HESS CORPORATION V. ENI PETROLEUM US, LLC
A-3464-12T4
In this appeal, we address the issue of whether
defendant could raise a force majeure defense to
plaintiff's breach of contract claim in a case where
defendant's production of natural gas was disrupted by a
leak in an underwater pipeline used to bring the gas to
shore from defendant's offshore production point. The
parties' contract provided that defendant was required to
provide a specific quantity of natural gas to plaintiff at
a specific location for a specific price. However, the
contract did not specify where defendant would obtain the
gas to fulfill its obligation. Although defendant's own
production of gas was disrupted by the leak in the
pipeline, gas was still available from other sources to
enable defendant to meet the requirements of the contract.
Under those circumstances, we affirmed the decision of the
trial court that the leak in the pipeline defendant used
for the gas it produced did not constitute a force majeure
event under the contract and was not grounds for excusing
defendant's failure to perform the clear terms of its
agreement with plaintiff. 03/26/14
