Champlin Refining Co. v. Phillips Petroleum Co.

O’NEAL, Justice.

A brief chronological statement of the previous litigation between the parties involving the oil and gas lease and the production therefrom will assist in an understanding of the case at hand.

In 1943, the State of Oklahoma, acting through the Commissioners of the Land Office, executed an oil and gas lease to the Champlin Refining Company, hereinafter referred to as Champlin, which lease purported to cover a tract of land described as the south half of the bed of the Arkansas River in Pawnee County, Oklahoma.

The State of Oklahoma, through the Commissioners of the Land Office,…