§37C-1-3. Payments from horizontal wells to be made timely; interest penalties.

All regular production payments from horizontal wells due and owing to an interest owner shall be tendered in a timely manner, which shall not exceed 120 days from the first date of sale of oil, natural gas, or natural gas liquids is realized and within 60 days thereafter for each additional sale, unless such failure to remit is due to lack of record title in the interest owner, a legal dispute concerning the interest, a missing or unlocatable owner of the interest, or due to conditions otherwise specified in this article. Failure to remit timely payment for horizontal wells shall result in a mandatory additional payment of an interest penalty to be set at the prime rate plus an additional two percent until such payment is made, to be compounded quarterly. The prime rate shall be the rate published on the day of the sale of oil, natural gas, and natural gas liquids in the Wall Street Journal reflecting the base rate on corporate loans posted by at least 75 percent of the nation’s 30 largest banks.