Key Oklahoma Laws

Oil and gas well liens

§42-144. Oil and gas well liens. Any person, corporation, or copartnership who shall, under contract, expressed or implied, with the owner of any leasehold for oil and gas purposes, or the owner of any gas pipeline or oil pipeline, or with the trustee or agent of such owner, perform labor or services, including written contracts for the services of a geologist or petroleum engineer, or furnish material, machinery, and oil well supplies used in the digging, drilling, torpedoing, completing, operating, or repairing of any oil or gas well, or who shall furnish any oil or gas well supplies, or perform any labor in constructing or putting together any of the machinery used in drilling, torpedoing, operating, completing, or repairing of any gas well, or perform any labor upon any oil well supplies, tools, and other articles used in digging, drilling, torpedoing, operating, completing, or repairing any oil or gas well, shall have a lien upon the whole of such leasehold or oil pipeline, or gas pipeline, or lease for oil and gas purposes, the buildings and appurtenances, the proceeds from the sale of oil or gas produced therefrom inuring to the working interest, exempting, however, any valid, bona fide reservations of oil or gas payments or overriding royalty interests executed in good faith and payable out of such working interest, and upon the material and supplies so furnished, and upon any oil well supplies, tools, and other articles used in digging, drilling, torpedoing, operating, completing, or repairing any oil or gas well, and upon the oil or gas well for which they were furnished, and upon all the other oil or gas well fixtures and appliances used in the operating for oil and gas purposes upon the leasehold for which said material and supplies were furnished or labor or services performed. Such lien shall be preferred to all other liens or encumbrances which may attach to or upon said leasehold for gas and oil purposes and upon any oil or gas pipeline, or such oil and gas wells and the material and machinery so furnished and the leasehold for oil and gas purposes and the fixtures and appliances thereon subsequent to the commencement of or the furnishing or putting up of any such machinery or supplies; and such lien shall follow said property and each and every part thereof, and be enforceable against the said property wherever the same may be found; and compliance with the provisions of this article shall constitute constructive notice of the lien claimant’s lien to all purchasers and encumbrancers of said property or any part thereof, subsequent to the date of the furnishing of the first item of material or the date of the performance of the first labor or services. §42-144.1. Effectiveness of lien against purchaser – Delivery of copy of statement of lien. No lien claimed by virtue of this act, insofar as it may extend to the proceeds from the sale of oil or gas produced from such lease, shall be effective against any purchaser of such oil or gas until a copy of the statement of lien claim required to be filed by the provisions of this chapter has been delivered to such purchaser by registered or certified mail. §42-144.2. Trust funds for payment of lienable claims. A. Except as provided by subsection D of this section, the amount payable under any oil and gas well drilling contract, reworking contract, operating agreement, or monies payable as a condition of participation in the drilling of an oil and gas well under the terms of a pooling order issued by the Oklahoma Corporation Commission shall, upon receipt by any oil and gas well operator, contractor or subcontractor, be held by such operator as trust funds for the payment of all lienable claims due and owing by such operator, contractor or subcontractor by reason of such drilling contract, reworking contract, operating agreement, or force pooling order. B. The trust funds created under subsection A of this section shall be applied to the payment of said valid lienable claims and no portion thereof shall be used for any other purpose until all lienable claims due and owing or to become due and owing shall have been paid. C. The existence of such trust funds shall not prohibit the filing or enforcement of any labor, mechanic or materialmen’s lien against the affected real property by any lien claimant, nor shall the filing of such a lien release the holder of such funds from the obligations created under this section. D. The provisions of this section shall not be applicable or affect payments owed to royalty owners by the operator of an oil or gas well and shall not affect or alter the terms or provisions of Section 87.1 of Title 52 of the Oklahoma Statutes. §42-145. Oil and gas well lien by or through subcontractor. Any person, copartnership or corporation who shall furnish such machinery or supplies to a subcontractor under a contractor, or any person who shall perform such labor under a subcontract with a contractor, or who, as an artisan or day laborer in the employ of such contractor, shall perform any such labor, may obtain a lien upon said leasehold for oil and gas purposes or any gas pipeline or any oil pipeline from the same tank and in the same manner and to the same extent as the original contractor for the amount due him for such labor, as provided in the preceding section. §42-146. Enforcement of lien on oil and gas wells. The liens created by Sections 144 and 145 of this title shall be enforced pursuant to the provisions of Sections 171 through 178 of this title. Notice of the lien shall be given and the materialman’s statement or the lien of any laborer shall be filed, in the same manner as is provided for in Sections 141 through 143.4 of this title, except that Section 142.6 of this title shall not apply to liens created pursuant to Sections 144 and 145 of this title and the statement required to be filed in the office of the county clerk pursuant to Section 143 of this title as to liens created pursuant to Sections 144 and 145 of this title shall be filed within one hundred eighty (180) days after the date upon which material, machinery or supplies were last furnished or labor or services last performed under the relevant contract or subcontract, whichever the case may be. A lien created pursuant to Sections 144 and 145 of this title shall affect only the oil and gas leasehold estate and shall not constitute a lien against or otherwise affect any other interest in the real property involved, except if the owner of an oil, gas or other mineral interest therein shall also own a working interest in a well located thereon, such lien shall attach to said working interest.