(a) On or before July 1, 2001, the Department of Conservation shall report to the Governor and the Legislature on options for ensuring the existence of blowout insurance for persons engaged in drilling or redrilling exploratory oil and gas wells in areas where abnormally high or unknown subsurface pressure gradients exist. The report shall consider all of the following:

1. (1) Types of insurance policies, which include control of well policies and policies that cover personal injury and property damage resulting from a catastrophic well blowout occurrence.
2. (2) Methods of setting insurance policy amounts.
3. (3) Forms of insurance, including third-party insurance, provision of an operator’s proof of ability to respond in damages, a combination thereof, or other options.
4. (4) Areas of the state where abnormally high pressure gradients exist, or where insufficient data exists to draw conclusions regarding the subsurface pressure gradient.
5. (5) Any other factors the department deems appropriate to include in the report.