Keller

The petitioner, a person other than the littoral or riparian proprietor, filed an application for a permit to prospect for oil and gas upon a submerged area along the Pacific coast in Santa Barbara County. Thereafter, and within a period of six months, the Standard Oil Company of California filed an application as littoral or riparian proprietor for a permit to prospect upon a portion of the same lands. The latter application was granted and the petitioner herein also received a permit to drill upon that portion of the lands described in his application not embraced in the permit to the littoral or riparian proprietor. Neither of the parties complied with the terms of said permits by commencing operations within the time prescribed by law, and their permits were forfeited and canceled by the state. Petitioner subsequently sought permission to drill upon the remainder of the area described in his application, which was refused, and he prays a writ of mandamus requiring the issuance either of “an amended permit or a new permit to prospect for oil and gas upon the lands described in said application and not included in the original state oil and gas prospecting permit issued to…