§22C-9-3 Application of article; exclusions. - West Virginia Statutes

§22C-9-3. Application of article; exclusions.
(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section, the provisions of this article shall apply to all lands located in this state, however owned, including any lands owned or administered by any government or any agency or subdivision thereof, over which the state has jurisdiction under its police power. The provisions of this article are in addition to and not in derogation of or substitution for the provisions of article six, chapter twenty-two of this code.

(b) This article shall not apply to or affect:

(1) Shallow wells other than those utilized in secondary recovery programs as set forth in section eight of this article;

(2) Any well commenced or completed prior to the ninth day of March, one thousand nine hundred seventy-two, unless such well is, after completion (whether such completion is prior or subsequent to that date):

(A) Deepened subsequent to that date to a formation at or below the top of the uppermost member of the "Onondaga Group"; or

(B) Involved in secondary recovery operations for oil under an order of the commission entered pursuant to section eight of this article;

(3) Gas storage operations or any well employed to inject gas into or withdraw gas from a gas storage reservoir or any well employed for storage observation; or

(4) Free gas rights.

(c) The provisions of this article shall not be construed to grant to the commissioner or the commission authority or power to:

(1) Limit production or output, or prorate production of any oil or gas well, except as provided in subdivision (6), subsection (a), section seven of this article; or

(2) Fix prices of oil or gas.

(d) Nothing contained in either this chapter or chapter twenty-two of this code may be construed so as to require, prior to commencement of plugging operations, a lessee under a lease covering a well to give or sell the well to any person owning an interest in the well, including, but not limited to, a respective lessor, or agent of the lessor, nor shall the lessee be required to grant to a person owning an interest in the well, including, but not limited to, a respective lessor, or agent of a lessor, an opportunity to qualify under section twenty-six, article six, chapter twenty-two of this code to continue operation of the well.