1. (a) An assessment to pay the conservation expenses and other costs in connection with administration of gas conservation not otherwise provided for may be made as follows:

   1. (1)

      1. (A) There shall be assessed against the persons involved a charge not to exceed ten (10) mills on each one thousand cubic feet (1,000 ft³) of gas produced and saved each month from a well.
      2. (B) Said assessments shall apply only to the first purchase of gas, or the original taking from the well, and not the subsequent transfers, commonly referred to as “tenderships”.
      3. (C) Effective on and after January 1, 2002, the gas conservation assessment shall be nine (9) mills;
   2. (2) The person selling gas at the first point of sale, who is hereby defined to be the party initially responsible for distributing the one-eighth (1/8) royalty interest shall, before paying for the production, deduct nine (9) mills for every thousand cubic feet of gas produced and removed from the lease each month, and remit the amounts so deducted to the Oil and Gas Commission at the same time and periods as said purchasers make their regular gas payments;
   3. (3) Said remittances may be made each month in a single check if the person selling gas at the first point of sale so desires, and no accounting by the person selling gas at the first point of sale shall be required except to show all deductions on the regular payment statements to producers and royalty owners or the parties in interest;
   4. (4) The assessment herein provided for shall not apply to gas which is being returned to the ground for repressuring or pressure maintenance purposes within the field, but shall apply only to such gas as is produced and removed from the lease and returned to the ground for storage purposes; and
   5. (5) Any person selling gas at the first point of sale in this state at the well, under any contract or agreement requiring payment for such production to the respective owners thereof, in respect of which production any sums assessed under this part are payable to the commission, is hereby authorized, empowered, and required to deduct from any sum so payable to any such person the amount due the commission by virtue of any such assessment and remit that sum to the commission.
2. (b) Further, any person taking gas from any well in this state for use or resale, in respect of which production any sums assessed under the provisions of this section are payable to the commission, shall remit any sum so due to the commission in accordance with this part.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules provided as follows: "(Source: 1992 rule book; amended November 27, 2001; amended October 24, 2009)"