Wash. Admin. Code § 344-12-040

Current through Register Vol. 24-20, October 15, 2024

Section 344-12-040 - Definitions

Unless context otherwise requires, the words defined shall have the meaning set forth in RCW 78.52.010 and in the following definitions when found in these rules and regulations, to wit:

(1) "Barrel" means 42 United States gallons of oil at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit at atmospheric pressure.

(2) "Blowout" means an uncontrolled sudden or violent escape of oil, water, gas, or drilling fluid from a well.

(3) "Blowout preventer" means an effective casinghead control equipped with special gates, rams, and expansion type preventer which can be closed around the drill pipe, or which completely closes the top of the casing when the pipe is withdrawn.

(4) "Bottom-hole pressure" means the pressure in pounds per square inch or bars at the producing interval of an oil or gas well determined by means generally recognized as satisfactory by the oil and gas industry.

(5) "Casing pressure" means the pressure built up between the casing and tubing when the casing and tubing are packed off at the top of the well, or the pressure within the casing.

(6) "Casinghead gas" means any gas or vapor, or both gas and vapor, indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from such stratum with oil.

(7) "Christmas tree" means an assembly of valves and fittings at the head of the casing of a well to control the flow. Also spoken of as "well-head connections."

(8) "Condensate" means the liquid hydrocarbons recovered at the surface that result from condensation due to reduced pressure or temperature of petroleum hydrocarbons existing in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.

(9) "Cubic foot of gas" means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base and a standard temperature base. The standard pressure base shall be 14.73 pounds per square inch absolute and the standard temperature base shall be 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Conversions of values to conform with standard conditions shall be made in accordance with Ideal Gas Laws, corrected for deviation from Boyle's Gas Law when the pressure at the point of measurement is in excess of 200 psi gauge.

(10) "Day" means a period of twenty-four consecutive hours from 7:00 a.m. one day to 7:00 a.m. the following day.

(11) "Gas allowable" means the amount of natural gas authorized to be produced by order of the committee.

(12) "Gas lift" means any method of lifting liquid to the surface by injecting gas into the wellbore from which production is obtained.

(13) "Gas-oil ratio" means the relation of the gas in cubic feet to the production of oil in barrels, measured concurrently for a limited period; i.e. the number of cubic feet of gas as produced, divided by the number of barrels of oil as produced.

(14) "Groundwaters" means all waters that exist beneath the land surface or beneath the bed of any stream, lake or reservoir, or other body of surface water within the boundaries of this state, whatever may be the geological formation or structure in which such water stands or flows, percolates, or otherwise moves (Regulation of public groundwaters, chapter 90.44 RCW).

(15) "Month and calendar month" means the period or interval of time from 7:00 a.m. on the first day of any month of the calendar to 7:00 a.m. of the first day of the next succeeding month of the calendar.

(16) "Offset operator" means the operator, owner, or lessee of land contiguous to or cornering on land involved in oil and gas activities.

(17) "Oil allowable" means the amount of oil authorized to be produced by order of the committee.

(18) "Person" means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or representative of any kind, and any governmental or political subdivision, or any agency thereof including any local state or federal government agency.

(19) "Pressure maintenance" means the introduction of gas or fluid to maintain the pressure of a reservoir.

(20) "Producer" means the owner or operator of a well or wells capable of producing oil or gas, or both.

(21) "Product" has the meaning set forth in RCW 78.52.010(18). It includes but is not limited to refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, fuel oil, treated crude oil, residuum, gas oil, casinghead gasoline, natural gas gasoline, naptha, distillate, propane, butane, gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, blended gasoline, lubricating oil, blends or mixtures of oil with one or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas, and blends or mixtures of two or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas.

(22) "Purchaser" means any person who acquires title to oil or gas by purchase from a producer or other person.

(23) "Reasonable market demand" as to oil, means the amount of oil reasonably needed for current consumption and use, together with a reasonable amount of oil for storage and working stock; and as to gas, the term means the amount of gas of any type reasonably needed to supply the current consumption and use of such type of gas.

(24) "Reservoir pressure" means the static or stabilized pressure in pounds per square inch gauge existing at the face of the formation in one or more oil or gas wells as determined by commonly accepted engineering principles.

(25) "Separator" means an accepted field apparatus used in the industry for separating oil, gas, water, etc., with efficiency as it is produced.

(26) "Shut in pressure" means the surface pressure noted at the well head after the well is completely shut in.

(27) "State" means the state of Washington.

(28) "String" means a continuous length of connected sections of casing, liner, drill pipe, or tubing run into the well, including all attached equipment.

(29) "Surface water" means standing or free flowing fresh water at or above the ground surface, including springs, seeps, intermittent or perennial streams or creeks, rivers, lakes, ponds or wetlands.

(30) "Tender" means a permit or certificate of clearance, approved and issued or registered under the authority of the committee, for the transportation of oil, gas, or products.

(31) "Transporter" means and include any person engaged in the transportation of oil or gas.

(32) "Underground source of drinking water (USDW)" means groundwaters which contain fewer than 10,000 mg/L of total dissolved solids or which are obtainable for beneficial uses.

(33) "Waters of the state" means all lakes, rivers, ponds, streams, inland waters, groundwaters, salt waters, and all other waters and water courses within the jurisdiction of the state of Washington.

(34) "Well history" or "well record" means the chronological written record of all operations, including formation tests, water shut-off tests, description of water, oil, or gas encountered in drilling a well, chemical composition and quantities of materials used in the drilling or treating of a well, with such additional information as to gas volumes, pressures, rate of fill-up, water depths, caving strata, casing record, etc., as is usually recorded in the normal procedure of drilling.

(35) "Well log" means a systematic, detailed, and correct record of formations encountered in drilling a well, and shall include all electric, radioactivity, and other logs, if run.

(36) "Wetlands" means those areas extending landward for two hundred feet (61 meters) in all directions as measured on a horizontal plane from the ordinary high-water mark; and all marshes, bogs, swamps, floodways, river deltas and floodplains associated with or influenced by any stream, river, lake, or tidal water, or combination thereof.

Wash. Admin. Code § 344-12-040

Statutory Authority: RCW 78.52.050. 85-03-018 (Order 6, Resolution No. 10), § 344-12-040, filed 1/8/85. Statutory Authority: RCW 78.52.050 and chapter 78.52 RCW. 82-12-052 (Order 3, Resolution No. 7), § 344-12-040, filed 6/1/82; Rule 7, filed 3/23/60.