For the purposes of the Statutory Unitization Act, unless the context otherwise requires:

A. "pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both. Each zone of a general structure, which zone is completely separate from any other zone in the structure, is covered by the word pool as used herein. Pool is synonymous with "common source of supply" and with "common reservoir";

B. "oil and gas" means crude oil, natural gas, casinghead gas, condensate or any combination thereof;

C. "waste," in addition to its meaning in Section 70-2-3 NMSA 1978, shall include both economic and physical waste resulting, or that could reasonably be expected to result, from the development and operation separately of tracts that can best be developed and operated as a unit;

D. "working interest" means an interest in unitized substances by virtue of a lease, operating agreement, fee title or otherwise, excluding royalty owners, owners of overriding royalties, oil and gas payments, carried interests, mortgages and lien claimants but including a carried interest, the owner of which is primarily obligated to pay, either in cash or out of production or otherwise, a portion of the unit expense; however, oil and gas rights that are free of lease or other instrument creating a working interest shall be regarded as a working interest to the extent of seven-eighths thereof and a royalty interest to the extent of the remaining one-eighth thereof;

E. "working interest owner" or "lessee" means a person who owns a working interest;

F. "royalty interest" means a right to or interest in any portion of the unitized substances or proceeds thereof other than a working interest;

G. "royalty owner" means a person who owns a royalty interest;

H. "unit operator" means the working interest owner, designated by working interest owners under the unit operating agreement or the division to conduct unit operations, acting as operator and not as a working interest owner;

I. "basic royalty" means the royalty reserved in the lease but in no event exceeding one-eighth; and

J. "relative value" means the value of each separately owned tract for oil and gas purposes and its contributing value to the unit in relation to like values of other tracts in the unit, taking into account acreage, the quantity of oil and gas recoverable therefrom, location on structure, its probable productivity of oil and gas in the absence of unit operations, the burden of operation to which the tract will or is likely to be subjected, or so many of said factors, or such other pertinent engineering, geological, operating or pricing factors, as may be reasonably susceptible of determination.

History: 1953 Comp., § 65-14-4, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 293, § 4; 1977, ch. 255, § 110.