Skelly Oil Co. et al. v. Phillips Petroleum Co. (339 U.S. 667)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided June 5, 1950 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 339 U.S. 667 · 70 S. Ct. 876
- Docket
- No. 221
- Argued
- December 9, 1949
- Decided
- June 5, 1950
- Term
- October Term 1949
- Vote
- 5–3
- Majority author
- Justice Frankfurter
- Issue area
- Judicial Power
- Disposition
- Vacated and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Conservative
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Justice Minton, Justice Clark, Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Frankfurter (wrote), Justice Reed
- Dissenting
- Chief Justice Vinson (wrote), Justice Burton, Justice Black (wrote)
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Frankfurter delivered the opinion of the Court. In 1945, Michigan-Wisconsin Pipe Line Company-sought from the Federal Power Commission a certificate of public convenience and necessity, required by § 7 (c) of the Natural Gas Act, 52 Stat. 825, as amended, 15 U. S. C. § 717f (c), for the construction and operation of a pipe line to carry natural gas from Texas to Michigan and Wisconsin. A prerequisite for such a certificate is adequate reserves of gas. To obtain these reserves Michigan-Wisconsin entered into an agreement with Phillips Petroleum Company on December 11, 1945, whereby the latter undertook to make available gas from the Hugoton Gas Field, sprawling over Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas, which it produced or purchased from others. Phillips had contracted with petitioners, Skelly Oil Company, Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, and Magnolia Petroleum Company, to purchase gas produced by them in the Hugoton Field for resale to Michigan-Wisconsin. Each contract provided that “in the event Michigan-Wisconsin Pipe Line Company shall fail to secure from the Federal Power Commission on or before [October 1, 1946] a certificate of public convenience and necessity for the construction and operation of its pipe line, Seller [a petitioner] shall have the right to terminate this contract by written notice to Buyer [Phillips] delivered to Buyer at any time after December 1,…
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