SECTION 165:5-15-3. Pooling orders

(a)   Termination of order. A pooling order shall contain language to the effect that if operations for the drilling of the well are not commenced within the time designated, the order shall terminate except as to the payment of cash bonuses.

(b)   Affidavit of mailing. The applicant or other responsible person shall file with the Court Clerk, within ten (10) days from the date of the pooling order, an affidavit stating that a copy of said order was mailed within three (3) days from the date of the order, unless the Commission directs otherwise, to all parties of record and respondents whose addresses are known. The name and address, if known, of each respondent in the proceeding who has not previously been dismissed shall be set out in the affidavit.

(c)   List dismissed person. The pooling order shall list all persons dismissed in the cause.

(d)   Elections. A pooling order shall contain language to the effect that the respondents shall have at least twenty (20) days from the date of the order in which to communicate an election to the applicant or other responsible person as to the option selected under the order, unless the Commission directs otherwise. A respondent in a pooling order shall be deemed to have made a timely election if, as provided in the pooling order, the respondent has delivered his election by timely mailing as indicated by postmark of the U.S. Postal Service on or before the last day allowed in the order, or timely delivery as otherwise provided in the pooling order. The election shall be directed to the person designated in the pooling order to receive elections.

(e)   Escrow accounts. A pooling order which pools interests of unknown or unlocated owners shall contain language to the effect that if any payment of bonus, royalty payments, or other payments due and owing under the order cannot be made because the person entitled to it cannot be located or is unknown, then the bonus, royalty payments, or other payments shall be paid into an escrow account in a financial institution within ninety (90) days after the order and shall not be commingled with any funds of the applicant or operator; that the Commission shall retain jurisdiction to grant to financially solid and stable holders an exception to the requirement that funds be paid into an escrow account with a financial institution and permit such holder to escrow such funds within such holder's organization; that responsibility for filing reports with the Commission as required by law and Commission rule as to bonus, royalty, or other payments deposited into escrow accounts shall be with the applicable holder; that such funds deposited in said escrow accounts shall be held for the exclusive use of, and sole benefit of, the person entitled to it; and that it shall be the responsibility of the operator to notify all other holders of this provision and of Commission rules regarding unclaimed monies under pooling orders.

(f)   Exhibit list of respondents. A pooling order shall contain an attached exhibit listing all respondents or interests in the following manner:

(1)   Known respondents. List all known respondents by name and address.

(2)   Unknown and/or unlocatable respondents. List all respondents, with last known address if available, or if there are none so state under this section of the exhibit.

(3)   Respondents listed for curative reasons only. List all respondents or if none so state under this section of the exhibit.

(g)   Horizontal wells: election. A pooling order for a horizontal well unit which overlies existing production from the same common source of supply as the horizontal well unit shall provide that if any owner should elect not to participate in the development of the horizontal spacing unit, said owner's interest in the production from the well or drilling and spacing unit which existed prior to the formation of the horizontal well unit shall not be affected.

(h)   Horizontal wells: conversion. A pooling order for a horizontal well unit which overlies existing production from the same common source of supply as the horizontal well unit may not provide for the conversion of an existing producing oil or gas well into the permitted well for the horizontal well unit unless all working interest owners in such existing well consent to such conversion. A pooling application for such conversion shall include a statement that all working interest owners in such well have agreed in writing to such conversion.

[Source: Amended at 9 Ok Reg 2323, eff 6-25-92; Amended at 10 Ok Reg 2591, eff 6-25-93; Amended at 11 Ok Reg 3675, eff 7-11-94; Amended at 27 Ok Reg 2098, eff 7-11-10]