Oil and Gas Conservation Act

The Oil and Gas Conservation Act regulates the drilling for and production of oil and gas within a state, with the declared aims of preventing waste and treating fairly the various owners who share a common pool. It gives a state department, headed by an oil and gas supervisor, authority to adopt rules and orders, require a permit before drilling, hold evidentiary hearings with power to compel witnesses, and investigate operations; drilling that would affect surface waters requires an environmental impact statement and may be refused. Its central mechanism is the development unit, a prescribed tract for each discovered pool within which separately owned interests are pooled and production and costs are allocated among them, supplemented by limits on production set as an oil or gas "allowable" and prorated across a pool, provisions for unit operation of separately owned tracts or of an entire pool, and a duty to purchase oil ratably from the owners and operators in a pool.

Editorial summary generated from the text of this act. It is not part of the statute — read the sections below for the operative language.