Yorba Linda Municipal Code Ch. 5.32 Oil Drilling and Production

It is unlawful for any person to conduct, manage, carry on or engage in the business or activity of producing crude oil, gas, petroleum or other hydrocarbon substances or products from any well or wells located in the City without first obtaining a license therefor from the City.

(Prior code § 18-54)

The term of such license shall be one year, commencing on the first day of July of each year and ending on June 30th of the subsequent year. At the end of the term of any license issued or renewed hereunder, such license shall be of no further force or effect unless renewed as hereinafter provided.

(Prior code § 18-55)

A. For the purpose of determining the license fee:

"A well"

means a well located within the City if the surface location of the well, the surface of the well itself, or if any portion of the well is located within the City, irrespective of the subsurface location of the well, the producing interval thereof, or where the hole of the well may be bottomed.

"A barrel of oil"

means a barrel of oil consists of 42 U.S. gallons of crude petroleum or hydrocarbon substances corrected for temperature variations in accordance with methods generally approved in the petroleum industry.

"Petroleum or hydrocarbon substances"

means crude oil remaining after the removal therefrom of water or other impurities by preliminary processing in the vicinity of the well site, preparatory to the shipment thereof.

B. If oil produced from two or more wells shall be commingled without the production of the respective wells being separately measured, each well whose production has been commingled shall be considered as having produced an equal amount of the total.

(Prior code § 18-60)

A. Every person required by this chapter to have a license shall pay to the City the fees hereinafter provided, in the manner hereinafter provided;

1. An annual base fee of $250.00 per well to apply to all oil wells, including, but not by way of limitation, production, injection and nonproducing oil wells,

2. For a period commencing with the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter and ending June 30th, 1978, and for each succeeding fiscal year, and in addition to the base annual fee, an amount equaling three and one-half cents per barrel of oil produced by each well shall be paid annually.

(Prior code § 18-56)

The base annual fee required by this chapter shall be due and payable on or before July 1st of each fiscal year. Such base annual fee shall be delinquent on the day following such due date.

(Prior code § 18-57)

Payment of the per barrel tax as required by this chapter shall be due and payable July 1st of each fiscal year.

(Prior code § 18-58)

All annual per barrel payments as required by this chapter shall be delinquent on the day following the due date for any such annual payment.

(Prior code § 18-59)

Any license issued under this chapter shall be renewed annually provided all delinquencies are paid in full and the annual base fee for the renewal term is paid in full prior to such removal.

(Prior code § 18-61)

A. Every person required to have a license under this chapter shall on July 1st of each year file with the Director of Finance a statement setting forth such information as the Director of Finance shall require, including:

1. The name or other identification of all oil wells located in the City operated by him during any fiscal year;

2. The number of barrels of oil produced from each of the wells during the fiscal year; and

3. The computation of the amount of fee with respect to such production due the City. The statement shall be signed by the person required to have the license, or by a managing officer or agent thereof, and shall include a declaration substantially worded as follows:

"I declare under penalty of making a false declaration that I am authorized to make this settlement, and that to the best of my knowledge and belief it is true, correct and complete statement made in good faith for the period stated, in compliance with the provisions of the Yorba Linda Municipal code."

B. Such statement shall not be conclusive against the City, nor shall it be conclusive as to the information set forth therein, nor shall the filing of such statement preclude the City from collecting by appropriate action any additional fee that is later determined to be due and payable.

(Prior code § 18-64)

Every person required to have a license under this chapter shall keep full, true and accurate records as to the amount of oil or gas produced by him from wells located within the City, and shall upon demand of the Director of Finance, or his or her representative, make such records, together with any shipping documents or sales invoices pertaining to such oil and gas, available for the inspection of the Director of Finance or his or her representative at all reasonable times.

(Prior code § 18-65)

Those businesses and activities for which a fee is required under this chapter shall be exempt from any other fee required by this title.

(Prior code § 18-66)

A. The license required under this chapter shall be automatically suspended on any one or more of the following grounds:

1. Fees required by this chapter have not been paid and are delinquent;

2. Production statements have not been filed with the City when and as required by Section 5.32.090;

3. Failure to comply with Section 5.32.100.

B. Any suspension of license shall be removed upon compliance with all provisions of this chapter.

(Prior code § 18-62)

The suspension of any license, as herein provided, shall not be a bar to the prosecution of the holder thereof and a violation of any provision of this chapter or of any law or ordinance of the state or City.

(Prior code § 18-63)

If any fee herein required to be paid to the City is not paid before it becomes one month delinquent, as provided in this chapter, a penalty in an amount equal to ten percent of such fee shall be added thereto, and an additional penalty in an amount equal to ten percent of such fee for each one month period during which such fee continues or remains delinquent shall be assessed. Such penalties shall be and become a part of such fee and shall be enforced and collected as part of such fee; provided, however, that the aggregate of such penalties shall not exceed one hundred percent of the amount of the delinquent license fee.

(Prior code § 18-67)