Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 50, December 13, 2024
Section 39-1-2 - Definitions2.1. "Annual" means twelve consecutive calendar months beginning January 1 and ending December 31.2.2. "Authorized Agent" means a representative as designated by the Commission.2.3. "Barrel" means forty-two (42) United States gallons of 231 cubic inches each at a temperature of sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit.2.4. "Code" means the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended.2.5. "Commission" means the West Virginia Oil and Gas Conservation Commission, composed of three (3) members appointed by the Governor, the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and the Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas of the Department of Environmental Protection.2.6. "Commissioner and Chairman" means the person appointed by the Governor, possessing a degree from an accredited college or university in petroleum engineering or geology and must be a registered professional engineer.2.7. "Completion" means that an oil well is considered completed when the well is first capable of producing new oil through wellhead equipment. A gas well is considered completed when the well is capable of producing gas through wellhead equipment. A dry hole is considered completed when all provisions of plugging have been performed, pursuant to the requirements of the Office of Oil and Gas. A multiple completion is the completion of more than one pool of hydrocarbon fluids into one (1) well bore.2.8. "Vertical Deep Well" means a well drilled to a depth below the top of the uppermost member of the Onondaga Group which does not meet the definition of a Horizontal Deep Well as defined in subsection 2.16.2.9. "Cubic Foot of Gas" means the volume of gas contained in 1 cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base and a standard temperature base. The standard pressure base shall be fourteen and seventy-three hundredths (14.73) psia, and the standard temperature base shall be sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit. 2.10. "Day" means a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours.2.11. "Designated Agent" means a resident of the State of West Virginia, as required by the Office of Oil and Gas, upon whom process, notices, orders or other communications issued pursuant to this rule may be served.2.12. "Field" means a geographic area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one (1) pool; and "Field" shall include the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing oil or gas or both. The words "Field" and "Pool" are synonymous when only one (1) underground reservoir is involved; however, "Field" may relate to two (2) or more pools.2.13. "Gas Well" means any well which produces 6,000 cubic feet or more than 6,000 cubic feet of gas to each one (1) barrel of oil on initial gas-oil ratio test, defining oil and gas as in the statute.2.14. "Heel" means the physical turn when a well's trajectory approximates horizontal in the target formation.2.15. "Hearing" means a proceeding in which any matter is heard before the Commission.2.16. "Horizontal Deep Well" means a deep well permitted in accordance with either article 6 or article 6A, chapter 22, of the West Virginia Code, drilled to a depth below the top of the uppermost member of the Onondaga Group targeting a shale, siltstone or other low permeability reservoir.2.17. "Log or Well Log" means a systematic detailed geological record of formations encountered in the drilling of a well.2.18. "Offset Operator" means any owner of any tract or parcel, with the right to develop, operate, and produce oil and gas from a pool and to appropriate the oil and gas produced there from, either for such person or for such person and others; located within one half of the distance to the next possible drill site, based on either special field rules or spacing as set forth in this Rule. In the event that there is no oil and gas lease in existence with respect to the tract in question, the owner of the oil and gas rights therein shall be considered an operator.2.19. "Oil Well" means any well which produces less than 6,000 cubic feet of gas to each one barrel of oil on initial gas-oil ratio test, defining oil and gas as in the statute.2.20. "Operational Order" means an order issued by the Commission upon application of one or more operators to define the area to be covered by the order; establish minimum horizontal deep well spacing, to include distances between laterals which will be controlled by the same operator and different operators who agree in writing to specific spacing between the wells they control; establish minimum lease or unit boundary setbacks parallel to the lateral and at the toe and heel, toe to toe, heel to heel, or toe to heel setbacks for units of the same operator and different operators who agree in writing to specific spacing between wells they control; establish minimum distances between wells adjacent to other operators and minimum lease or unit boundary setbacks parallel to the lateral and at the toe and heel, toe to toe, heel to heel, or toe to heel setbacks for units in cases where different operators are involved which have not entered into a written agreement to utilize the minimum distances for the same operator.2.21. "Non-productive Interval" means any portions or intervals of a well that do not meet the definition of "productive interval," as defined in subsection 2.22, such as surface wellhead location and any vertical, angled or other portions of the wellbore that are not perforated in the target formation.2.22. "Productive Interval" of a horizontal deep well for purposes of setback and spacing limitations, but not for purposes of a determination of unit boundaries or lease royalty payments, means the perforated length of a well bore in the target formation, as shown on a directional survey, projected vertically to the surface.2.23. The words, "Person, Operator, Royalty Owner, Independent Producer, Oil, Gas, Pool, Well, Shallow Well, Deep Well, Drilling Unit, Waste, Correlative Rights, and Just and Equitable Share of Production", are defined by the statute and said definitions are hereby adopted in this rule.2.24. "Purchaser" means any person who directly or indirectly purchases, transports, takes or otherwise removes oil, gas or other hydrocarbon to his account from a well, lease, drilling unit or pool.2.25. "Special Field Rules" are rules ordered after a deep well has been drilled establishing a field or pool and an application is filed by the operator of the deep well or by the operator of any lands directly and immediately affected by the drilling of such deep well or wells in the field or pool. The special field rules will designate the field or pool by name, the area to which they are applicable, the acreage of each drilling unit, the shape thereof, the minimum distance from the outside boundary of each drilling unit at which a deep well may be drilled and a minimum distance between deep wells. The Commission may conform the size and shape of the drilling unit upon which a deep well is situated to the applicable special field rules.2.26. "Statute" means WV Code §22C-9.2.27. "Toe" means the terminus of the horizontal well bore.2.28. "Unit" means a mineral tract or two (2) or more mineral tracts which have been combined in such a manner that the combined tracts may be regarded as a common tract for the drilling and operation of a deep oil or gas well.2.29. "Well Spacing" means the pattern or minimum distances from drilling unit boundary lines and from other deep wells drilling to or producible from the same pool, at which deep wells may be located.