As used in the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act:

1. A. "department" means the taxation and revenue department, the secretary of taxation and revenue or any employee of the department exercising authority lawfully delegated to that employee by the secretary;
2. B. "production unit" means a unit of property designated by the department from which products of common ownership are severed;
3. C. "severance" means the taking from the soil any product in any manner whatsoever;
4. D. "value" means the actual price received for products at the production unit, except as otherwise provided in the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act;
5. E. "product" or "products" means oil, including crude oil, slop oil or skim oil and condensate; natural gas; liquid hydrocarbon, including ethane, propane, isobutene, normal butane and pentanes plus, individually or any combination thereof; and non-hydrocarbon gases, including carbon dioxide and helium;

6. F. "operator" means any person:

   1. (1) engaged in the severance of products from a production unit; or
   2. (2) owning an interest in any product at the time of severance who receives a portion or all of such product for the person's interest;
7. G. "purchaser" means a person who is the first purchaser of a product after severance from a production unit, except as otherwise provided in the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act;
8. H. "person" means any individual, estate, trust, receiver, business trust, corporation, firm, copartnership, cooperative, joint venture, association or other group or combination acting as a unit, and the plural as well as the singular number;
9. I. "interest owner" means a person owning an entire or fractional interest of whatsoever kind or nature in the products at the time of severance from a production unit or who has a right to a monetary payment that is determined by the value of such products;
10. J. "assessed value" means the value against which tax rates are applied;
11. K. "tax" means the oil and gas ad valorem production tax; and

12. L. "volume" means the quantity of product severed reported using:

    1. (1) oil, condensate and slop oil in barrels; and
    2. (2) natural gas, liquid hydrocarbons, helium and carbon dioxide in thousand cubic feet at a pressure base of fifteen and twenty-five thousandths pounds per square inch.

History: 1953 Comp., § 72-22-2, enacted by Laws 1959, ch. 55, § 2; 1977, ch. 249, § 56; 1980, ch. 97, § 7; 1986, ch. 20, § 101; 2005, ch. 130, § 9; 2021, ch. 65, § 33; 2025, ch. 130, § 131.

ANNOTATIONS

The 2025 amendment, effective July 1, 2025, made certain technical amendments; in Subsection A, deleted "commission" preceding "department", and after "department" deleted "or division".

The 2021 amendment, effective July 1, 2021, defined "volume" and revised the definition of "product", as used in the Oil and Gas Ad Valorem Production Tax Act; in Subsection E, after "means oil", deleted "natural gas or liquid hydrocarbon, individually or any combination thereof, carbon dioxide, helium or a non-hydrocarbon gas" and added the remainder of the subsection; and added Subsection L.

The 2005 amendment, effective July 1, 2005, in Subsection E, defined "product" to include helium or non-hydrocarbon gas; and Subsection K, defined "tax" to mean the oil and gas ad valorem production tax.