Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:88.2 – A. Orphan wells. (1) For purposes of this Section, an orphan well shall mean an oil well that is designated as part of an orphaned oilfield site and that has had no reported producti
Terms Used In Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:88.2
- Assistant secretary: means the assistant secretary of the office of conservation within the Department of Energy and Natural Resources or his authorized representatives. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Commission: means the Oilfield Site Restoration Commission. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Fund: means the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil, and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well head in liquid form by ordinary production methods. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:3
- Orphaned oilfield site: means an oilfield site which has no continued useful purpose for the exploration, production, or development of oil or gas and which has been declared to be an orphaned oilfield site by the assistant secretary under La. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Secretary: means the secretary of the Department of Energy and Natural Resources. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Site restoration: means any and all oilfield site restoration activities required of a responsible party of an oil or gas property by regulations adopted by the office of conservation pursuant to this Subtitle, including without limitation plugging of oil and gas wells, pit closure, site remediation, and removal of oilfield equipment. See Louisiana Revised Statutes 30:82
- Trust account: A general term that covers all types of accounts in a trust department, such as estates, guardianships, and agencies. Source: OCC
A. Orphan wells. (1) For purposes of this Section, an orphan well shall mean an oil well that is designated as part of an orphaned oilfield site and that has had no reported production for a period of greater than twelve months immediately prior to the production of oil to which this Section applies.
(2) The monies paid to the state treasury in accordance with La. Rev. Stat. 47:633(7)(c)(iv)(cc) derived from oil produced from an orphaned well as defined in this Section shall be credited to the associated site-specific trust account.
B. New production. In the event of new production from a formerly orphaned well meeting the requirements of Paragraph (A)(1) of this Section, a site-specific trust account shall be established to separately account for each such site for the purpose of providing a source of funds for future site restoration of that oilfield site when restoration of the oilfield site is required. The site-specific trust account shall remain in effect until completion of site restoration of the associated oilfield site.
C. Trust account monitoring. The assistant secretary shall monitor each trust account to assure that it is being properly funded. The funds in each trust account shall remain the property of the commission. If the site-specific trust account is not funded through the payment of amounts equal to the severance tax that would otherwise be due the state for a period of greater than six months from the date of first production following designation of the well as part of an orphaned oilfield site, the assistant secretary shall require financial security in accordance with this Subtitle and the rules and regulations adopted pursuant to this Subtitle including the exceptions provided in La. Rev. Stat. 30:4(R).
D. Transfers of oilfield sites. When transfers of oilfield sites occur subsequent to the formation of site-specific trust accounts pursuant to this Section but before the end of the oilfield site’s economic life, the balance of any site-specific trust account at the time of transfer shall remain associated with the oilfield site.
E. Unusable oilfield sites. For unusable oilfield sites, after site restoration has been completed and approved by the assistant secretary, funds from a site-specific trust account shall be disbursed as follows:
(1) If the site restoration has been completed by the operator of record on file with the assistant secretary, the balance of the funds existing in the site-specific trust account shall be remitted to that operator of record.
(2) If the site restoration has been completed using monies from the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund and monies from the site-specific trust account, any balance in the site-specific trust account shall be transferred into the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund for use on any oilfield site in accordance with this Chapter.
(3) The site-specific trust account shall thereafter be closed.
F. Rules, regulations, and orders. The assistant secretary shall promulgate, after notice and public hearings as provided in this Chapter, any reasonable rules, regulations, and orders that are necessary to implement this Section.
Acts 2021, No. 391, §1, eff. June 16, 2021.