A Michigan land owner who alleges he was jilted by two of North America's largest energy companies says emails made public Monday by Reuters prove that the two companies colluded to kill deals that could have earned him more than $54 million.
Walter Zaremba, who is locked in litigation with Encana Corp, Canada's largest natural gas producer, said he has long suspected that Encana and Chesapeake Energy Corp had been working together, which would be a possible violation of state and federal antitrust laws.
Encana and Chesapeake, the second-largest natural gas producer in the United States, withdrew offers for Zaremba's land in quick succession in 2010. That came after they had engaged in a bidding war for his property in the weeks prior, according to the documents reviewed by Reuters.
Emails and other documents show that executives of the two companies discussed detailed plans for preventing Zaremba from getting the price he wanted for about 20,000 acres of land where both sought to drill for gas and oil.
"If they refrained from bidding that's problematic," said Harry First, a former lawyer for New York's Attorney General and at the Department of Justice. "If the two major buyers are saying 'Let's agree that one of us stays out of the bidding and we'll split this up later,' then the benefit doesn't go to the sellers."
Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/06/26/us-encana-land-zaremba-idUSBRE85P0GR20120626
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