Who is responsible for paying the oilfield site restoration fee?
Louisiana Revised Statute 30:87 imposes the oilfield site restoration fee. The fee for full rate oil and gas production is one and one-half cents per barrel on crude oil and condensate or three-tenths of one cent per 1,000 cubic feet on natural gas and casing head gas. The fee for reduced rate oil and gas production such as stripper wells and incapable wells is in the same proportion to the oil or gas full rate production fees as the reduced rate severance tax is to the full rate severance tax. The oilfield site restoration fee must be paid by the operator of record. Louisiana Administrative Code 61:I.5301.E.3 provides that “Every operator of record of producing oil and/or gas wells must submit a return and make payments of the fees imposed by R.S. 30:87. Purchasers of oil and/or gas may make payment for the operator of record and their respective working-interest owners.
