| (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 §§91.103 - 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, §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, §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, §91.706(b),
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, §91.142, until the operator pays the fee required by §3.78(b)(9)
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.
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