§ 30:9 — Production from pool; drilling units; equitable share; rules and regulations

Louisiana § 30:9

• Jurisdiction: Louisiana
• Title 30: Mortgages and Privileges

Text

§9. Production from pool; drilling units; equitable share; rules and regulations
A. Whether or not the total production from a pool be limited or prorated, no rule,
regulation, or order of the secretary shall in terms or effect:
(1) Make it necessary for the producer from, or the owner of, a tract of land in the
pool, in order that he may obtain the tract's just and equitable share of the production of the
pool, as that share is set forth in this Section, to drill and operate any well or wells on the
tract in addition to the well or wells that can without waste produce this share, or
(2) Occasion net drainage from a tract unless there be drilled and operated upon the
tract a well or wells in addition to the well or wells thereon that can without waste produce
the tract's just and equitable share of the production of the pool.
B. For the prevention of waste and to avoid the drilling of unnecessary wells, the
secretary shall establish a drilling unit or units for each pool, except for those pools which,
prior to July 31, 1940, had been developed to an extent and where conditions exist making
it impracticable or unreasonable to use a drilling unit at the present stage of development. A
drilling unit, as contemplated herein, means the maximum area which may be efficiently and
economically drained by the well or wells designated to serve the drilling unit as the unit
well, substitute unit well, or alternate unit well. This unit shall constitute a developed area
as long as a well is located thereon which is capable of producing oil, gas, or brine in paying
quantities.
C. Each well permitted to be drilled upon a drilling unit hereafter established shall
be drilled at the location designated by the secretary, after public hearing, in the order
creating the unit. The secretary shall consider all available geological and engineering
evidence and shall provide for the unit well to be located at the optimum position in the
drilling unit for the most efficient and economic drainage of such unit with such exceptions
as may be reasonably necessary where topographical conditions exist that would make such
a location of the unit well unduly burdensome or where the designated unit well was drilled
or commenced prior to the creation of the drilling unit; provided, however, the secretary shall
fix the well location for each drilling unit so that the producer thereof shall be allowed to
produce no more than his just and equitable share of the oil and gas in the pool, as this share
is set forth in this Section.
D. Subject to the reasonable necessities for the prevention of waste, and to reasonable
adjustment because of structural position, a producer's just and equitable share of the oil, gas,
or brine in the pool, also referred to as a tract's just and equitable share, is that part of the
authorized production of the pool, whether it be the total which could be produced without
any restriction on the amount of production or whether it be an amount less than that which
the pool could produce if no restriction on amount were imposed, which is substantially in
the proportion that the quantity of recoverable oil, gas, or brine in the developed area of his
tract or tracts in the pool bears to the recoverable oil, gas, or brine in the total developed area
of the pool, insofar as these amounts can be practically ascertained. To that end, the rules,
regulations, and orders of the secretary shall be such as will prevent or minimize reasonably
avoidable net drainage from each developed area, that is, drainage not equalized by counter
drainage, and will give to each producer the opportunity to use his just and equitable share
of the production. In determining each producer's just and equitable share of the production
authorized for the pool, the secretary is authorized to give due consideration to the
productivity of the well or wells located thereon, as determined by flow tests, bottom hole
pressure tests, or any other practical method of testing wells and producing structures, and
to consider other factors and geological and engineering tests and data as may be determined
by the secretary to be pertinent or relevant to ascertaining each producer's just and equitable
share of the production of the field or pool.
E. Repealed by Acts 1984, No. 768, §2.

Legislative History

Amended by Acts 1960, No. 442, §1; Acts 1980, No. 758, §1. Acts 1984, No. 768, §2; Acts 2015, No. 253, §1; Acts 2024, No. 126, §1; Acts 2025, No. 458, §1, eff. Oct. 1, 2025.