Bocardo SA v Star Energy UK Onshore Ltd and anr [2009] EWCA Civ 579; [2009] WLR (D) 187
“A party, under licence from the Crown to search for, bore and obtain oil, which drilled and used pipelines to extract the oil from land without the grant of permission by the owner of the paper title in exclusive possession of that land, committed a trespass, although such trespass was purely technical in that no interference was effected on the landowner’s use or enjoyment of his land, nor did the latter have any rights to the oil which belonged exclusively to the Crown and its licensee.”
WLR Daily, 16th June 2009
Source: www.lawreports.co.uk
Please note once a case has been fully reported in one of the ICLR series the corresponding WLR Daily summary is removed.