I work Haynesville wells on both sides of the state line. What changes in Louisiana?

The Railroad Commission describes the Haynesville/Bossier shale as located in East Texas (RRC District 6) and western Louisiana. The productive interval is "greater than 10,000 feet below the land surface." RRC lists Angelina, Gregg, Harrison, Marion, Nacogdoches, Panola, Rusk, Sabine, San Augustine and Shelby counties as affected.

Naming can confuse people. On the Texas side, the shale interval is generally recognized as the Lower Bossier, which correlates with the Haynesville of Louisiana. Much of the Texas production is now in the Carthage (Haynesville Shale) field in Shelby, Panola and Harrison counties.

RRC Districts 5 and 6 share an office in Henderson.

The defining feature of Haynesville work for a contractor is the state line. A crew from Carthage or Marshall can be in Louisiana within the hour, and Louisiana law treats oilfield indemnity, insurance and workers' comp differently from Texas.

Louisiana's Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Act is La. R.S. 9:2780. It was amended by Act No. 328 of the 2026 Regular Session (HB 941), which a Louisiana law firm reports took effect August 1, 2026. If your MSAs were drafted before then, the insurance sections may not match the new rules.

What is void (Subsection B). Any provision in, collateral to, or affecting an agreement pertaining to a well for oil, gas or water is void and unenforceable to the extent it provides defense or indemnity to the indemnitee for death or bodily injury caused by the sole or concurrent negligence or fault (strict liability) of the indemnitee, or its agent, employee or directly responsible independent contractor.

What counts as an agreement (Subsection C). Broad: any written or oral agreement concerning exploration, development, production or transportation operations, including drilling, reworking, testing, treating, perforating, acidizing, logging, plugging and other services, plus the furnishing or rental of equipment, incidental transportation and other goods and services. Subsection J says it reaches master service agreements and blanket contracts "in whatever form and by whatever name."

Insurance workarounds (Subsection G). Provisions requiring waivers of subrogation, additional named insured endorsements or other insurance protection that would frustrate or circumvent the ban are null and void.

The new additional insured path (Subsection H). Notwithstanding G, additional insured coverage is enforceable only if the party seeking it:

1. requests an additional insured premium quote by separate written communication to the named insured or its agent or broker,
2. receives a premium quote from the named insured's insurer or its authorized representative, and
3. pays that insurer or representative directly.

Group coverage (the operator plus its group) is valid only if the premium was quoted for group coverage and the payment matches. Once purchased, the named insured, insurer or representative must give written renewal notice under the statute's timing rules. If the AI does not request or pay in a policy year, it has to make a new written request.

Deductibles. When AI coverage is obtained this way, the additional insured, not the named insured, is responsible for deductibles or retentions up to $100,000. An agreement making the named insured fund any part of that first $100,000 is null, and the subsection does not apply.

Subsection H does not revive defense and indemnity. Those provisions remain void.

The two statutes aim at the same problem but get there differently. If one MSA covers work in both states, expect the insurance section to behave differently depending on where the well is.

In Texas, Labor Code 406.002 says a private employer "may elect" to obtain workers' compensation coverage. Most oilfield contractors carry it because operators require it, but Texas does not force them to. See do oilfield contractors need workers' comp in Texas.

Louisiana is different. R.S. 23:1168 opens: "An employer shall secure compensation to his employees," and lists the ways to do it: insurance from an insurer authorized to write comp in Louisiana, a group self-insurance fund, or approved self-insurance.

If your crews work Louisiana wells:

• Make sure Louisiana is listed on your workers' compensation policy's information page, either as a state where the policy applies or under other-states coverage.
• Make sure the certificate you send to Louisiana operators shows it.
• If you have been operating as a Texas nonsubscriber, Louisiana work is a different situation entirely. Talk to us before you send a crew.

Haynesville wells are deep gas wells, and the RRC puts the productive interval below 10,000 feet. That kind of well creates exposures that most service contractors should not be carrying on their own balance sheet.

Most MSAs put the big well risks on the operator: loss of or damage to the hole, damage to the reservoir and underground property, and well control. The IADC model drilling contract, for example, makes the operator "solely responsible" for loss of or damage to the hole, and has the operator release and indemnify the contractor for damage to oil, gas, water or other mineral substances not yet reduced to possession above the surface, and to property, formations or reservoirs beneath the surface.

Service MSAs do not always follow that model. Read for:

• Who takes loss of hole and underground damage.
• Who takes well control costs if your operation is involved in an incident.
• Whether your in-hole tools are covered by the operator or are your problem. See oilfield equipment insurance.

In Louisiana, also check how those clauses interact with R.S. 9:2780, which voids indemnity for death or bodily injury caused by the indemnitee's fault.

East Texas and northwest Louisiana are not West Texas. Locations sit in pine timber and bottomland, lease roads go soft after rain, and low-water crossings flood.

That changes what goes wrong:

• Equipment stuck or overturned on soft ground. That is a floater claim for your equipment and possibly a GL claim if it damages someone else's property.
• Auto claims on narrow rural roads shared with log trucks and other heavy traffic.
• Flood damage to equipment left on location or in a yard near a creek.
• Surface damage to timber land and landowner roads.

Confirm your floater covers flood and overturn, your auto program includes comprehensive on units that sit in yards, and your GL handles property damage to landowners.

When you send us a Haynesville MSA, we start here: