§ 9:4861 — Definitions

§4861. Definitions
For purposes of this Part:
(1) A "claimant" is a person who is owed an obligation secured by the privilege
established by R.S. 9:4862.
(2) "Hydrocarbons" are oil and gas occurring naturally in the earth and any other
valuable liquid or gaseous substance found and produced in association with them.
(3) A "well" is one that is intended to:
(a) Explore for or produce hydrocarbons.
(b) Inject or dispose of substances, whether useful or not, produced from a well that
is intended to explore for or produce hydrocarbons.
(c) Inject hydrocarbons or other substances into the earth to enhance or facilitate the
production of hydrocarbons.
(d) Produce water for use in the operations of a well that is intended to explore for
or produce hydrocarbons.
(4)(a) "Operations" are every activity conducted by or for a lessee on a well site for
the purpose of:
(i) Drilling, completing, testing, producing, reworking, or abandoning a well.
(ii) Saving, treating, or disposing of hydrocarbons or other substances produced from
a well.
(iii) Injecting substances into the earth to produce or enhance the production of
hydrocarbons.
(b) "Operations" do not include an activity conducted for the purpose of transporting,
handling, processing, treating, or otherwise dealing with:
(i) Liquid hydrocarbons produced or separated at the well site after being removed
from a leasehold tank and delivered into a truck, barge, pipeline, or other facility for
transportation away from the well site.
(ii) Hydrocarbons produced in gaseous form, or produced in association with those
produced in gaseous form and not separated at the well site, after being delivered into a
pipeline for transportation away from the well site or delivered to a plant at the well site for
processing or manufacturing.
(iii) Repealed by Acts 2018, No. 245, §1.
(5)(a) An "operating interest" is a mineral lease or sublease of a mineral lease, or an
interest in a lease or sublease that gives the lessee, either singly or in association with others,
the right to conduct the operations giving rise to the claimant's privilege.
(b) A mineral lease or sublease or an interest in the lease or sublease, is not an
operating interest if an owner has divested himself of the right to conduct the operations
giving rise to the claimant's privilege by assignment, sublease, or another form of mineral
right before the claimant's privilege is established.
(c) A contract, such as one which commonly is referred to in the industry as a "farm-out" or "farm-in", by which a lessee agrees to sublease or transfer all or part of his rights in
a lease to another person, commonly referred to as a "farmee", upon the drilling of a well or
completion of some other operations, but which does not then vest such interest in the
farmee, is not an operating interest until the sublease or transfer is made, and until then the
farmee is a contractor of the lessee for the purposes of this Part.
(6) A "lessee" is a person who owns an operating interest.
(7) An "operator" is a lessee who is personally bound by contract to the claimant or
to a contractor from whom the claimant's activities giving rise to the privilege emanate.
(8) A "participating lessee" is a lessee who is not the operator, but who is personally
bound by contract to the operator to pay or reimburse the operator for any part of the
obligation secured by the privilege or for any part of the price of the contract of the
contractor from whom the operations giving rise to the claimant's privilege emanate.
(9) A "non-participating lessee" is a lessee who is neither an operator nor a
participating lessee. A non-participating lessee does not become a participating lessee
because an operator, contractor, or the claimant has the right to recover all or part of the
obligation secured by the privilege out of hydrocarbons attributable to the interest of the
lessee in the operating interest or from the lessee's share of the proceeds derived from such
hydrocarbons, or out of other property of the lessee.
(10) A "contractor" is a person, other than a lessee, who contracts with an operator
to perform the operations giving rise to the claimant's privilege or who, by subcontract with
a contractor of the operator or through a series of subcontracts emanating from such a
contractor, contracts to perform all or part of the operations contracted for by the operator.
(11) A "third person" is a person, including a lessee or operator, who is not
contractually bound to the claimant for the obligation secured by a privilege or who has not
expressly assumed the obligation.
(12) A "well site" is the area covered by:
(a) The operating interest.
(b) A unit in which the operating interest participates.
(c) A tract of land or the area covered by a servitude or predial lease of the lessee on
which is located a well drilled to, producing from, or injecting substances into the area
covered by the operating interest.

Legislative History

Acts 1984, No. 949, §1; Acts 1995, No. 962, §1; Acts 2018, No. 245, §1.