Case closed: A federal bankruptcy judge on Thursday granted Lafayette-based Stone Energy’s motion to end its Chapter 11 bankruptcy case. The Advertiser reports the Clerk of Court’s Office at the Houston location of the federal Southern District of Texas confirmed that Judge Marvin Isgur signed the motion. Stone Energy, an oil and gas exploration and production company, filed for bankruptcy protection on Dec. 14 and expected to emerge from it by the third quarter of this year. The company carried more than $1 billion in debt when it filed for bankruptcy, but sold its Northeastern holdings in the Marcellus and Utica shales in February, and has closed its Northeastern office. Read more.
On hold: A federal judge has postponed a change-of-plea hearing for an energy company charged with manslaughter over a deadly offshore oil platform fire in 2012. The Associated Press reports U.S. District Judge Jane Triche Milazzo rescheduled the hearing for Black Elk Energy Offshore Operations from April 26 to May 12 due to a scheduling conflict. The company had pleaded not guilty to three counts of involuntary manslaughter plus various safety and environmental charges. But the case could be resolved at next month’s hearing. Prosecutors and defense lawyers requested the hearing for Black Elk to change its plea. Three Filipino workers died in the fire on the Black Elk-operated platform about 17 miles from Grand Isle. A 2013 report by federal regulators identified a string of safety lapses that led to the fire.
In the bank: Louisiana is slated to receive $8.1 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to help combat the opioid epidemic. The Associated Press reports the grant is part of $485 million the federal government has set aside to help states with prevention, treatment and recovery services. The money was distributed to states based on their rates of overdose deaths and unmet need for opioid addiction treatment. According to research from the Institute for Healthcare Informatics, Louisiana has the sixth-highest opioid pain reliever prescribing rate in the country over a year-long period through June 2016.
