Montana Code 82-11-103. Lands subject to law
82-11-103. Lands subject to law. This chapter applies to all lands in the state lawfully subject to its police powers, including all state-owned lands. It applies to lands of the United States or to lands subject to the jurisdiction of the United States only to the extent that control and supervision of conservation of oil and gas by the United States on its lands fails to effect the intent and purposes of this chapter and otherwise applies to those lands to the extent that any officer of the United States having jurisdiction or the officer’s duly authorized representative approves any of the provisions of this chapter or an order of the board that affects those lands. This chapter also applies to any lands committed to a unit agreement approved by the secretary of the interior or the secretary’s duly authorized representative, except that the board may, with respect to those unit agreements, suspend the application of this chapter or any part of this chapter so long as the conservation of oil and gas and the prevention of waste as provided in this chapter is accomplished under the unit agreements. The suspension does not relieve an operator or owner from making reports that may be required by the board with respect to operations and production under the unit agreement, and the suspension does not relieve an operator or owner from the payment of taxes on oil and gas production or payment for permit fees as required by this chapter.
Terms Used In Montana Code 82-11-103
- Board: means the board of oil and gas conservation provided for in 2-15-3303. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- Gas: means all natural gases and all other fluid hydrocarbons, including methane gas or any other natural gas found in any coal formation, as produced at the wellhead and not defined as oil in subsection (3). See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir. See Montana Code 82-1-111
- Owner: means the person who has the right to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas the person produces from a pool either for the person or others or for the person and others, and the term includes all persons holding that authority by or through the person with the right to drill. See Montana Code 82-11-101
- State: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Montana Code 1-1-201
- Waste: means :
(i)physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry;
(ii)the inefficient, excessive, or improper use of or the unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;
(iii)the location, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner which causes or tends to cause reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations or which causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; and
(iv)the inefficient storing of oil or gas. See Montana Code 82-11-101