By Earley                                             H.B. No. 1739
                                 A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
    1-1                                AN ACT
    1-2  relating to the measurement of gas produced from certain wells.
    1-3        BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF TEXAS:
    1-4        SECTION 1.  Section 88.052, Natural Resources Code, is
    1-5  amended to read as follows:
    1-6        Sec. 88.052.  PROHIBITED PASSAGE FROM CONTROL OF PRODUCER
    1-7  WITHOUT MEASUREMENT AND RECORD OF AMOUNT; EXCEPTION FOR MARGINAL
    1-8  GAS PRODUCTION.  (a)  Except as provided by Subsection (b) of this
    1-9  section, no <No> person owning, leasing, operating, or controlling
   1-10  an oil property in this state may permit the oil or gas produced to
   1-11  pass beyond the possession or control of that person to the
   1-12  possession or control of any other person without first accurately
   1-13  measuring the amount of the oil or gas and making and preserving an
   1-14  accurate record of the amount.
   1-15        (b)  A person is not required to measure the amount of a
   1-16  well's gas production, unless otherwise required by commission rule
   1-17  or order, if:
   1-18              (1)  the well produces less than 20,000 cubic feet of
   1-19  gas in a day;
   1-20              (2)  the gas is not commingled with production from
   1-21  different fields unless the commission has granted commingling
   1-22  authority;
   1-23              (3)  for an oil well, the commission does not permit
   1-24  the well's gas production to be measured on a lease basis;
    2-1              (4)  all affected parties, including any well operator,
    2-2  royalty owner, or pipeline operator, agree in writing to the
    2-3  management of production and transfer of possession or control
    2-4  under estimates of production as provided by Subsection (c) of this
    2-5  section.
    2-6        (c)  The commission by rule shall require the operator of a
    2-7  well for which the accurate measurement of gas production is not
    2-8  required to submit to the commission an estimate of the well's gas
    2-9  production for each month's operation.  The commission annually
   2-10  shall verify or review the estimates.
   2-11        SECTION 2.  This Act takes effect September 1, 1993.
   2-12        SECTION 3.  The importance of this legislation and the
   2-13  crowded condition of the calendars in both houses create an
   2-14  emergency and an imperative public necessity that the
   2-15  constitutional rule requiring bills to be read on three several
   2-16  days in each house be suspended, and this rule is hereby suspended.