before the Pennsylvania Supreme Court.  We regularly advise and litigate in all of the following energy-related areas:

• Pipeline and midstream infrastructure construction and project matters
• Royalty and oil and gas lease disputes
• Grand jury investigations
• Joint operating agreement issues and disputes
• Joint venture and other partnership related matters
• Compulsory arbitrations
• Right-of-way, easement, trespass, nuisance, and encroachment matters
• Real property disputes involving title issues and surface and subsurface rights and estates
• Unfair Trade Practice and Consumer Protection Law claims targeting industry participants
• Labor and Employment related claims
• Gas gathering, processing, fractionation, and other complex commercial disputes and claims
• Zoning, land development, and other land use matters

MBK’s energy team also has deep knowledge of the commercial complexities of the energy industry.  Our attorneys regularly handle the negotiation and drafting of key business and commercial agreements, including those associated with gathering, processing, fractionation, transportation, and other midstream-related activities and services.

Our attorneys also collaborate to support our energy clients on internal investigations, incident response and support, regulatory compliance, employment issues, procurement matters, advisory and transactional real estate matters, corporate and transactional matters, governmental affairs and public relations, and taxation law, both routine and unique to Pennsylvania energy stakeholders.  We offer our clients comprehensive legal support and a one-stop shop for all facets of their organization combined with an in-depth knowledge of the industry and the region in which they invest and operate.

Energy plays a crucial role in our lives and in the world’s economy.  MBK supports the critical social, technological, and economic benefits derived from an active and properly regulated energy sector, and we are committed to the representation of companies and entrepreneurs working to develop and deliver these benefits to our region and beyond.