458A.4  Duties and powers of director.
  The director shall administer this chapter. The director shall make investigations the director deems proper to determine whether waste exists or is imminent or whether other facts exist which justify action. The director has the authority:
  1.  To require:
  a.  Identification of ownership of oil or gas wells, producing leases, tanks, plants, structures, and facilities for the refining or intrastate transportation of oil and gas;
  b.  The making and filing of all mechanical well logs and the filing of directional surveys if taken, and the filing of reports on well location, drilling and production, and the filing free of charge of samples and core chips and of complete cores less tested sections when requested in the department within six months after the completion or abandonment of the well;
  c.  The drilling, casing, operation, and plugging of wells in such manner as to prevent the escape of oil or gas out of one stratum into another, the intrusion of water into oil or gas stratum, the pollution of fresh water supplies by oil, gas, or highly mineralized water, to prevent blowouts, cavings, seepages, and fires, and to prevent the escape of oil, gas, or water into workable coal or other mineral deposits;
  d.  The furnishing of a reasonable bond with good and sufficient surety, conditioned upon the full compliance with this chapter, and the rules of the department prescribed to govern the production of oil and gas on state and private lands within the state of Iowa;
  e.  That the production from wells be separated into gasses and liquids, and that each be accurately measured by the means and upon standards prescribed by the department;
  f.  The operation of wells with efficient gas-oil and water-oil ratios, and to fix these ratios;
  g.  Certificates of clearance in connection with the transportation or delivery of any native and indigenous Iowa produced crude oil, gas, or any product;
  h.  Metering or other measuring of any native and indigenous Iowa produced crude oil, gas, or product in pipelines, gathering systems, barge terminals, loading racks, refineries, or other places; and
  i.  That every person who produces, sells, purchases, acquires, stores, transports, refines, or processes native and indigenous Iowa produced crude oil or gas in this state shall keep and maintain within this state complete and accurate records of the quantities of oil or gas, which records shall be available for examination by the department at all reasonable times, and that every such person file with the department the reports it may prescribe with respect to the oil or gas or the products of the oil or gas.
  2.  To regulate:
  a.  The drilling, producing, and plugging of wells, and all other operations for the production of oil or gas;
  b.  The shooting and chemical treatment of wells;
  c.  The spacing of wells;
  d.  Operations to increase ultimate recovery such as cycling of gas, the maintenance of pressure, and the introduction of gas, water, or other substances into producing formations; and
  e.  Disposal of highly mineralized water and oil field wastes.
  3.  To limit and to allocate the production of oil and gas from any field, pool, or area.
  4.  To classify wells as oil or gas wells for purposes material to the interpretation or enforcement of this chapter.
  5.  To promulgate and to enforce rules and orders to effectuate the purposes and the intent of this chapter.
  6.  To make rules or orders for the classification of wells as oil wells or gas wells; or wells drilled, or to be drilled, for geological information, or as wells for secondary recovery projects, or wells for the disposal of highly mineralized water, brine, or other oil field wastes, or wells for the storage of dry natural gas, or casinghead gas, or wells for the development of reservoirs for the storage of liquid petroleum gas and for the exploration and production of metallic mineral resources.
[C39, §1360.04, 1360.05; C46, 50, 54, 58, 62, §84.4, 84.5; C66, 71, 73, 75, 77, 79, 81, §84.4; 81 Acts, ch 41, §3; 82 Acts, ch 1199, §39, 40, 96]
86 Acts, ch 1245, §1813 – 1815
C93, §458A.4
2024 Acts, ch 1148, §35, 36
Subsection 1, paragraph e amended
Subsection 6 amended