California Public Resources Code

§ 3205.8

PRC § 3205.8 Effective Jan 1, 2024Div. 3 · Ch. 1 · Art. 4

Statute text

(a)(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, a person who acquires the right to operate a well or production facility, by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, except a well that has an average daily production level that exceeds 15 barrels of oil or 60,000 cubic feet of natural gas during the 12 months preceding the date of acquisition or a natural gas storage well, shall, as soon as possible, but not later than the date when the acquisition of the well or production facility becomes final, file with the supervisor an individual indemnity bond for the well or production facility, or a blanket indemnity bond for multiple wells or production facilities, in an amount determined by the supervisor to be sufficient to cover, in full, all costs of plugging and abandonment, decommissioning of the facility, and site restoration pursuant to Section 3208 and regulations implementing this chapter.

(2)A person who acquires the right to operate more than one well or production facility, by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, or who operates more than one well or production facility may file with the supervisor one blanket indemnity bond to cover all the operations in any of its wells in the state in lieu of an individual indemnity bond for each operation. The blanket indemnity bond shall be executed by the operator, as principal, and by an authorized surety company, as surety, and shall be in substantially the same language and upon the same conditions as provided in Section 3204, except for the difference in the amount.

(b)A person who intends to acquire the right to operate a well or production facility, by purchase, transfer, assignment, conveyance, exchange, or other disposition, shall submit a request to the supervisor for a determination of the amount of the bond required pursuant to subdivision (a) before completing the acquisition and shall not complete the acquisition until the determination is received and the bond has been filed with the supervisor.

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Legislative history

Added by Stats. 2023, Ch. 359, Sec. 6. (AB 1167) Effective January 1, 2024.