Montana Title 82. Minerals, Oil, and Gas § 82-11-125. Availability of cores or chips, cuttings, and bottom-hole temperatures to board

(1) An owner drilling a well for gas or oil shall make available to the board at its field offices representative cores or chips, when available, the cuttings from the well, and the bottom-hole temperatures of the wells, in order to facilitate the discovery of geothermal potential. However, cores, chips, or cuttings need not be so made available for a period of 6 months following completion or abandonment of the wells. The board may, however, relieve the owner of a well of the obligation to furnish cores, chips, or cuttings when, in the opinion of the board, the furnishing thereof would be unduly burdensome for the owner; however, the owner desiring relief must apply to and receive permission from the board to not so furnish.

(2) The owner of a stratigraphic test well drilled for the purpose of obtaining lithologic information useful in potential oil and gas operations, as such well is defined by the board's rules, shall within 3 years from the date of the cessation of the drilling of the well make available to the board complete sets of sample cuttings and representative cores or chips and well logs of the wells, which logs shall include among other information the size of casing used, the type and depth of water if any located, and bottom-hole temperatures for geothermal purposes. The board shall require and the owner of a stratigraphic test well shall furnish, prior to the commencement of drilling of the well, a good and sufficient surety bond, to be approved prior to the commencement of the drilling, conditioned upon the proper plugging of the well prior to abandonment, the amount of the bond to be determined by the estimated depth as in the board's rules provided for oil and gas wells; prior to abandonment, the wells shall be plugged by the owner thereof or by the surety should the owner be in default, the plugging to conform to the standards set down and determined by the board.