New Mexico Statutes

N.M. Stat. § 70-7-1 (2026)

Purpose of act

✓ current as of May 2026
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The legislature finds and determines that it is desirable and necessary under the circumstances and for the purposes hereinafter set out to authorize and provide for the unitized management, operation and further development of the oil and gas properties to which the Statutory Unitization Act is applicable, to the end that greater ultimate recovery may be had therefrom, waste prevented, and correlative rights protected of all owners of mineral interests in each unitized area. It is the intention of the legislature that the Statutory Unitization Act apply to any type of operation that will substantially increase the recovery of oil above the amount that would be recovered by primary recovery alone and not to what the industry understands as exploratory units.

History: 1953 Comp., § 65-14-1, enacted by Laws 1975, ch. 293, § 1.

ANNOTATIONS

Law reviews. — For article, "On an Institutional Arrangement for Developing Oil and Gas in the Gulf of Mexico," see 26 Nat. Res. J. 717 (1986).

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 4 cases, 1978–2004 · leading case: Santa Fe Expl. Co. v. Oil Conservation Comm'n, 835 P.2d 819 (N.M. 1992).
Santa Fe Expl. Co. v. Oil Conservation Comm'n, 835 P.2d 819 (N.M. 1992). · cites it 5× “They argue that the Commission does not have the statutory authority to require unitization of the Pool because, under the Statutory Unitization Act, NMSA 1978, Sections 70-7-1 to -21 (Repl.Pamp.1987), unitization is available only in fields that are in the secondary or tertiary…”
Kysar v. Amoco Prod. Co., 93 P.3d 1272 (N.M. 2004). · cites it 2× “See NMSA 1978, § 70-7-1 (1975). {22} “Communitization is the federal equivalent of the term pooling, meaning the combination of small tracts so that sufficient acreage is controlled in order to meet the minimum well-spacing requirements.”
Pugh v. Holmes, 405 A.2d 897 (Pa. 1979). “2d 526 (1970); New Mexico — N.M.Stat. §§ 70-7-1 et seq.; New York — Amanuensis, Ltd.”
Kepler v. Covarrubia, 575 P.2d 952 (N.M. 1978). “Action was brought under the Uniform Owner-Resident Relations Act, §§ 70-7-1 et seq., N.M.S.A.1953 (Supp.1975).”
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