US Jury Rules in Favor of Apache Corp.

Apache Corp was not in breach of contract in a lawsuit brought by Houston-based oil and gas producer W&T Offshore Inc in 2011, a federal jury found on Monday, according to a court filing.

The U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has accepted the jury verdict and W&T can file any post-verdict motions by Jan. 5.

W&T filed a claim against Apache in 2011, accusing the energy company of breaking the terms of a processing contract and inaccurately recording how much processed oil W&T was owed.

Apache on Monday also filed a $31.5 million counter lawsuit, accusing W&T Offshore of breaching the parties' joint operating agreement by refusing to pay its 49 percent share of plugging and abandonment costs for three offshore wells in the Gulf of Mexico.

"After repeated efforts to resolve the matter, Apache filed the Mississippi Canyon block #674 lawsuit because W&T refused to comply with its clear contractual obligations," an Apache spokesman told Reuters.

W&T Offshore did not immediately respond to a request for comment outside regular U.S. business hours.

Reporting by Supriya Kurane