Pitco Production Company, Plaintiff-Appellee v. Chaparral Energy, Inc., and Cheyenne Petroleum Company…

Summary

The Supreme Court of Oklahoma held on certiorari that a joint operating agreement (A.A.P.L. Form 610, 1956) whose terms designate one party as operator of the unit area and consistently use "operator" in the singular permits only a single operator for the entire Corporation Commission-designated spacing and drilling unit, not one operator per well. The court concluded the JOA was unambiguous under a four-corners' examination, so Piteo's evidence of industry custom was inadmissible under the parol evidence rule. The Court of Civil Appeals' opinion and the trial court's declaratory decree were vacated and the cause remanded.