Title 15 — Natural Resources and Economic Development
42 chapters · 1,687 sections in this title.
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-201 Lease extended by production — Scope
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(a) (1) The term of an oil and gas, or oil or gas, lease extended by activities on lands in one (1) section or pooling unit, whether established by rule or by order of the Oil and Gas Commission or the lease, shall not be extended to sections or pooling units under the lease wher…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-202 Leases of oil, gas, and mining interests by churches, lodges, and eleemosynary institutions
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Except where otherwise provided for in the charter, constitution, or bylaws of any church, lodge, or other eleemosynary institution, the trustee, deacons, or other governing body shall have the right and authority to make, execute, and deliver oil, gas, and mining leases, and min…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-203 Forfeiture of oil, gas, or mineral leases — Duty of lessee to cancel or release
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(a) It shall be the duty of each person holding an oil, gas, or other mineral lease for prospecting and exploiting for oil, gas, or other minerals, upon any real estate in the State of Arkansas, upon forfeiting the rights to further prospect on the lands by failure to pay any ren…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-204 Notice to lessee to release forfeited lease — Damages for failure to release
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(1) Any owner of lands upon which a lease for the development of oil or gas or other minerals has been given and the lessee forfeits his or her rights at any time to further prospect for such minerals upon the lands by reason of a failure to pay periodical rentals or failure to p…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-205 Failure to pay rental installment — Endorsement of forfeiture
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(a) If any installment of rental due under a lease is not paid when due according to the terms of the original lease, thus causing a forfeiture and termination of the lease, the then-owner of the fee in the lands affected may endorse on the margin of the record of the original le…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-206 [Repealed.]
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A.C.A. § 15-73-206Current through all legislation of the 2025 Regular Session.Arkansas Code of 1987 Annotated Official EditionCopyright © 2026 by the State of Arkansas All rights reserved
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-207 Prudent operator standard
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(a) A mineral lessee under an oil and gas lease does not owe a fiduciary duty or a fiduciary obligation to the mineral lessor. (b) The mineral lessee shall:(1) Perform the covenants of the lease in good faith; and(2) Develop and operate the leased mineral estate as a prudent oper…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-208 Transfer of mineral lease — Notice
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(a) A person holding a mineral lease shall notify the owner of the mineral rights upon which the lease has been given upon the first transfer of the mineral lease to another person if the transfer occurs within twenty-four (24) months after the execution of the lease. (b) The wri…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-301 Leases by persons invested with life estate
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Whenever any land in this state may hereafter be, or shall have heretofore been, devised by will or conveyed by grant to any person by any language which at common law would have vested in that person an estate in fee tail, then the person who at common law would have been invest…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-302 Petition to lease by life tenant — Contents
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(1) Whenever any life tenant shall desire to lease any land for the production of oil and gas, he or she shall file a verified petition with the circuit court of the county in which the lands or the greater part thereof may be situated, praying for authority to execute the lease.…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-303 Hearing on lease execution
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(a) The circuit court shall consider the petition, and may, in its absolute discretion, require that other persons as it deems proper be made parties to the proceeding. (b) All proceedings under the provisions of this subchapter shall begin at any time the court shall be in sessi…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-304 Court determinations, orders, and appointments
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(1) If the circuit court after the hearing shall determine that the lease should be executed, it shall enter an order authorizing the life tenant to execute the lease. The court shall:(1) Determine the extent to which the estate of the life tenant may be damaged or impaired by th…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-305 Court approval of lease and confirmation of sale
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(a) After the trustee shall have executed the bond required by the circuit court, the life tenant shall execute and present to the court for its examination the oil and gas lease so authorized, which lease shall show what part of the consideration, rents, and royalties shall be p…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-306 Trustee
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(a) The trustee shall be under the continuing control of the circuit court. (b) The circuit court may remove the trustee at will, and on the death, removal from the county, or resignation of the trustee, the court may appoint his or her successor. (c) The trustee, by and with the…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-307 Divestiture of contingent remaindermen's title
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(1) The order of the court fixing the proportionate part of the minerals allowed to the life tenant as compensation for damages, and the order confirming the execution of the lease, shall operate to:(1) Work a divestiture of title of the contingent remaindermen, and each of them,…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-308 Expiration, forfeiture, or cancellation of lease — New lease
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If any lease executed under the provisions of this subchapter shall forfeit, expire, become cancelled, or be rescinded before the death of the life tenant, the life tenant may execute a new lease in the manner provided by this subchapter, but in that case the court shall not allo…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-309 Binding conveyances by reversioner or remaindermen to life tenant or his or her lessee
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Whenever a life estate in lands has been in existence for thirty (30) years and oil has been produced from such lands for twenty (20) years under an oil and gas lease or leases executed by a life tenant, to whom the creator of the life estate had subsequently conveyed or attempte…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-401 Partition when entire leasehold is unleased and nonproducing
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Whenever any land in fee, the oil and gas in, on, and under such lands, situated in the State of Arkansas, shall be owned by two (2) or more persons, firms, or corporations in joint tenancy, in common or in coparcenary, and there shall be no actual production therefrom of oil and…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-402 Petition for partition and sale — Parties
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Any such owner, or owners, desiring a sale and partition of the oil and gas leasehold interests shall file, in the circuit court of the county in which the lands or the greater part thereof lie, a written petition describing the lands in and under which the oil and gas interests …
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-403 Service of summons
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Summons shall be issued and served as in other cases in circuit court and if any defendant shall be a nonresident of the state, or his or her whereabouts unknown to the plaintiff, such person may be constructively summoned, as provided by Rule 4 of the Arkansas Rules of Civil Pro…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-404 Intervention
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Any person having or claiming an interest in the land in fee, or in any oil and gas leasehold rights, not made a party in the petition may appear and intervene in the cause.
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-405 Guardians
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(a) The statutory guardian of an infant or a person of unsound mind may unite in the petition in conjunction with his or her ward. (b) The infant, or person of unsound mind, may be made party defendant, in which case his or her guardian may appear and defend for him or her. (c) I…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-406 Lease by receiver prior to sale and partition
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(a) If, at any time, after the filing of the petition and before a sale of the property, it should be made to appear to the circuit court that the interests of the various owners could be more fully protected and the value of the various interests of the parties increased by the …
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-407 Procedure — Evidence authorizing lease
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(1) Insofar as § 18-60-401 et seq., relating to the partition of land, is not in conflict with this subchapter, § 18-60-401 et seq. shall apply to the partition of interests in oil and gas leasehold rights on, in, and under lands. However, it shall not be necessary for the circui…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-408 Necessary parties — Effect of sale or lease
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All spouses of the various owners of interests in oil and gas rights shall be necessary parties to the suit in partition, and the sale of the property by the commissioner under the decree, or the leasing of the property by the receiver as provided in this subchapter, shall effect…
Ark. Code Ann. § 15-73-409 Retrial on motion of defendant constructively summoned
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Where a decree has been rendered under the provisions of this subchapter against a defendant or defendants, constructively summoned and who did not appear, the defendants or any one (1) or more of them may, at any time within six (6) months, and not thereafter, after the renditio…