Samedan Oil Corp. V. Neeld

The record reveals that defendant-appellant Samedan Oil Corporation (defendant), a foreign corporation authorized to transact business in New Mexico, was the owner of a gas well located south of Carlsbad, New Mexico. At the time of decedent's death that well had been completed and was ready to be put on the pipeline. The well, described as a dual completion well capable of producing gas from two formations, was equipped with two hydrocarbon separator units, or "stackpacks," which are heater-separator units for gas distillate wells having an internal gas burner-heater. These hydrocarbon separator units, as installed on the defendant's well, are equipped with a type of safety release mechanism designed to allow gas to escape into the atmosphere should the pressure within the unit exceed a certain level.