Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION › Section 3.58 - Certificate of Compliance and Transportation Authority; Operator Reports

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Certificate of
				Compliance and transportation authority.
(1)
				Each operator who seeks to operate any well subject to the jurisdiction of the
				Commission shall file with the commission's Austin office a commission form P-4
				(certificate of compliance and transportation authority) for each property on
				which the wells are located certifying that the operator has complied with
				Texas Natural Resources Code, Title 3; Texas Water Code, §
										RSA
				26.131; and Texas Water Code, Chapter 27, and
				orders, rules, and regulations of the commission pursuant to Texas Natural
				Resources Code, Title 3; Texas Water Code, §
										RSA
				26.131; and Texas Water Code, Chapter 27, in
				respect to the property. The Commission form P-4 establishes the operator of an
				oil lease, gas well, or other well; certifies responsibility for regulatory
				compliance, including plugging wells in accordance with §
										RSA 3.14 of
				this title (relating to plugging); and identifies gatherers, purchasers, and
				purchasers' commission-assigned system codes authorized for each well or lease.
				Operators shall file form P-4 for new oil leases, gas wells, or other wells;
				recompletions; reclassifications of wells from oil to gas or gas to oil;
				consolidation, unitization or subdivision of oil leases; or change of gatherer,
				gas purchaser, gas purchaser system code, operator, field name or lease name.
				When an operator files a form P-4, the oil and gas division shall review the
				form for completeness and accuracy. The Commission may require an operator who
				files a form P-4 for the purpose of changing the designation of an operator for
				a lease or well to provide to the Commission evidence that the transferee has
				the right to operate the lease or well. Except as otherwise authorized by the
				Commission, a transporter (whether the operator or someone else) shall not
				transport the oil, gas, or geothermal resources from such property until the
				Commission has approved the certificate of compliance and transportation
				authority. No certificate of compliance designating or changing the designation
				of an operator will be approved that is signed, either as transferor or
				transferee, by a non-employee agent of the organization unless the organization
				has filed with the commission, on its organization report, the name of the
				non-employee agent it has authorized to sign such certificates of compliance on
				its behalf.
(2) An approved
				certificate of compliance and transportation authority shall bind the operator
				until another operator files a subsequent certificate and the Commission has
				approved the subsequent certificate and transferred the property on commission
				records to the subsequent operator.
(3) The appropriate district office or the
				Austin office may grant temporary authority for an operator to use a
				transporter not authorized for a particular property in order to take care of
				production and prevent waste. The operator shall secure such temporary
				authority in writing from the appropriate district office or the Austin office
				before the oil or condensate is moved. In an emergency situation the operator
				may secure such temporary authority verbally but shall notify the district
				office in writing within 10 days after the oil or condensate is moved. An
				emergency situation exists when oil or condensate must be moved off a lease
				because it poses an imminent threat to the public health and safety, or when
				the threat of waste is imminent. The operator shall also furnish copies of such
				authorization or notification to the regular transporter and to the temporary
				transporter.
(4) If an applicant
				wishes to assume operator status for a property, but is unable to obtain the
				signature of the previous operator on the certificate of compliance and
				transportation authority, the applicant shall file with the oil and gas
				division in Austin a completed form P-4 signed by a designated officer or agent
				of the applicant, along with an explanatory letter and legal documentation of
				the applicant's right to operate the property. Prior to approval of such an
				application, the office of the general counsel will notify the last known
				operator of record, if such operator's address is available, affording such
				operator an opportunity to protest.