Conflicts over oil and gas drilling rights in situations with ambiguous boundaries can often lead to heated allegations about stealthy subsurface poaching. The Fourth Court of Appeals, based in San Antonio, recently dealt with a confrontation between two energy companies involving complaints about underhanded underground trespass related to adjacent mineral estates in Dimmit Count, Texas.
According to the Fourth Court of Appeals’ opinion, the lawsuit is a subsurface trespass case between lessees of two adjacent mineral estates. Lightning Oil Co. sued Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC to prevent Anadarko from siting a well on the land overlying Lightning’s mineral estate and from drilling through Lightning’s mineral estate to reach Anadarko’s adjacent mineral estate.
