Okla. Admin. Code § 800:30-3-2

Current through Vol. 42, No. 4, November 1, 2024

Section 800:30-3-2 - General provisions

At least 45 days prior to entering to drill or moving any equipment onto Department property the operator will:

(1) Deposit with the Department, a performance surety bond of Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) from a surety company licensed to do business in this state. Only one bond will be required from each operator if the operator has ten or fewer wells on Department property. If the operator has more than ten wells on Department property, an additional Five Thousand Dollars ($5,000) bonding per well will be required. This bond will be conditioned on the observances and compliance with the terms of the surface agreement. This bond will be maintained at Fifty Thousand Dollars ($50,000) and it shall remain in effect as long as the operator is drilling or operating a well on Department lands, or until released by the Department in writing.

(2) Provide the Department a copy of the approved notice of intent to drill (Corporation Commission Form 1000), an estimate of drilling time and an area plat map generally showing the proposed locations and dimension of the:

(A) Roads.

(B) Drilling Pad.

(C) Reserve Pit.

(C) Service Area (including pumps, flowlines, separator, meter house, pulsation bottle, compressor, storage tanks and water tanks).

(D) Estimate of damage area, including cut and fill around the location.

(3) Obtain approval from the Oklahoma Archeological Survey Office (OASO) and State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO). Written approval from the OASO and SHPO must be provided to the Department before any type of soil disturbance is allowed.

(4) Enter into a written surface contract agreement on forms as provided by the Department, [52 O.S., Section 318.2 - 318.9], sign a letter of stipulation and remit payment for damage and usage. Predetermined surface damages shall be paid to the Department under the surface contract agreement prior to beginning of any work activity. If additional damage and usage is determined by the Department after completion of proposed project, additional charges will be imposed. Activity that impacts merchantable timber will be considered as part of damages.

(5) Provide the Department a list of the names, addresses and telephone numbers of responsible personnel involved with the drilling, subsequent operation and restoration.

(6) At no time will personnel involved in oil and gas activities (except authorized security personnel) be permitted to carry firearms or other hunting, trapping, or fishing tackle or equipment onto an area unless the equipment is appropriate to a season open on the area at the time and the individual(s) would otherwise be authorized to hunt /fish and in possession of the appropriate license(s) or proof(s) of exemption appropriate for the season as stated in the Oklahoma Hunting/Fishing Regulation Guide booklet, published by ODWC. Well sites and/or lease roads may not be used as access points for recreational activity(ies) on wildlife management areas unless they are open to the public.

(7) Oil and gas activities will be avoided in or near any previously identified fragile or unique areas. However, fragile or unique areas will not preclude utilization if damage to said fragile or unique areas can be prevented. Examples of fragile and unique areas include but are not limited to:

(A) Red-cockaded woodpecker colonies.

(B) Potential red-cockaded woodpecker restoration sites.

(C) Fragile environments such as natural lakes and bogs.

(D) Turkey roosts.

(E) Wetlands.

(F) Wintering bald eagle roost.

(G) Populations of endangered plants.

(H) Prairie chicken leks.

(I) Highly erodible soils.

(J) Prairie dog colonies.

(K) Bald eagle nests.

(L) Nesting birds.

(8) Exploration may proceed if directional drilling from adjacent areas is feasible. On Department owned leases, such areas shall be identified prior to leasing and any area with substantial quantities of such habitats will not be leased for drilling.

(9) All oil and gas construction, development and/or well reworking and servicing is extremely undesirable during high public access periods, unless otherwise approved by the Department. Routine checking or trucking will be strongly discouraged during the time from two hours before sunset to two hours after sunrise.

(10) Oil and gas exploration and development activities will not prevent hunters and anglers from using wildlife resources or from freely pursuing their activities in the Wildlife Management Area.

(11) Flaring requirement - Flaring devices shall have a shielding device attached in such manner that the light created by the burning gases produced from a well on Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation lands is not visible at a distance greater than 200 feet at night to reduce potential negative impacts on nocturnal insects and any avian and mammalian nocturnal flying animals that may forage upon insects drawn to light.

(12) Operators working in lesser prairie chicken range will mitigate and follow conservation measures accordingly through the lesser Prairie-Chicken Range-wide Conservation Plan through the Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies and the Foundation for Western Association of Fish and Wildlife Agencies.

(13) Locations that are within 1,000 feet of any residence, campground, or Department facility will take noise reducing measures so noise level does not exceed 42 dBA.

(14) Special Provisions for oil or gas exploration or production on Department lands having commercial or municipal fresh water production including the Garber-Wellington Aquifer drainage basin/recharge area particularly T7N, R1E, Secs. 15-22, 25-35, Cleveland County, Oklahoma.

(A) No oil, gas or disposal well shall be drilled, operated, or maintained, nor shall any operation in connection therewith be carried on or conducted within three hundred (300) feet of any producing freshwater well.

(B) Domestic and public water supply wells located within a radius of one-half (1/2) mile of any oil/gas, enhanced recovery, injection, or disposal well shall be tested prior to beginning drilling, injection, or disposal and thereafter annually for the presence of deleterious substances. Such testing is the responsibility of the permittee and, at the permittee's expense, to be conducted by a person approved by the Department and Domestic or Public Water Supply well owner. The Department and water well owners shall be notified forty-eight (48) hours in advance of such testing and may be present therefore. Test results shall be filed with the Department and water well owner's upon completion.

(C) Casing.

(i) Suitable and sufficient surface casing or a stage collar shall be installed to a depth of at least two hundred (200) feet below treatable water strata encountered in the well, and the annular space behind the casing shall be filled with cement from the base of the surface casing, or from the stage collar, to the surface of the ground, by either pump and plug method or by the displacement method. No further drilling shall be accomplished until the cement has set for at last eight (8) hours. No braden head cement job shall be performed between the surface casing and any other casing string except by special order of the Corporation Commission.

(ii) Production casing of a size not less than four and one-half (4 1/2) inches outside diameter, in good condition, shall be set no higher than the top of the producing formation and cemented with a sufficient amount of cement to obtain a minimum of five hundred (500) feet of annular fill - up above the casing.

(iii) The casing shall be tested before drilling the cement plug, at a minimum pressure of one thousand (1,000) pounds per square inch held for one (1) hour. Whenever the pressure drops five (5) percent within the hour, the casing will be deemed inadequate and shall be repaired and retested until the requirements hereof are met.

(iv) Permittee shall provide documentation to the Department showing the results of the casing pressure test. The test results shall be filed with the Department upon completion of such test. The Department shall be notified in advance of the casing pressure test to enable a Department Representative to be present.

(v) Rupture in surface casing: In the event a rupture, break or opening occurs in the surface production casing, the permittee or the operator or drilling contractor shall take immediate action to repair it, and shall report the incident to the Department promptly.

(15) If at any time the operator of a well or a pipeline changes the Department will be notified immediately and the new operator shall sign a new agreement and shall observe and fulfill all requirements and stipulations of this agreement, and shall furnish a copy of new bonds to replace the existing bonds.

Okla. Admin. Code § 800:30-3-2

Amended at 23 Ok Reg 1591, eff 7-1-06; Amended at 25 Ok Reg 2128, eff 7-1-08; Amended at 26 Ok Reg 2656, eff 7-11-09

Amended by Oklahome Register, Volume 33, Issue 23, August 15, 2016, eff. 8/25/2016