The New And Improved 1989 Joint Operating Agreement A Working Manual

In addition, in recent decades, lawyers and compatriots have adapted the standard forms for each agreement to better meet the unique circumstances of the transaction and better meet the expectations of the parties. [24] See Michel E. Curry, The Perfect Operating Agreement: Considerations in Drafting Changes to the Model Form JOA, 26 State Bar of Tex. Oil Gas &Min. L. Inst. 17-1 (2008); See also Thomas A. Daily, above Note 28 (who says, “A form is only a form. One size will never suit everyone.

The forms have been designed in such a way that they can be adapted. »). Since the 1989 form has been in use for about twenty-five years at the time of this document, most practitioners are accustomed to adding various additional provisions to the Article XVI form. [25] Michael Cooper, Austin Elam & Kim Mai, A Form for All Directions: A.A.P.L`”New” 1989 Horizontal Well JOA, 2 American Bar Section Association of Environment, Energy and Resources` Oil and Gas Committee Newsletter 4 (2014). The concept of horizontal well drilling is not as new as one might think. The first recorded horizontal oil drilling was completed in Texas in 1929. [8] U.S. Dept. Of Energy, Drilling Sideways – A Review of Horizontal Well Technology and its Domestic Applications (April, 1993), 7. Another horizontal drilling was reported in Pennsylvania in 1944. [9] However, horizontal drilling was initially impractical. In the early 1980s, improvements in drilling equipment, materials and technologies allowed some limited horizontal drilling applications to become commercially profitable.

[10] Later, in the early 2000s, multi-level hydraulic fracturing technology had improved significantly. The combination of horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing techniques leads to a widespread and rapid proliferation of horizontal drilling operations. [11] Archie Skalbeck, Proliferation of the Oil and Gas Industry and its Effects on Agriculture in Dakota North(2014) (thesis, The Colorado College). For example, many of the definitions found in the 1989 form and its predecessors can be modified to illustrate how they apply to horizontal wells. The definition of “deepen” is essential, because when a subsequent operation is considered a “deepening” operation of the well, the parties must choose between agreement and payment of their share of the costs or “non-consent” and non-consent. [15] Form 610-1989, Section VI.B. The existing definition of “deepen” only covers operations in which the well is drilled in areas below the lowest area that has been drilled previously. For horizontal operations, however, the act of “deepening” usually only leads to an extension of the horizontal (“lateral”) part of the borehole. This definition is one of many that need to be revised in order to clarify how the provisions are to be applied to horizontal drilling. .

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