Severance/Seal Orders
Among the Commission's other enforcement methods, the Oil & Gas Division has the authority to cancel an operator's Certificate of Compliance and order that production be shut in at the lease or well level for noncompliance with Commission rules, effectively blocking that operator's ability to sell oil and gas from a lease. Before the operator can resume production, it must correct the violation and pay a statutory fee for restoration of the Certificate of Compliance.
Severance/Seal Order Definition List
| Fiscal Year (Sept. 1 - Aug. 31) |
Notices Issued | Resolved without Order |
Resolved after Order |
Unresolved Notices | Severance Fee Revenue | Issued by Fiscal Year |
|||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 24,584 | 15,513 | 63.1% | 8,320 | 33.8% | 751 | 3.1% | $1,147,375.00 | 9,077 |
| 2011 | 31,667 | 20,084 | 63.4% | 10,648 | 33.6% | 935 | 3.0% | $1,261,625.00 | 11,218 |
| 2012 | 24,083 | 15,446 | 64.1% | 7,827 | 32.5% | 810 | 3.4% | $1,937,670.00 | 8,980 |
| 2013 | 32,291 | 19,905 | 61.6% | 10,600 | 32.8% | 1,786 | 5.5% | $3,058,625.00 | 11,526 |
| 2014 | 30,378 | 19,536 | 64.3% | 9,758 | 32.1% | 1,084 | 3.6% | $3,100,525.00 | 11,539 |
| 2015 | 25,556 | 16,057 | 62.8% | 8,379 | 32.8% | 1,120 | 4.4% | $2,115,379.50 | 9,481 |
| 2016 | 21,648 | 13,459 | 62.2% | 6,520 | 30.1% | 1,669 | 7.7% | $1,619,875.00 | 8,240 |
| 2017 | 32,522 | 22,051 | 67.8% | 8,436 | 25.9% | 2,035 | 6.3% | $1,722,908.61 | 10,284 |
| 2018 | 34,112 | 23,006 | 67.4% | 8,634 | 25.3% | 2,472 | 7.2% | $2,262,900.00 | 10,822 |
| 2019 | 28,582 | 18,449 | 64.5% | 7,533 | 26.4% | 2,600 | 9.1% | $2,121,494.00 | 10,163 |
| 10-Yr Average | 28,542 | 18,351 | 64.3% | 8,666 | 30.4% | 1,526 | 5.3% | $2,034,837.71 | 10,133 |
| 2020 | 18,480 | 11,331 | 61.3% | 3,920 | 21.2% | 3,229 | 17.5% | $1,453,250.00 | 8,074 |
For the 10-year period 2010-2019, 94.7% of violations managed through this process have been resolved. 64.3% of violations were corrected by the operator promptly upon notice with no further action needed by the Commission; another 30.4% were resolved following issuance of a severance/seal order. Compliance is verified by lease/well inspections in the case of field violations, or file review in the case of reporting violations. Where the violation remains unresolved, the Commission will pursue the matter through other appropriate enforcement action.
Note: beginning with FY2016, certified letter data includes notices of severances issued to operators relating to compliance with the inactive well requirements of Statewide Rule 15. While the data related to severance orders issued (and statistics based on post-severance statuses) will not be affected, the number of certified letters issued and of pre-severance statuses will be higher to accurate reflect those processes.