Title 45, MINING, OIL AND GAS

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may regulate, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to regulate the production of oil and gas from any field, pool, or area, where physical waste is c…

The Board of Minerals and Environment shall promulgate rules pursuant to chapter 1-26 and issue orders reasonably necessary to prevent waste, to protect correlative rights, to govern the practice or procedure before the board, and otherwise to administer this chapter. The board m…

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to require the drilling, casing, operation, and plugging of wells in such manner as to prevent: (1)…

Without limiting its general authority, the board may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources specific authority to require, the furnishing of a plugging and performance bond in the amount of fifty thousand dollars or an amount sufficient to…

The bond requirements in § 45-9-15 do not apply to any wells permitted or drilled prior to July 1, 2013, unless the well is sold or transferred after July 1, 2013. Source: SL 2013, ch 227 , § 3.

Without limiting its general authority, the board may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources specific authority to require, the furnishing of a supplemental plugging and performance bond in the amount of twenty thousand dollars or an amount…

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to require that every person who produces, sells, purchases, acquires, stores, transports, refines,…

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to require the filing with the board of reports or plats that it may prescribe. Source: SDC Supp 19…

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to require the filing of all mechanical well logs, directional surveys, and reports on well locatio…

Any person: (1) Who intentionally falsely swears or affirms to a matter when an oath or affirmation is required by this chapter or by a rule or order of the Department of Water and Natural Resources authorized by this chapter; (2) Who, for the purpose of evading a rule or order a…

Terms used in this chapter mean: (1) "Board," the Board of Minerals and Environment; (2) "Condensate," liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in the gaseous phase in the reservoir; (3) "Developed area," a spacing unit on which a well has been completed that is capable of produc…

When necessary to prevent waste, to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells, or to protect correlative rights, the Board of Minerals and Environment shall establish spacing units for a pool, except in those pools which, prior to July 1, 1961, have been developed to such an extent…

Except where circumstances reasonably require, spacing units shall be of approximately uniform size and shape for the entire pool. The Board of Minerals and Environment may establish spacing units of different sizes or shapes for different parts of a pool or may grant exceptions …

An order establishing spacing units shall specify the size and shape of the units, which will in the opinion of the Board of Minerals and Environment result in the efficient and economical development of the pool as a whole. The size of the spacing units may not be smaller than t…

When production is limited due to physical waste, the Board of Minerals and Environment shall include in the order establishing spacing units suitable provisions to prevent the production from the spacing unit of more than its just and equitable share of the oil and gas in the po…

If spacing units of different sizes or shapes exist in a pool, the Board of Minerals and Environment shall, if necessary, and if production is limited due to physical waste, adjust the allowable production from any wells drilled in the pool so that each person entitled to a share…

If, at the time of a hearing to establish spacing units there is not sufficient evidence from which to determine the area that can be efficiently and economically drained by one well, the Board of Minerals and Environment may make an order establishing temporary spacing units for…

An order establishing spacing units for a pool shall specify the size and shape of each unit and the location of the permitted well thereon in accordance with a reasonable uniform spacing plan, with necessary exceptions for wells drilled or drilling at the time of the filing of t…

Upon application, if the secretary of agriculture and natural resources finds that a well drilled at the prescribed location would not be likely to produce in paying quantities, or that surface conditions would substantially add to the burden or hazard of drilling such wells or f…

An order establishing spacing units for a pool shall cover all lands determined or believed to be underlaid by such pool, and may be modified by the Board of Minerals and Environment from time to time to include additional areas determined to be underlaid by such pool, or to excl…

When found necessary for the preventing of waste or to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells, or to protect correlative rights, an order establishing spacing units in a pool may be modified by the Board of Minerals and Environment to increase the size of spacing units in the po…

The waste of oil and gas is prohibited. However, the production of gas for personal use in conjunction with the production of water insofar as such gas comes from the water-bearing formations is expressly excluded from the coverage of this chapter. Source: SL 1929, ch 202 , § 1; …

When two or more separately owned tracts are embraced within a spacing unit, or when there are separately owned interests in all or a part of the spacing unit, then the owners and royalty owners thereof may pool their interests for the development and operation of the spacing uni…

In the absence of voluntary pooling, the Board of Minerals and Environment or the secretary, as applicable, upon the application of any interested person, shall enter an order pooling all interests in the spacing unit for the development and operation of the spacing unit, and for…

Each such pooling order shall authorize the drilling, equipping, and operation of a well on the spacing unit; shall provide who may drill and operate the well; shall prescribe the time and manner in which all the owners in the spacing unit may elect to participate in such well dr…

If requested, each such pooling order shall provide for one or more just and equitable alternatives whereby an owner who does not elect to participate in the risk and cost of the drilling and operation of a well may elect to surrender his or her leasehold interest to the particip…

Operations incident to the drilling of a well upon any portion of a spacing unit covered by a pooling order shall be deemed, for all purposes, the conduct of such operations upon each separately owned tract in the drilling unit by the several owners thereof. That portion of the p…

If any of the owners drills, equips, and operates, or pays the costs of drilling, equipping, and operating a well for the benefit of another person as provided for in an order of pooling, then the owner is entitled to the share of production from the spacing unit accruing to the …

In instances where a well is completed prior to the pooling of interests in a spacing unit, the sharing of production shall be from the effective date of the pooling except that, in calculating costs, credit shall be given for the value of the owner's share of any prior productio…

The Board of Minerals and Environment upon its own motion or upon the application of any interested person shall provide an opportunity for a hearing to consider the need for the operation as a unit of one or more pools or parts thereof in a field. Source: SDC Supp 1960, § 42.071…

The Board of Minerals and Environment shall make an order providing for the unit operation of a pool or part thereof if it finds that: (1) Such operation is reasonably necessary to increase substantially the ultimate recovery of oil or gas; and (2) The value of the estimated addi…

The order for unit operation shall be upon terms and conditions that are just and reasonable and shall prescribe a plan for unit operations that shall include: (1) A description of the pool or pools or parts thereof to be so operated, termed the unit area; (2) A statement of the …

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment, by rules promulgated pursuant to chapter 1-26 , may require or may delegate to the secretary, specific authority to require that an operator drilling a well for oil or gas shall first file an applicati…

No order of the Board of Minerals and Environment providing for unit operations becomes effective unless and until the plan for unit operations prescribed by the board has been approved in writing by those persons who, under the board's order, shall be required to pay at least si…

If the plan for unit operations has not been approved as required by § 45-9-40 at the time the order providing for unit operations is made, the Board of Minerals and Environment shall upon application and notice provide opportunity for supplemental hearings to determine if and wh…

If the persons owning the required percentage of interest in the unit area do not approve the plan for unit operations within a period of six months from the date on which the order providing for unit operations is made, such order shall be ineffective, and shall be revoked by th…

An order providing for unit operations may be amended by an order made by the Board of Minerals and Environment in the same manner and subject to the same conditions as an original order providing for unit operations under the following conditions: (1) If such an amendment affect…

The Board of Minerals and Environment, by an order, may provide for the unit operation of a pool or pools or parts thereof that embrace a unit area established by a previous order of the board. Such order, in providing for the allocation of unit production, shall first treat the …

An order may provide for unit operations on less than the whole of a pool where the unit area is of such size and shape as may be reasonably required for that purpose, and the conduct thereof will have no adverse effect upon other portions of the pool. Source: SDC Supp 1960, § 42…

All operations, including the commencement, drilling, or operation of a well upon any portion of the unit area are deemed for all purposes the conduct of such operations upon each separately owned tract in the area by the several owners of the tracts. The portion of the unit prod…

Operations conducted pursuant to an order of the Board of Minerals and Environment providing for unit operations shall constitute a fulfillment of all the express or implied obligations of each lease or contract covering lands in the unit area to the extent that compliance with s…

The portion of the unit production allocated to any tract, and the proceeds from the sale thereof, shall be the property and income of the several persons to whom, or to whose credit, the same are allocated or payable under the order providing for unit operations. Source: SDC Sup…

Except to the extent that the parties affected agree, no order providing for unit operations may be construed to result in a transfer of any part of the title of any person to the oil and gas rights in any tract in the unit area. Source: SDC Supp 1960, § 42.0710 (11) as enacted b…

Without limiting its general authority, the Board of Minerals and Environment may require, or may delegate to the secretary of agriculture and natural resources, specific authority to require identification of ownership of oil or gas wells, producing leases, tanks, plants, struct…

No division order or other contract relating to the sale or purchase of production from a separately owned tract may be terminated by the order providing for unit operations, but shall remain in force and apply to oil and gas allocated to the tract until terminated in accordance …

All property, whether real or personal, that may be acquired in the conduct of unit operations hereunder shall be acquired for the account of the owners within the unit area, and shall be the property of such owners in the proportion that the expenses of unit operations are charg…