Pan American Petroleum Corp. v. Wyoming Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

GRAY, Justice.

This is an appeal from a judgment of the district court affirming an order entered by the Wyoming Oil and Gas Conservation Commission denying an application by Pan American Petroleum Corporation for a permit to drill an oil well in the northeast corner of an 80-acre tract — identified in the record as Meeteetse 15 — owned by it in the Grass Creek Field, Hot Springs County, Wyoming.

The circumstances underlying this controversy are not in dispute. The record discloses that oil was discovered in the Grass Creek Field in the year 1914. Development over the years established the…