As a precursor to an expected mid-April Supreme Court decisionon the Southern Ute Indian Tribe vs. BP Amoco rights and royaltycase, the Williams Cos., one of the defendants represented by BPAmoco, announced a partial settlement with the Southern Ute tribeThursday. The settlement released the Williams subsidiary involvedin the trial, Williams Production Co., from all claims included inthe lawsuit, but did not address key ownership issues.

Details of the agreement are still being negotiated. The dealstill must be approved by the U.S. District Court.

Under the proposed terms, Williams Production will convert theinterest accrued from the profits associated with the disputedleases into a working interest. A portion of this interest willthen be given to the Southern Ute tribe effective Jan. 1, 1999.

Ownership of the gas produced from the 200,000 acres is a questionthe Supreme Court will answer by mid-1999, Williams said. The casewent to the high court in January, after BP Amoco appealed a 10thCircuit U.S. Court of Appeals ruling that gave the tribe ownership ofthe gas (See Daily GPI, Jan. 25). Alongwith Williams, BP Amoco represents a group of other oil companies and3,000 royalty owners. Williams said none of the royalty owners havesettled any of the tribe’s claims.

Williams was unavailable for further comment due to a courtgag-order.

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