This comprehensive book addresses both the principles and the practicalities of petroleum unitization. Paul F. Worthington draws on both his extensive experience of the global petroleum industry and his insights into petroleum unitization in some 90 jurisdictions worldwide to map out the evolution of and rationale for unitization in legislation and to provide much-needed guidance on the formulation of a legislative framework for effective regulatory governance of the unitization process.

By 1985, every oil and gas-producing state but Texas had passed a 'unitization' statute requiring cooperation among the various owners of oil and gas reserves. Using interviews, legislative transcripts, and statistical data, Jacqualine Lang Weaver attempts to explain why Texas failed to enact such a statute – aimed at encouraging the most efficient recovery of resources – and how Texas has managed to achieve substantial unitization nonetheless. Originally published in 1986.