Anadarko Says Tronox Disclosure Statement False and Misleading

Anadarko Petroleum has objected to a disclosure filing by Tronox that outlines the company's planned reorganization, saying the document contains false and misleading information about an ongoing lawsuit between the two companies. Tronox filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in January 2009, less than three years after being spun off from Kerr-McGee, which is now part of Anadarko.

In May 2009, Tronox sued Anadarko saying the spin-off was structured to dump Kerr-McGee's legacy environmental liabilities on Tronox and set the company up to fail. Anadarko said in court papers that Tronox's current and former top executives had testified that they disagreed with the most basic allegations and contradicted the claims made in that lawsuit.

"Many of these false and misleading statements are included in the disclosure statement, which should not now be used to tout unproven allegations as historical fact," Anadarko said in court papers filed on Thursday in a U.S. bankruptcy court in New York.

Tronox, a U.S. chemicals company, did not immediately return calls seeking comment.

Anadarko said Tronox's disclosure statement also omits material information necessary to enable creditors to evaluate their recoveries under the proposed restructuring plan. A hearing to consider approval of the disclosure statement is scheduled for Aug. 10.

Tronox plans to use 88% of any money it receives from the Anadarko litigation to set up environmental response trusts which will assume Tronox's environmental liabilities and responsibility for clean-up costs.