Earlier this month, Buccaneer Energy announced it had fired the company charged with operating the Endeavour-Spirit of Independence jack-up rig, which has sat idle for months in Homer. The Peninsula Clarion reported Buccaneer had severed ties with Archer Drilling  "after hearing the company was not paying local subcontractors for work on the rig and for 'non-performance."

Another shoe dropped Thursday, with the Homer Tribune reporting assertions by Archer that it was the one that severed ties with Buccaneer. Archer, the News reports, has filed a lawsuit against Buccaneer, claiming more than $6 million in unpaid invoices are owed by the company.

“We announced we were terminating the contract on Thursday (Dec. 13) and Buccaneer/KOV came out with their statement on Friday,” an Archer official, David Walker, told the Homer News. “They responded by claiming they fired us. We feel that statement was done in retaliation and to save public embarrassment.”

Read the whole story here.

Buccaneer's plans for oil and gas drilling in Cook Inlet have had a shaky start, as the ADN reported in late November. Buccaneer's partner is the state-owned Alaska Industrial Export Authority, which has invested nearly $24 million in the venture that owns the rig. (More: State money lures Buccaneer and its jack-up rig to Cook Inlet)