Untitled Texas Attorney General Opinion ( 1957 )

+Iarch 18, 1957. .,, ,. Honorable .Richard Slack, Chairman Opinion No; WW-67 Oil and Gas Committee House of Representatives~ ,,Re: To what extent and in what Austin,’ Texas way does Section 7 of H.B. 496 change.Article 6066c, ‘I Dear Mr. Slack: Revised Civil Statutes ? In reply to your letter of March 5, 1957, which we quote in part as follows: YWill you please ascertain to what extent and in what wag Section 7 of the proposed bill changes Article 6066c, RWiS~d Civil Statu@%3.“. we offer the following opinion: Article 6066c, V.C.S., provides that the Railroad Commission may approve agreements for the construction and operation of cooperative facilities necessary for the conservation and utilization of gas, including facilities for extracting and separating hydrocarbons from natural gas, or casinghead gas. This statute declared that, such, cooperative agreements are intended as a reasonable exception to the Anti-Trust Acts.1 The Railroa~d Commission can approve agreements for the construction and operation of cooperative facilities for the extraction of liquid hydrocarbons from gas and the separation of such liquid hydrocar- bons into butanes, propanes, ethanes, distillate, condensate and natural gasoline without any additional processing of any of them, and Article 6066~ specifically provides that no approval shall be given to agreements providing for cooperative marketing or +efiningN2 of crude petroleum, condensate, distillate or gas or any by-products thereof. 1Title 126, Revised Civil Statutes, 1925, as amended; Chapter 3, Title 19, Penal Code of Texas, 1925, as amended. ” 2Article 6066~ provides in part “the extraction of liquid hydrocarbons from gas and the separation of such liquid hydrocarbons into butanes, propanes, ethanes, distillate, condensate and natural gasoline without any additional processing of any of them shall not be considered to be refining.* Honorable Richard Slack, Page 2 (WW-67) Section 7 of H.B. 496 is quoted as follows: “Sec. 7. Agreements made in the interest of conservation of oil or gas, or both, or for the prevention of waste, between and among owners or operators, or both, owning separate hold- ings in the same field or pool, or in any area that appears from geologic or other date to be underlaid by a common accumula- tion of oil or,.ges,, or both, and agreements between and among such owners or operators, or both, and royalty, owners therein, for ,the purpose of bringing about the development and operation of the field, pool or area, or any part thereof, as a unit, and for establishing ,and carrying out a plan for the cooperative develop- ment and operation thereof, when such agreements are approved by the Commission. are hereby authorized and shall not be held or construed to violate any of the statutes of this State relating to trusts, monopolies, or contracts and combinations in restraint of trade.” The effect of the enactment of Section 7 of.H.B. 496 would be to grant to agreements made and approved pursuant~ to H.B.. 496. immunity from the Anti-Trust laws of Texas. In our opinion nothing in Section 7 of H.B. 496 repeals or affects Article 6066c.. SUMMARY In. our opinion nothing in Section,7 of H.B. 496 repeals or affects Article 6066~. Very truly yours, ,WILL- WILSON HB:tiw Attorney General APPROVED:, BY - OPINION GOMMIT,TEE Houghton Brownlee, Jr. H. Grady Chandler, ahairman Assistant