Bill Text: TX SB919 | 2015-2016 | 84th Legislature | Introduced
Bill Title: Relating to oil and gas wells that traverse multiple tracts.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2015-03-09 - Referred to Natural Resources & Economic Development [SB919 Detail]
Download: Texas-2015-SB919-Introduced.html
| 84R8720 SMH-F | ||
| By: Fraser | S.B. No. 919 | |
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| relating to oil and gas wells that traverse multiple tracts. | ||
| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS: | ||
| SECTION 1. Section 85.046, Natural Resources Code, is | ||
| amended by adding Subsection (d) to read as follows: | ||
| (d) Unless expressly prohibited by a lease, deed, or other | ||
| contract, an operator or lessee with the right to drill an oil or | ||
| gas well on or produce or develop oil or gas from each tract | ||
| independently may, under a permit issued by the commission, drill, | ||
| operate, and produce oil or gas from an oil or gas well that | ||
| traverses multiple tracts in order to prevent waste, promote | ||
| conservation, or protect correlative rights. If there is not an | ||
| agreement among any of the affected owners of royalty or mineral | ||
| interests in the tracts regarding the manner in which production | ||
| from the well shall be allocated among the tracts, the production | ||
| shall be allocated to each tract in the proportion that the operator | ||
| or lessee reasonably determines reflects the amount produced from | ||
| each tract. The operator or lessee must send written notice of the | ||
| production allocation to each affected royalty or mineral interest | ||
| owner at the owner's last known address. If an owner of a royalty or | ||
| mineral interest in a tract enters into an agreement with the | ||
| operator or lessee regarding the manner in which production from | ||
| the well shall be allocated to the tract, the agreement prevails | ||
| over the allocation determined by the operator or lessee under this | ||
| subsection. On application of an affected person, the commission, | ||
| after notice and opportunity for hearing, may determine whether a | ||
| production allocation under this subsection: | ||
| (1) will harm the correlative rights of the working or | ||
| royalty interest owners; | ||
| (2) is necessary to prevent waste or adequately | ||
| protect the correlative rights of the affected owners; and | ||
| (3) accurately attributes to each affected interest | ||
| owner its fair share of the aggregated production. | ||
| SECTION 2. If any provision of this Act or its application | ||
| to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the invalidity does | ||
| not affect other provisions or applications of this Act that can be | ||
| given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to | ||
| this end the provisions of this Act are declared to be severable. | ||
| SECTION 3. This Act takes effect immediately if it receives | ||
| a vote of two-thirds of all the members elected to each house, as | ||
| provided by Section 39, Article III, Texas Constitution. If this | ||
| Act does not receive the vote necessary for immediate effect, this | ||
| Act takes effect September 1, 2015. | ||
