HOUSTON, June 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — W&T Offshore, Inc. (NYSE: WTI) (“W&T” or the “Company”) today announced that it has come to a settlement agreement with two of its largest surety providers which calls for the dismissal of a previously filed lawsuit. The settlement agreement requires the surety providers to withdraw their current collateral demands, and further provides that the surety providers may not make additional collateral demands or increase premiums through December 31, 2026.
Key highlights for the settlement agreement include:
- Dismissal of all claims by the applicable party in the lawsuit, without prejudice;
- Two participating surety providers, together with W&T’s other major surety provider who did not attempt to increase premiums or call for collateral, represent nearly 70% of W&T’s surety bond portfolio;
- Premium rates for all existing bonds provided by the two surety providers will be locked in at W&T’s historical rates without increase through December 31, 2026, representing a prolonged rate lock in excess of “ordinary course” rate negotiations, thereby providing consistency and predictability in W&T’s premium expense;
- W&T is not required to provide any collateral to the applicable sureties, and the applicable surety providers will immediately withdraw all demands for collateral;
- Surety providers may not make demands for collateral through December 31, 2026, outside certain limited circumstances involving unlikely events of default; and
- Parties retain the right to negotiate and establish new surety bonds at rates to be determined in the ordinary course.
Tracy W. Krohn, W&T’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer stated, “We are pleased with the agreement that we have reached with two of our largest surety providers, and we believe that the objectives achieved in this outcome illustrate the strength of the legal position that W&T has aggressively advanced since the beginning of these unnecessary surety lawsuits. This outcome is very positive for W&T overall, as we will not acquiesce to unjustified collateral demands made by the applicable sureties and we have locked in our historical premium rates through the end of 2026. We believe the entry into these settlement agreements vindicates our resolve to stand up to surety providers’ unjustified demands on independent oil and gas operators, such as W&T. For the past 40 plus years, W&T has reliably plugged and abandoned assets, paid its negotiated premiums and operated responsibly in the Gulf of America. We demand fairness and transparency for all oil and natural gas producers in the Gulf of America and will continue to pursue the pending litigation against our other surety providers that have unlawfully colluded and decided to not deal fairly with W&T and other independent oil and gas producers.”
“This agreement, coupled with the promising developments in the regulatory environment driven by the White House’s directives, alleviates some of the uncertainty that has unnecessarily and artificially suppressed our stock price and we expect that this will allow us to deliver more value to our shareholders. Since the start of the year, we have strengthened our balance sheet, and we have a solid cash position with sufficient liquidity to enable us to continue to evaluate growth opportunities, both organically and inorganically. Operationally and financially, our start to 2025 has been strong, and we expect production to continue to increase thus driving more value creation. We are well-positioned to succeed and believe that the future is bright for W&T.”
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/w-t-announces-settlement-agreement-104500880.html