COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMON HYDROCARBON-BEARING AREAS.

SEC. 6004. COOPERATIVE DEVELOPMENT OF COMMON HYDROCARBON-BEARING AREAS. (a) Amendment to Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act.— Section 5 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as amended (43 U.S.C. 1334), is amended by adding a new subsection (j) as follows: “(j) Cooperative Development of Common Hydrocarbon-Bear-ing Areas.— “(1) Findings.— “(A) The Congress of the United States finds that the unrestrained competitive production of hydrocarbons from a common hydrocarbon-bearing geological area underlying the Federal and State boundary may result in a number of harmful national effects, including— “(i) the drilling of unnecessary wells, the installation of unnecessary facilities and other imprudent operating practices that result in economic waste, environmental damage, and damage to life and property; “(ii) the physical waste of hydrocarbons and an unnecessary reduction in the amounts of hydrocarbons that can be produced from certain hydrocarbon-bearing areas; and “(iii) the loss of correlative rights which can result in the reduced value of national hydrocarbon resources and disorders in the leasing of Federal and State resources. “(2) Prevention of harmful effects.— The Secretary shall prevent, through the cooperative development of an area, the harmful effects of unrestrained competitive production of hydrocarbons from a common hydrocarbon-bearing area underlying the Federal and State boundary.”. (b) Exception for West Delta Field.— Section 5(j) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, as added by this section, shall not be applicable with respect to Blocks 17 and 18 of the West Delta Field offshore Louisiana. (c) Authorization of Appropriations.— There are hereby authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be necessary to provide compensation, including interest, to the State of Louisiana and its lessees, for net drainage of oil and gas resources as determined in the Third Party Factfinder Louisiana Boundary Study dated March 21, 1989. For purposes of this section, such lessees shall include those persons with an ownership interest in State of Louisiana leases SL10087, SL10088 or SL10187, or ownership interests in the production or proceeds therefrom, as established by assignment, 104 STAT. 559contract or otherwise. Interest shall be computed for the period March 21, 1989 until the date of payment.