§ 32-23-7-6 — Rights and privileges transferred

A grant or reservation contained in an
instrument that affects land in Indiana and that purports to convey or
transfer an interest in the oil and gas in, on, under, or that may be
produced from beneath the surface of the land transfers the following
expressed rights and privileges in addition to any other rights naturally
flowing from the character of the instrument in law to the named
recipient:
(1) A person in interest in the oil and gas estate in land may enter
the land for the purpose of:
(A) exploring, prospecting, testing, surveying, or otherwise
investigating the land to determine the potential of the land for
oil or gas production; or
(B) otherwise conducting operations for oil and gas on the land;
whether or not the person is also the owner, lessee, or licensee of
an owner of an interest in the surface rights in the land.
(2) A person in interest in the oil and gas estate in land in Indiana
may enter the land to drill a well or test well on the land for the
production or attempted production of oil and gas regardless of
whether the:
(A) person is also the owner, lessee, or licensee of an owner of
an interest in the surface rights in the land; and
(B) owner of the remaining rights in the land consents to the
entrance and drilling.
A person that drills a well under this subdivision shall provide an
accounting to the remaining or nonparticipating persons in
interest in the oil and gas estate in the land, for their respective
proportionate shares of the net profits arising from the operations
conducted upon the land for oil or gas. In calculating the profits,
a reduction may not be made from the gross proceeds of the
production of oil and gas, except for expenses that are reasonably
or necessarily incurred in connection with the drilling,
completion, equipping, and operation of the wells drilled upon the
premises during the period in which the relationship of cotenancy
existed between the person drilling the well and the person whose
interest is sought to be charged with the respective proportionate
part of the cost of the drilling.
(3) A person who may enter and enters land in Indiana for the
purpose of exploring, prospecting, testing, surveying, or otherwise
investigating the potential of the land for oil and gas, or for the
purpose of conducting operations on the land for the production
of oil and gas, is accountable to the owner of the surface of the
land for the actual damage resulting from the person's activities
on the land to:
(A) the surface of the land;
(B) improvements to the land; or
(C) growing crops on the land.
However, a person who enters land under this subdivision is not
liable for punitive damages. Actual damage for which a person is
accountable under this subdivision includes actual damage to
marketable timber, crops, drainage systems, or erosion control
systems, or quantifiable and verifiable damage to crops from
compaction, abnormal flooding, or abnormal soil erosion caused
by oil and gas operations. This subdivision does not increase
damages between a lessor and a lessee in a valid and subsisting
oil and gas lease that specifies damages if damages are not due
other than damages that are expressly provided by contract
between cotenants or the lessees of cotenants of a like estate in
the land. This section does not authorize the location of a well for
oil and gas nearer than two hundred (200) feet to an existing
house, barn, or other structure (except fences) without the express
consent of the owner of the structure.
(4) The right to conduct operations for oil and gas upon land
located in Indiana includes the right to:
(A) install and maintain physical equipment on the land; and
(B) use the portion of the surface of the land that is reasonably
necessary for the operations;
subject to the payment of damages resulting from the installation
only of the equipment specified in this subdivision.
[Pre-2002 Recodification Citation: 32-5-7-2.]

Legislative History

As added by P.L.2-2002, SEC.8. Amended by P.L.140-2011, SEC.25.