Westmoreland N. Gas Co. v. DeWitt

Citations

• 130 Pa. 235
• 18 A. 724
• 1889 Pa. LEXIS 1178

Syllabus

<p>[To be reported.]</p> <p>1. Under a lease of land for the sole purpose of drilling and operating for oil and gas, the lessee’s right in the surface of the land is in the nature of an easement of entry and examination, with a right of possession arising where the particular place of operation is selected, and the easement of ingress, egress, storage, transportation, etc., during the continuance of operations.</p> <p>2. The real subject of possession to which the lessee is entitled, is the oil or gas contained in or obtainable through the land: these are minerals ferae naturae, and are part of the land and belong to its owner only so long as they are in it and under his control; the lessee, when he has drilled a gas well and controls the gas produced thereby, is in possession of all the gas within the land.</p> <p>3. The fact that the gas from such well is not kept flowing into the pipeline of the lessee, but is shut in the well as a reserve for use in emergencies, does not affect the possession of it by the lessee when he is in control thereof by means of a connection between the well and his pipeline, so arranged that he can have the gas flow into his line at any time.</p> <p>4. That the lessor, claiming a forfeiture of the lease, ordered the lessee’s agent, who was measuring the pressure of the well, off the premises, and the agent withdrew, or, that in consequence of a like order, agents of the lessee who were on the land to locate a second well, withdrew without doing- so, is no evidence of an ouster of the lessee from his possession.</p> <p>5. Where the lessee is thus in possession of the gas underlying the premises, equity has jurisdiction to restrain the lessor from drilling on the leasehold, the rights granted to the lessee being necessarily exclusive, and the damage to arise from the threatened waste, being entirely incapable of measurement at law, even if not irreparable.</p> <p>6. When the premises embraced in an oil- and gas-lease, are described as “ a