Arkansas oil and gas laws can be found in Subtitle 6, Title 15 of Arkansas Code.  Pursuant to A.C.A. § 15-71-101, the Oil and Gas Commission is established and shall be appointed by the Governor.  The commission consists of nine members, each to be appointed for a term of six years, and, in the event of a vacancy, the Governor fills the unexpired term[i].

Powers and Jurisdiction of the Board

A.C.A. § 15-71-110 provides that the commission has jurisdiction of and authority over all persons and property necessary to administer and enforce effectively the provisions of this act and all other statutory authority of the commission relating to the exploration, production, and conservation of oil and gas.

The commission has the authority and duty to make inquiries as it deems proper to determine whether or not waste over which it has jurisdiction exists or is imminent[ii].  In the exercise of that power, the commission has the authority to:

• Collect data;
• Make investigations and inspections;
• Examine properties, leases, papers, books, and records;
• Examine, check, test, and gauge oil and gas wells, tanks, refineries, and means of transportation;
• Hold hearings;
• Provide for the keeping of records and the making of reports; and
• Take action as reasonably necessary to enforce this act.

Regulation of Production

All common sources of supply of crude oil and gas discovered after January 1, 1937, if so found necessary by the Oil and Gas Commission, should have the production of oil therefrom controlled or regulated in accordance with the provisions of this act[iii].

The commission is authorized to assess, from time to time against each barrel of oil produced and saved, a charge not to exceed fifty mills on each barrel.  The commission is also authorized to assess, from time to time against each one thousand cubic feet of gas produced and saved from a gas well, a charge not to exceed ten mills on each one thousand cubic feet of gas.

Civil Actions

Pursuant to A.C.A. § 15-72-106, any interested person adversely affected by any statute of the state of Arkansas with respect to conservation of oil or gas, or both; by any provisions of this act; by any rule, regulation, or order made by the Oil and Gas Commission hereunder; or by any act done or threatened hereunder, and who has exhausted his/her administrative remedy, may obtain court review and seek relief by a suit for injunction against the commission as a defendant or against the members of the commission by suit in the circuit court of the county in which the property involved is located.

The suit should have precedence over all other causes, proceedings, or suits on the docket of a different nature, and the attorney representing the commission may have the case set for trial after ten days’ notice to the plaintiff or his/her attorney[iv].

In the trial, the burden of proof should be upon the plaintiff and all pertinent evidence with respect to the validity and reasonableness of the order of the commission complained of should be admissible.

Appeals

In all proceedings brought under authority of this act, of any oil or gas conservation statute of this state, or of any rule, regulation, or order issued thereunder and in all proceedings instituted for the purpose of contesting the validity of any provision of the act, of any oil or gas conservation statute, or of any rule, regulation, or order issued thereunder, appeals may be taken in accordance with the general laws of the state of Arkansas relating to appeals[v].

However, in all appeals from judgments or decrees in suits to contest the validity of any provision of this act, or any rule or regulation of the Oil and Gas Commission, the appeals when docketed in the Supreme Court shall take precedence over other cases on the docket of that court and may be advanced as that court may order and direct.

Penalties

Pursuant to A.C.A. § 15-72-103, any person who violates any provision of this statute or any rule, regulation, or order of the Oil and Gas Commission made should be subject to a penalty not to exceed two thousand five hundred dollars a day for each and every day of violation, and for each and every act of violation.

Any person knowingly and willfully aiding or abetting any other person in the violation of any statute of the state of Arkansas relating to the conservation of oil or gas, or the violation of any provision of this act, or any rule, regulation, or order made thereunder is subject to the same penalties as are prescribed herein for the violation by the other person[vi].

Leases

The term of an oil and gas lease, extended by production in quantities in lands in one section or pooling unit in which there is production, should not be extended in lands in sections or pooling units under the lease where there has been no production or exploration[vii].

If any installment of rental due under a lease is not paid when due according to the terms of the original lease, thus causing a forfeiture and termination of the lease, the then-owner of the fee in the lands affected may endorse on the margin of the record of the original lease a statement to the effect that the rental has not been so paid and that the lease therefore is forfeited, which endorsement should be signed by the landowner and dated and attested by the recorder[viii].

Whenever any land in the state of Arkansas is devised by will or conveyed by grant to any person by any language which at common law would have vested in that person an estate in fee tail, then the person who at common law would have been vested with a fee tail estate in the lands and who is or should be vested with a life estate therein is authorized and empowered to execute oil and gas leases on the land[ix].

[i] A.C.A. § 15-71-102.

[ii] A.C.A. § 15-71-110.

[iii] A.C.A. § 15-71-107.

[iv] A.C.A. § 15-72-106.

[v] A.C.A. § 15-72-110.

[vi] A.C.A. § 15-72-103.

[vii] A.C.A. § 15-73-201.

[viii] A.C.A. § 15-73-205.

[ix] A.C.A. § 15-73-301.