Nebraska § 57-901 - Development of oil and natural gas; purpose.

§ 57-901. Development of oil and natural gas; purpose.

The purpose of sections 57-901 to 57-923 is to permit the development of Nebraska's oil and natural gas resources up to the maximum efficient rate of production while promoting the health, safety, and environment of the residents of Nebraska. It is the public policy of the state and in the public interest to encourage responsible development, production, and utilization of oil and gas natural resources and their products, to prevent waste, to protect the correlative rights of all owners, to encourage and authorize cycling, recycling, pressure maintenance, and secondary recovery operations to obtain the most efficient recovery of oil and gas resources for the highest benefit of landowners, royalty owners, producers, and the general public, and to facilitate open communication with and the participation of the general public and affected local governmental entities.

This and succeeding sections contemplate determination of correlative rights of adjoining owners in a pool of oil or gas shall be determined on a fair, reasonable, and equitable basis. Farmers Irr. Dist. v. Schumacher, 187 Neb. 825, 194 N.W.2d 788 (1972).

Lessee who refused to participate in a secondary recovery unit formed prior to compulsory unitization only entitled to recover for that which he would have produced by his own efforts without unitization. Baumgartner v. Gulf Oil Co., 184 Neb. 384, 168 N.W.2d 510 (1969).