312 Ind. Admin. Code 29-20-6

Current through December 4, 2024

Section 312 IAC 29-20-6 - Surface casing

Authority: IC 14-10-2-4; IC 14-37-3

Affected: IC 14-37

Sec. 6.

(a) The owner or operator shall set surface casing according to the requirements of this section unless an alternative well construction method is authorized under section 11 of this rule. The surface casing shall be cemented in place by circulating cement behind the casing from the setting depth to the surface.

(b) The owner or operator shall provide notice in accordance with the notice requirements set forth at 312 IAC 29-33-8(a)(1) through 312 IAC 29-33-8(a)(4) to an oil and gas inspector at least twenty-four (24) hours before setting the surface casing.

(c) The cement shall be allowed to set in place for at least four (4) hours and until the cement has developed a compressive strength of at least five hundred (500) pounds per square inch before resuming drilling.

(d) Except as provided in subsection (e) or (f), surface casing shall be set in or through an impervious formation that is:

(1) at least fifty (50) feet below the base of the lowermost underground source of drinking water; or

(2) at a depth less than fifty (50) feet below the base of the lowermost underground source of drinking water provided the next casing string to be set in the well is circulated with cement to a level at least twenty-five (25) feet inside the cemented surface casing.

(e) Any well drilled to a total depth of eight hundred (800) feet or less below the ground surface may be completed without surface casing provided the production casing is cemented to the surface.

(f) A production well completed in either the Trenton formation or the Black River formation in the shallow Trenton limestone reservoir region, may be completed with a surface casing string set in or through an impervious formation at least fifty (50) feet below the top of the Maquoketa Group and cemented to the surface. This string of casing is commonly referred to as the "water string".

312 IAC 29-20-6

Natural Resources Commission; 312 IAC 29-20-6; filed 12/1/2017, 10:35 a.m.: 20171227-IR-312160230FRA

Readopted filed 1/17/2023, 1:53 p.m.: 20230215-IR-312220328RFA