§21. Fees and charges of the commissioner of conservation; revisions; exceptions;
collections; Oil and Gas Regulatory Dedicated Fund Account; creation; amounts;
requirements
A. The commissioner of conservation of the office of conservation shall periodically
review the fees collected by his office, and, in addition to other statutory authorization, may
revise such fees pursuant to the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedure Act.
B.(1)(a) There shall be an annual fee payable to the office of conservation, in a form
and schedule prescribed by the office of conservation, by oil and gas operators on capable
oil wells and capable gas wells based on a tiered system to establish parity on a dollar
amount between the wells. The tiered system shall be established annually by rule on
capable oil and capable gas production, including nonexempt wells reporting zero production
during the annual base period, such that the amount generated does not exceed three million
six hundred seventy-five thousand dollars for each fiscal year beginning with Fiscal Year
2015-2016. Incapable oil, stripper oil, incapable gas well gas, and incapable oil well gas
shall be exempt from the fee. For the purposes of this Subsection, "capable oil" means crude
oil and condensate not classified as incapable oil or stripper oil by the Department of
Revenue. "Capable gas" means natural and casing head gas not classified as incapable gas
well gas or incapable oil well gas by the Department of Revenue.
(b) There shall be an annual fee payable to the office of conservation, in a form and
schedule prescribed by the office of conservation, on Class I wells in an amount not to
exceed one million dollars for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 and thereafter.
(c) There shall be an annual regulatory fee payable to the office of conservation, in
a form and schedule prescribed by the office of conservation, on Class II wells, Class III
wells, storage wells, Type A facilities, and Type B facilities in an amount not to exceed two
million one hundred eighty-seven thousand five hundred dollars for Fiscal Year 2015-2016
and thereafter. No fee shall be imposed on a Class II well of an operator who is also an
operator of a stripper crude oil well or incapable gas well certified pursuant to R.S. 47:633
by the severance tax division of the Department of Revenue and located in the same field as
such Class II well.
(d) There shall be an application fee payable to the office of conservation, in a form
and schedule prescribed by the office of conservation, by industries under the jurisdiction of
the office of conservation. In addition to any other fee that is on the schedule on July 1,
2015, the commissioner may collect the following fees:
(i) Application for alternate unit well, exception $ 504
to 29-E, exception to 29-B, severance tax relief,
downhole combinations, well product
reclassification, selective completion, pilot
projects, waiver of production test, or critical
date order
(ii) Application for work permit - minerals $ 75
(iii) Application to amend permit to drill - minerals $ 50
(lease unit well, stripper, incapable, other)
(iv) Operator registration $ 105
(v) Annual compliance review fee - class III $ 2,000
solution mining cavern
(vi) Annual compliance review fee - class II $ 2,000
hydrocarbon storage and exploration and
production waste cavern
(vii) Class II carbon dioxide enhanced $ 5,000
recovery project
(viii) Community saltwater disposal system initial $ 125
notification
(ix) Application for work permit - injection or other $ 125
(x) Work permit to plug and abandon a well utilized $ 500
for naturally occurring radioactive waste disposal
(xi) Requests to modify well permit $ 300
(xii) Class V permit waiver or exemption request $ 250
(xiii) Witnessed verification of mechanical $ 250
integrity tests
(xiv) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 277, §2.
(xv) Request to transport exploration and $ 150
production waste to commercial facilities
or transfer stations
(xvi) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 277, §2.
(xvii) Exploration and production waste $ 300
determination
(xviii) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 277, §2.
(xix) Commercial facility application exclusive $ 3,000
of an associated well
(xx) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 277, §2.
(xxi) Repealed by Acts 2016, No. 277, §2.
(xxii) Reuse material applications not associated with $ 400
a commercial facility
(e) For the purposes of this Paragraph, exploration and production waste shall not
include produced brine, produced water, or salvageable hydrocarbons bound for permitted
salvage oil operators. There shall be a monthly fee payable to the office of conservation of
two cents per barrel of exploration and production waste delivered, as reported on a form
prescribed by the department to collect commercial facilities monthly report of waste
receipts, from the original generator of the waste to the following facilities:
(i) Office of conservation permitted off-site commercial facilities.
(ii) Transfer stations permitted by the office of conservation for waste transfer to
out-of-state treatment or disposal facilities.
(iii) Any other legally permitted Louisiana off-site waste storage, treatment, or
disposal facilities also approved by the office of conservation for the receipt of exploration
and production waste.
(2)(a) There is hereby established a special statutorily dedicated fund account in the
state treasury to be known as the Oil and Gas Regulatory Dedicated Fund Account, hereafter
referred to as the "account". After deposit in the Bond Security and Redemption Fund and
after a sufficient amount is allocated from that fund to pay all the obligations secured by the
full faith and credit of the state that become due and payable within each fiscal year, the
treasurer shall pay into the account an amount equal to the monies generated from collection
of the fees provided for in this Title, R.S. 40:1749.11 et seq., or Title 47 of the Louisiana
Revised Statutes of 1950, the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder, any fines and
civil penalties or any other provision of law relative to fees, fines, or civil penalties
attributable to the office of conservation, and fifty percent of any annual assessment paid by
an operator who chooses not to plug a well classified as inactive with the remainder being
deposited into the Oilfield Site Restoration Fund.
(b) Monies deposited into the account shall be categorized as fees and self-generated
revenue for the sole purpose of reporting related to the executive budget, supporting
documents, and general appropriation bills. The monies credited to the account shall be
appropriated by the legislature and dedicated solely to the use of the office of conservation
for the regulation of the oil and gas industry and other industries under the jurisdiction of the
office of conservation and shall be used solely for the purposes of that program. Any monies
remaining in the account at the end of any fiscal year shall remain with the account and shall
not revert to the state general fund. All interest or earnings of the account shall be credited
to the account. All fees and self-generated revenue remaining on deposit for the office of
conservation at the end of any fiscal year shall be deposited into the account. The amount
appropriated from the account to the office of conservation shall be subject to appropriation
by the legislature.
(c) The provisions of Subtitle II of Title 47 of the Louisiana Revised Statutes of 1950
shall apply to the administration, collection, and enforcement of the fees imposed in this
Section, and the penalties provided by that Subtitle shall apply to the person who fails to pay
or report the fee. Proceeds from the fee, including any penalties collected in connection with
the fee, shall be deposited into the account.
C. Nothing contained herein shall authorize the charging of inspection fees for shut-in oil wells or temporarily abandoned oil wells in stripper fields.
Acts 1989, No. 227, §1, eff. June 26, 1989; Acts 1991, No. 778, §1, eff. July 1, 1991;
Acts 1991, No. 811, §1; Acts 1997, No. 826, §1, eff. July 1, 1997; Acts 1998, 1st Ex. Sess.,
No. 47, §1, eff. April 24, 1998; Acts 2000, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 88, §1; Acts 2001, No. 260, §1;
Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 97, §1, eff. July 1, 2002; Acts 2002, 1st Ex. Sess., No. 105, §1;
Acts 2015, No. 362, §1; Acts 2016, No. 277, §§1, 2; Acts 2016, No. 582, §1, eff. June 17,
2016; Acts 2017, No. 218, §1, eff. June 14, 2017; Acts 2021, No. 114, §6, eff. July 1, 2022.