Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(a) Filing
requirements.
(1) Except as provided under
subsection (e) of this section, no organization, including any person, firm,
partnership, joint stock association, corporation, or other organization,
domestic or foreign, operating wholly or partially within this state, acting as
principal or agent for another, for the purpose of performing operations within
the jurisdiction of the Commission shall perform such operations without having
on file with the Commission an approved organization report and financial
security as required by Texas Natural Resources Code §§
RSA
91.103 -
RSA
91.1091. Operations within the jurisdiction
of the Commission include, but are not limited to, the following:
(A) drilling, operating, or producing any
oil, gas, geothermal resource, brine mining injection, fluid injection, or oil
and gas waste disposal well;
(B)
transporting, reclaiming, treating, processing, or refining crude oil, gas and
products, or geothermal resources and associated minerals;
(C) discharging, storing, handling,
transporting, reclaiming, or disposing of oil and gas waste, including hauling
salt water for hire by any method other than pipeline;
(D) operating gasoline plants, natural gas or
natural gas liquids processing plants, pressure maintenance or repressurizing
plants, or recycling plants;
(E)
recovering skim oil from a salt water disposal site;
(F) nominating crude oil;
(G) operating a directional survey
company;
(H) cleaning a reserve
pit;
(I) operating a
pipeline;
(J) operating as a
cementer approved for plugging wells, operating as a cementer cementing casing
strings or liners, or operating a well service company performing well
stimulation activities, including hydraulic fracturing; or
(K) operating an underground hydrocarbon or
natural gas storage facility.
(2) The Commission shall notify organizations
that perform operations not included in paragraph (1)(A) - (K) of this
subsection of any additional activities subject to the jurisdiction of the
Commission which require the filing of the organization report. Such
notification shall make the provisions of this section applicable to such
activities.
(3) Each organization
performing activities subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission shall
maintain a current organization report with the Commission until all duties,
obligations, and liabilities incurred pursuant to Commission rules, the Natural
Resources Code, Titles 3 (Subtitles A, B, C, and Chapter 111 of Subtitle D) and
5, Texas Health and Safety Code, Chapter 401; Texas Utilities Code, §
RSA
121.201, and the Water Code, Chapters 26, 27,
and 29, are fulfilled.
(4) The
organization report shall contain the following information:
(A) the name, street address, mailing
address, telephone number, and emergency after-hours telephone number of the
organization;
(B) the plan of the
business organization;
(C) for each
officer, director, general partner, owner of more than 25% ownership interest,
or trustee (hereinafter controlling entity) of the organization:
(i) that entity's or individual's full legal
name, the name(s) under which such entity or individual conducts business in
the State of Texas, and all assumed names;
(ii) the following:
(I) if the entity is an individual, his or
her social security number. Any individual who does not have a valid social
security number shall submit, at that person's option, either his or her valid
driver's license or Texas State Identification number;
(II) if the entity is not an individual, the
name and, at that person's option, either the valid driver's license, social
security, or Texas Identification number of each officer, director, or other
person, who, under Texas Natural Resources Code, §
RSA
91.114, holds a position of ownership or
control of the organization, or an active P-5 number for that entity. All
controlling entities connected to an organization which are not individuals
shall provide the identification of the individuals in ownership or control of
those entities.
(iii) a
street address different than that of the organization; and
(iv) if different from the mailing address of
the organization, a mailing address;
(D) if a foreign or nonresident organization,
the name and street address of a resident agent.
(E) the name of any non-employee agent that
the organization authorizes to act for the organization in signing Oil and Gas
Division certificates of compliance which initially designate the operator or
change the designation of the operator. Organizations may designate
non-employee agents to execute subsequent organization reports. That
designation shall be authorized by the organization and not by a non-employee
agent.
(5) Any
organization may designate a resident agent with a street address different
than that of the organization in place of submitting the street addresses of
the three (if applicable) primary controlling entities of the organization. Any
foreign or nonresident organization identified in paragraph (1) of this
subsection shall designate and maintain a resident agent upon whom may be
served any process, notice, or demand required or permitted by law to be served
upon such entity by or on behalf of the Commission. Failure of such
organization to designate and maintain a resident agent shall render the
organization report invalid. (Reference Order Number 20-60,617, effective
January 1, 1971.)
(6) Failure by
any organization identified in paragraph (1) of this subsection to answer any
subpoena, commission to take deposition, or directive to appear at a hearing
served upon such organization by or on behalf of the Commission shall render
the organization report invalid.
(7) An organization shall refile an
organization report annually according to the schedule assigned by the
Commission. Prior to the filing date, the Commission shall mail notification
and information to each organization for update of the organization report
file. An organization shall file an amended organization report within 15 days
after a change in any information required to be reported in the organization
report. Only address changes may be made by letter.
(8) The Commission shall meet any requirement
under statute or Commission rule for an order to be sent or notice to be given
by the Commission to an organization by mailing the item to the organization's
mailing address shown on the most recently filed organization report or the
most recently filed letter notification of change of address. Notices sent by
regular first-class mail shall be presumed to have been received if, upon
arrival of the deadline for any response to the notice, the wrapper containing
the notice has not been returned to the Commission. Any Commission action or
proceeding for which notice is required shall go forward on the basis of the
notice provided under this subsection, whether or not actual notice has been
received. Service of notices and orders sent by certified mail is effective
upon:
(A) acceptance of the item by any
person at the address;
(B) initial
failure to claim or refusal to accept the item by any person at the address
prior to its eventual return to the Commission by the United States Postal
Service; or
(C) return of the item
to the Commission by the United States Postal Service bearing a notation such
as "addressee unknown," "no forwarding address," "forwarding order expired," or
any similar notation indicating that the organization's mailing address shown
on the most recently filed organization report or address change notification
letter is incorrect.
(9)
An organization may also designate to the Commission in writing a specified
address for all Commission correspondence relating to a particular district. If
designated by an operator, this specified address shall be used in lieu of the
organization address for any notices, other than hearing notices, pertaining to
that district.
(10) The Commission
may return, unapproved, to the organization address an organization report
which is submitted to the Commission not fully completed according to the
report's written instructions and not timely corrected. In the event that the
Commission returns an organization report, all submitted financial assurances
shall remain non-refundable. If an organization report approved by the
Commission is found to contain information that was materially false at the
time it was submitted for approval, the Commission may suspend or revoke the
organization report after notice and opportunity for hearing.
(b) Record requirements. All
entities who perform operations which are within the jurisdiction of the
Commission shall keep books showing accurate records of the drilling,
redrilling, or deepening of wells, the volumes of crude oil on hand at the end
of each month, the volumes of oil, gas, and geothermal resources produced and
disposed of, together with records of such information on leases or property
sold or transferred, and other information as required by Commission rules and
regulations in connection with the performance of such operations, which books
shall be kept open for the inspection of the Commission or its representatives,
and shall report such information as required by the Commission to do
so.
(c) Time frame. All
organizations shall keep copies of records, forms, and documents which are
required to be filed with the Commission, along with the supporting documents
referred to in subsection (b) of this section, for a period of three years, or
longer if required by another Commission rule, and any such copies may be
disposed of at the discretion of such entities after the original records,
forms, and documents have been on file with the Commission for the required
period, except that particular documents shall be retained beyond the required
period and until the resolution of pending Commission regulatory enforcement
proceedings if the documents contain information material to the determination
of any issues therein. All records, forms, and documents required to be filed
with the Commission shall be filed in the same name, exactly as it appears on
the organization report.
(d)
Organization reports for operators of inactive wells.
(1) The Commission or its delegate may
approve the organization report for an operator of an inactive well if the
Commission or its delegate has approved an extension of the deadline for
plugging the inactive well.
(2) The
Commission or its delegate may conditionally approve an organization report if:
(A) the operator assumed responsibility for a
well that was inactive at the time of the approval of the operator designation
form for the well; and
(B) the
Commission or its delegate approved the operator designation form for the
inactive well less than six months prior to the date the operator is required
to renew its organization report.
(3) The Commission or its delegate may revoke
conditional approval of an organization report granted under paragraph (2) of
this subsection after notice of opportunity for hearing if the operator has
failed to meet any of the following requirements within six months after
approval of the operator designation form:
(A) restoration of the well to active status
as defined by Commission rule;
(B)
plugging of the well in compliance with a Commission rule or order;
or
(C) obtaining the approval of
the Commission or its delegate of an extension of the deadline for plugging an
inactive well.
(e) Issuance of permits to organizations
without active organization reports.
(1)
Notwithstanding contrary provisions of this section, the Commission or its
delegate may issue a permit to an organization or individual that does not have
an active organization report or does not ordinarily conduct oil and gas
activities when the issuance of such a permit is determined to be necessary to
implement a compliance schedule, or to remedy circumstances or a violation of a
Commission rule, order, license, permit, or certificate of compliance relating
to safety or the prevention of pollution. For permits issued under this
subsection, the Commission or its delegate may impose special conditions or
terms not found in like permits issued pursuant to other Commission rules. Any
organization or individual who requests such a permit shall file an
organization report and any other required forms for record-keeping purposes
only. The report or form shall contain all information ordinarily required to
be submitted to the Commission or its delegate.
(2) This section shall not limit the
Commission's authority to plug or to replug wells or to clean up pollution or
unpermitted discharges of oil and gas waste.
(f) Each organization required to file an
organization report under subsection (a) of this section or an affiliate of
such an organization that performs operations within the jurisdiction of the
Commission that files for federal bankruptcy protection shall provide written
notice to the Commission of that action not later than the 30th day after the
date the organization or the affiliate files for bankruptcy protection by
submitting the notice to the Enforcement Section of the Office of General
Counsel. All bankruptcy-related notices sent to the Commission shall be
submitted in writing to that section. For the purpose of this section,
affiliate means an organization that is effectively controlled by
another.
(g) Neither the Commission
nor its delegate may approve an organization report unless the organization has
complied with the state registration requirements of the Secretary of State. A
tax dispute with the Comptroller of Public Accounts shall not be a basis for
disapproving an organization report.
(h) Pursuant to Texas Natural Resources Code,
§
RSA
91.706<subdiv>(b)</subdiv>, if an
operator uses or reports use of a well for production, injection, or disposal
for which the operator's certificate of compliance has been canceled, the
Commission or its delegate may refuse to renew the operator's organization
report required by Texas Natural Resources Code, §
RSA
91.142, until the operator pays the fee
required by §
RSA
3.78<subdiv>(b)(9)</subdiv> of
this title (relating to Fees and Financial Security Requirements) and the
Commission or its delegate issues the certificate of compliance required for
that well.