Oil and gas company ordered to pay up

By PHYLLIS ZORN

Staff writer

A Wichita oil and gas exploration company was ordered to pay $77,451 plus interest to a western Kansas oil well drilling company and a dirt contractor after failing to respond to a lawsuit filed in county court.

WW Drilling, based in WaKeeney, and Western Kansas Dirt Construction, based in Scott City, on Oct. 17 filed a lawsuit against Noble Petroleum claiming they had not been paid for work to drill a well in Marion County.

According to court documents, Noble Petroleum on Feb. 19, 2016, hired WW Drilling to drill a 3,150-foot-deep well in Durham Park Township. Noble also hired WKDC to finish the top work at the well. Work was to start by Feb. 25, 2016.

The lawsuit contended the drilling bill was unpaid and the dirt work bill was only partly paid.

District Court Judge Steven Hornbaker on Nov. 21 ordered Noble Petroleum to pay the bill because the company hadn’t answered the petition or defended itself in the case.