Oil and gas: development.

(1) Under existing law, the Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources in the Department of Conservation regulates the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of oil and gas wells in the state. Existing law requires the State Oil and Gas Supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells and the operation, maintenance, and removal or abandonment of tanks and facilities related to oil and gas production within an oil and gas field, so as to prevent damage to life, health, property, and natural resources, as provided; to permit owners and operators of wells to utilize all known methods and practices to increase the ultimate recovery of hydrocarbons; and to perform the supervisor's administrative duties in a manner that encourages the wise development of oil and gas resources to best meet oil and gas needs in this state. This bill would revise and recast the duty on the supervisor to supervise the drilling, operation, maintenance, and abandonment of wells so as to permit the owners or operators of the wells to utilize methods and practices known to the oil industry that, in the opinion of the supervisor, are suitable in each proposed case. The bill would revise the declared policy of the state relating to the grant in an oil and gas lease or contract of the right or power to explore for and remove hydrocarbons from any lands in the state. The bill would instead require the supervisor to perform their administrative duties in a manner so as to help ensure the wise oversight of oil and gas development used to meet oil and gas needs in this state. (2) Existing law authorizes the State Lands Commission to make leases for the extraction and removal of oil and gas deposits from state-owned lands to the highest qualified bidder, or to joint bidders, as provided by law, and requires that a lease include all oil and gas deposits in the leased land and be for a term of 20 years and for so long thereafter as gas or oil is produced in paying quantities from the leased land, or that the lessee be diligently conducting production, drilling, deepening, repairing, redrilling, or other necessary lease or well maintenance operations on the leased land. Existing law establishes a finding and determination by the Legislature that the people of the State of California have a direct and primary interest in assuring the production of the optimum quantities of oil and gas from lands owned by the state, and that a minimum of oil and gas be left wasted and unrecovered in such lands. This bill would delete this finding and determination by the Legislature from these provisions.