27-672. Unit operations; unit
agreements
A. Each lease issued under the provisions of this article shall provide that the
lessee, insofar as its interest is affected, may join, with the department's prior
written approval, in cooperative or unit plans for the development and operation of
geothermal resource pools with the United States, its agencies and its or their lessees
and permittees and with private owners and persons holding geothermal resource leases on
private lands or on state lands.
B. Upon determination by the department that it is in the best interests of the
state to commit state lands to a cooperative or unit plan for the development and
operation of geothermal resource pools, the department may, insofar as the state
royalties may be affected thereby, join in and consent to any such plan on behalf of the
state. The agreements shall provide for the equitable division on an agreed basis of the
geothermal resource produced from the unit and for the extension of leases covering any
part of the unit so long as geothermal resources in paying quantities are produced from
any part of the unit. No such agreement shall relieve any operator from the obligation
to develop reasonably the lands and leases as a whole nor shall such agreement relieve
the lessee of the obligation to pay to the department the royalty provided for in the
lease.
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