Every person who shall, by contract, express or implied, or partly expressed or implied, with the owner of any land, oil and gas permit, leasehold, lease for oil and gas purposes, or with the owner of any gas, oil, or gasoline pipeline, or with a purchaser under executory contract, or with the trustee or agent of the owner, or with one whom the owner has authorized or knowingly permitted to contract, or with a receiver appointed for any of the property of the owner, perform labor or furnish or haul material, equipment, tools, machinery or oil well or gas well supplies, used or employed, or to be used, or to be employed in the digging, drilling, torpedoing, completing, maintaining, equipping, operating or repairing any oil or gas well, or in the construction, operation, maintenance or repairing any gas, oil, or gasoline pipeline, or who shall furnish or haul any oil or gas well supplies, or perform any labor in constructing or putting together any of the equipment or machinery used or employed, or to be used or to be employed, in drilling, torpedoing, completing, maintaining, equipping, operating, or repairing any oil or gas well, shall have a lien upon the whole of that land, oil and gas permit, leasehold, lease for oil and gas purposes, oil pipeline, gas pipeline, or gasoline pipeline, and right-of-way therefor, the buildings and equipment thereon, and the appurtenances thereto, the proceeds from the sale of oil and gas produced therefrom inuring to the working interest, and upon the materials, tools, machinery, equipment and supplies so furnished or hauled, and upon the oil and gas well for which they were furnished or hauled, and upon all the other oil and gas wells, fixtures, machinery, tools, equipment and appliances, used or employed in operating or developing, for oil and gas purposes, upon the land, oil and gas permit, leasehold, or lease for oil and gas purposes, for which the material, tools, machinery, equipment or supplies were furnished or hauled, or labor performed, for the amount due to him for the materials, tools, machinery, equipment, oil and gas well supplies, hauling, or labor, and interest from the date the amount is due; provided, however, the lien herein created shall not extend to the underlying fee or royalty interest unless expressly provided by contract, nor shall it extend to the property, leasehold, or working interest of any owner who does not have a working interest in the well upon which the labor was performed or for which the materials were furnished or hauled.

The lien shall be preferred to all other liens or incumbrances which may attach to or upon the land, oil and gas permit, leasehold, lease for oil and gas purposes, and the buildings, machinery, equipment and appurtenances, or upon any oil pipeline, gas pipeline, or gasoline pipeline, and the right-of-way therefor, or such oil or gas wells, the proceeds from the sale of oil and gas produced therefrom inuring to the working interest, and the material, tools, machinery, equipment and supplies so furnished or hauled and the fixtures and appliances thereon, subsequent to the commencement of the labor performed, or the furnishing, or hauling, or putting up of the material, tools, machinery, equipment or supplies; and the lien shall follow the property and each part thereof, and be enforceable against the property wherever it may be found. The taking of any note or additional security by the contractor or subcontractor, or the person having the lien shall not effect, or be a waiver of, any lien he may have by virtue of the Oil and Gas Lien Act, unless made a waiver by express agreement in writing of the parties; and the lien hereby given shall attach as of the date on which the first of the material, tools, machinery, equipment or supplies is furnished or hauled, or the first of the labor is performed. Any purchaser of oil or gas in the ordinary course of business without actual knowledge of the filing of a lien covering the proceeds from the sale of oil or gas shall take the oil or gas free of the lien.

History: Laws 1931, ch. 11, § 1; 1941 Comp., § 69-401; 1953 Comp., § 65-5-1; Laws 1961, ch. 199, § 1; 1963, ch. 12, § 1; 1987, ch. 147, § 1.

The 1987 amendment, effective June 19, 1987, inserted "proceeds from the sale of oil and gas produced therefrom inuring to the working interest" in the middle of the first paragraph following "the buildings and equipment thereon, and the appurtenances thereto" and in the middle of the first sentence of the second paragraph following "and the right-of-way therefor, or such oil or gas wells", and added the last sentence to the second paragraph.

Lien acquired upon leasehold. — A leasehold estate, including all rights, powers and privileges contained therein or appurtenant thereto, is subject to a time dimension, and upon expiration of that dimension nothing is left; there can be no merger of mineral rights with the fee upon termination of the lease, because all mineral rights were already contained in and were part of the fee. Thus, claim that lien acquired by construction company upon a leasehold under act was not extinguished by terms of the leasehold, but, rather, that it contained a lien upon an interest in any oil and gas and followed that interest, even though leasehold estate had terminated, was without merit. Butt v. Vermejo Park Corp., 1976-NMSC-075, 89 N.M. 679, 556 P.2d 835.

Am. Jur. 2d, A.L.R. and C.J.S. references. — 38 Am. Jur. 2d Gas and Oil §§ 135 to 140.

Rights and duties as between owner of land and owner of timber or of mineral in place as regards liens covering both interests, 26 A.L.R. 1031.

Casing of oil and gas well as subject to mechanic's lien, 39 A.L.R. 1260.

Oil, gas or other mineral rights in land subject as real estate to judgment lien against owner of mineral interest, 52 A.L.R. 135.

Interest of owner of land as subject to lien for material or service engaged by holder of mineral rights, 59 A.L.R. 548.

Mechanic's lien as to drilling of oil wells, 92 A.L.R. 756.

Right or interest subject to, and priority of, statutory lien for labor or material in developing property for oil and gas, 122 A.L.R. 1182.

Sufficiency of notice, claim, or statement of mechanic's lien with respect to description or location of real property, 52 A.L.R.2d 12.

Assertion of statutory mechanic's or materialman's lien against oil and gas produced or against proceeds attributable to oil and gas sold, 59 A.L.R.3d 278.

58 C.J.S. Mines and Minerals §§ 259 to 269.