# Forced Pooling Deadlines by State: Election Windows & Penalties

> How long you have to answer a forced pooling or integration order in every state we buy in, what happens if you miss it, and the nonconsent penalty, in one table: Oklahoma 20 days, Mississippi 20, Kentucky 30, Alabama 30 from the spud, and more.

Source: https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pooling-deadlines-by-state/
Publisher: Berlin Royalties, a veteran-owned oil and gas mineral and royalty buyer in Tulsa, Oklahoma, buying for its own account since 2014. Call or text 918-984-1645.
License: free to quote and cite with attribution to Berlin Royalties and a link to the source URL.

Deadlines · Updated November 2026

## Forced pooling deadlines by state

A pooling order is the one piece of mail a mineral owner cannot put in a drawer. The election window, the trigger that starts it, and the penalty for silence are different in every state. Here they are in one place, with the statute, so you know the clock you are on before you read the order.

[Pooling Election Calculator](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pooling-election-calculator/) [Text Us the Order](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/lease-offer-check/)

## How long do I have to respond to a pooling order?

It depends entirely on the state and, in several states, on the order itself. Oklahoma and Mississippi give 20 days from the order. Kentucky gives 30 and deems you leased if you miss it. Alabama's 30 days run from the day drilling actually starts, not from the order. Texas and Kansas have no general forced pooling at all. The table below is the whole list for the states we buy in; the statute column is where to check our work.

| State | Compulsory pooling? | Election window | If you do nothing | Nonconsent penalty and protections | Statute |

| **[Oklahoma](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/forced-pooling-oklahoma/)** | Yes, Corporation Commission | **20 days from the date of the order**, not from mailing | You get the default option in the order: the lowest royalty and highest bonus combination, and no participation | No risk penalty on participating owners; recovery capped at actual reasonable costs. Unclaimed pooling money goes to escrow, then the Mineral Owners Escrow Account, then unclaimed property | 52 O.S. § 87.1 || **[Mississippi](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/mississippi/)** | Yes, State Oil and Gas Board | **20 days after the order is filed for record** | Treated as nonconsenting and charged out of production | 100 percent of surface equipment beyond the wellhead, 250 percent of drilling and operating costs and in-hole equipment, and **300 percent** where the minerals are severed from the surface or under lease, which is most owners. No charge if the well does not pay out | Miss. Code § 53-3-7 || **[Kentucky](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kentucky/)** | Yes | **30 days from entry of the order** | **Deemed to have leased** to the operator on the statutory terms. Silence does not leave you unleased in Kentucky; it leases you | 200 percent nonconsent penalty. An unknown or unlocatable owner is deemed leased with a one-eighth royalty and gets no election | KRS 353.630, 353.640 || **[Alabama](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/alabama/)** | Yes, called forced integration, State Oil and Gas Board | **30 days after actual drilling begins**, or before total depth, whichever is earlier. The clock runs off the spud, not the order | Treated as nonconsenting | 150 percent risk compensation fee. An unleased owner keeps a 3/16 royalty (or the actual landowner royalty if less) free of costs and of the risk fee lien. No risk fee if the operator cannot locate you in good faith | Ala. Code § 9-17-13; Rule 400-7-2-.01 || **[Louisiana](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/louisiana/)** | Yes, Commissioner of Conservation, by unit order | Set by the risk charge notice the drilling owner must send by registered mail; the window is stated in that notice | Nonconsenting; the risk charge applies to your share of costs | 200 percent of your allocated costs for unit wells, substitute unit wells and cross unit wells; 100 percent for alternate unit wells and later operations (2022 amendment). Unleased owners are owed a [30:103.1 report](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/louisiana/) on request and, after Self v. BPX, cannot be charged post-production costs | La. R.S. 30:10 || **[North Dakota](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/north-dakota/)** | Yes, Industrial Commission | Stated in the order | Nonparticipating | A leased owner who elects out is charged 200 percent of costs. An unleased owner who does not participate is charged only 50 percent, and only after a good-faith effort to lease, and receives a **cost-free 16 percent royalty** on interests pooled on or after August 1, 2009 | N.D.C.C. § 38-08-08(3) || **[Montana](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/montana/)** | Yes, Board of Oil and Gas Conservation | Stated in the order | Treated as a refusing owner | Unleased refusing owner is treated as holding a one-eighth landowner royalty on their share until costs are recovered; nonconsenting owners are charged 200 percent of costs | MCA § 82-11-202 || **[Colorado](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/colorado/)** | Yes, Energy and Carbon Management Commission, but only once owners of **more than 45 percent** of the minerals have joined the application | Stated in the order | Carried as nonconsenting | Nonconsenting owners receive a royalty of 13 percent (gas) or 16 percent (oil) during cost recovery, and the operator may not use a nonconsenting owner's surface (SB 19-181) | C.R.S. § 34-60-116 || **[Utah](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/utah/)** | Yes, Board of Oil, Gas and Mining | Set by Board rule and stated in the order, not in the statute | Nonconsenting | The widest band in the country: 150 to 400 percent, set case by case. An unleased nonconsenting owner receives the unit's acreage-weighted average landowner royalty, or 16 2/3 percent if there are no other private tracts, protected from cost deduction | Utah Code § 40-6-6.5 || **[Arkansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/arkansas/)** | Yes, called integration, Oil and Gas Commission | **Set in your order**, not by statute. Read the order | Go nonconsent by default | Three options: lease to the operator on Commission-approved terms, participate, or take a one-eighth royalty until the other seven-eighths recovers costs times a multiplier, typically 400 or 500 percent, plus operating costs | Ark. Code §§ 15-72-302, 303, 324; Rules B-43, B-44 || **[West Virginia](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/west-virginia/)** | Not conventional pooling; cotenancy development since 2018 | **45 days** for a nonconsenting cotenant to elect a pro rata royalty or participation | Default election under the Act | Cotenants holding at least three-fourths can authorize development over the minority's objection | W. Va. Code § 37B-1-4 || **[New Mexico](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/new-mexico/)** | Yes, Oil Conservation Division | Stated in the order | Nonconsenting, charged out of production | Risk charge set by the Division's order; unleased owners are paid as royalty owners under the Oil and Gas Proceeds Payment Act once in pay status | NMSA 70-2-17 || **[Wyoming](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/wyoming/)** | Yes, Oil and Gas Conservation Commission | Stated in the order | Nonconsenting | Risk charge set by the Commission's order; 18 percent interest applies to late royalty once you are in pay status | W.S. 30-5-109 || **[Texas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/texas/)** | Narrow and rarely granted (Mineral Interest Pooling Act); voluntary pooling in practice | Not applicable | You stay unleased and unpooled, and the rule of capture applies | No general nonconsent penalty; leverage comes from the lease negotiation | Tex. Nat. Res. Code ch. 102 || **[Kansas](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/kansas/)** | No compulsory pooling; unitization only | Not applicable | You stay unleased | None | K.S.A. 55-1301 et seq. (unitization) || **[Pennsylvania](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pennsylvania/)** | Generally no for the Marcellus; Act 66 lets operators integrate contiguous leaseholds unless a lease forbids it | Not applicable | You stay unleased | None | Act 66 of 2013 || **[Ohio](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/ohio/)** | Unitization at 65 percent consent, Division of Oil and Gas Resources Management | Stated in the unit order | Swept into the unit as a nonconsenting owner | Terms set in the unit order | R.C. 1509.28 || **[Michigan](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/michigan/)** | Exists but weak and rarely used | Stated in the order | Pooled after hearing | No statutory nonconsent penalty | MCL 324.61513 || **[California](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/california/)** | Unitization authority only; no Oklahoma-style election system | Not applicable | Not applicable | None | Pub. Res. Code div. 3 |

## What to do the day the order arrives

- **Find the date that starts the clock.** In Oklahoma it is the date on the order, not the postmark. In Alabama it is the spud, which may be months away. In Arkansas and Utah it is written in the order.

- **Run the options.** Our [pooling election calculator](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/pooling-election-calculator/) works bonus-and-royalty against participation for an Oklahoma order; for any state, text a photo of the order to [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) and we will read it the same business day, free.

- **Elect in writing, and keep proof.** Our [letter generator](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/letter-generator/?type=pooling) writes an Oklahoma election letter. Send it the way the order says, and keep the receipt.

- **If the order is addressed to someone who has died**, the clock is still running. Our [inherited mineral rights](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/inherited-mineral-rights/) pages explain what to file in each state.

The detailed Oklahoma guide is at [forced pooling in Oklahoma: what to do when you get an order](https://www.berlinroyalties.com/forced-pooling-oklahoma/). This table is a buyer's summary of statutes and orders we read every week, checked against the state guides linked in each row; it is not legal advice, and an order that says something different from this table controls.

### Holding an order right now?

Text a photo of it, every page, to [918-984-1645](tel:9189841645) with your county. You will get a plain read of the clock, the options, and which one we would pick, the same business day. Free, and no obligation to do anything else with us.

[Text the Order](sms:9189841645?body=I%20received%20a%20pooling%20order%20in%20____%20County.%20Sending%20photos%20now.)