Kan. Admin. Regs. § 82-3-101 - Definitions
(a) As used in
these regulations, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) "Acreage factor" means the quotient
obtained by dividing the acreage attributable to a well by the basic acreage
unit as defined in K.A.R. 82-3-207 and K.A.R. 82-3-312 or as decided by the
commission on a case-by-case basis in the basic proration order for the common
source of supply in which the well is located.
(2) "Allowable" means the amount of oil or
gas authorized to be produced by order of the commission.
(3) "Allowable period" means the time in
which the allowable may be produced.
(4) "Alternate cementing materials" means
materials used in lieu of portland cement blends, as prescribed by commission
order, dated March 29, 1985, Docket No. 34,780-C (C-1825), which is adopted by
reference.
(5) "Artesian pressure"
means groundwater under sufficient hydrostatic head to rise above the rock unit
containing the aquifer.
(6)
"Assessment" means any charge against the parties involved in any hearing,
application, investigation, or the enforcement of an order, and the assessment
on natural gas and oil produced to pay the costs associated with the
administration of the oil or gas conservation act.
(7) "Attributable acreage" means the acreage
assigned to a well in accordance with the well spacing program for each of the
prorated fields.
(8) "Casing"
means tubular materials used to line a well bore.
(9) "Casinghead gas" means gas produced that
was in solution with oil in its original state in the reservoir.
(10) "Cement" means portland cement or a
blend of portland cement used in the oil and gas industry to support and
protect casing and to prevent the migration of subsurface fluids by the
formation of an impermeable barrier.
(11) "Coalbed natural gas" means natural gas
produced from either coal seams or associated shale.
(12) "Coarse ground bentonite" means a
nontreated swelling sodium montmorillonite that exhibits the following
properties:
(A) A moisture content between 13
and 17 percent by dry weight;
(B)
a clay aggregate particle size between 38 and 78 of an inch;
(C) a pH of 9 or less; and
(D) an inert solid percentage of less than
0.15 percent.
(13)
"Commingling" means the mixing of production from more than one common source
of supply.
(14) "Commission" means
the state corporation commission.
(15) "Common source of supply" means each
geographic area or horizon separated from any other area or horizon that
contains, or appears to contain, a common accumulation of oil, gas, or both.
(16) "Confining layer" means a
formation that serves as a barrier between water-, oil-, or gas-bearing
formations.
(17) "Conservation
division" means the division of the commission in charge of the administration
of the oil and gas conservation acts, the protection of fresh and usable water,
well plugging, saltwater disposal, enhanced recovery, and surface ponds.
(18) "Contractor" means any person
who acts as an agent for an operator as a drilling, plugging, service rig, or
seismograph contractor in the operator's oil and gas operations.
(19) "Core" means a continuous section of
formation recovered during drilling.
(20) "Core hole" means a hole drilled with
the intention of collecting geologic information by the recovery of cores.
(21) "Correlative rights" means
the privilege of each owner or producer in a common source of supply to produce
from that supply only in a manner or amount that will not have any of the
following effects:
(A) Injure the reservoir
to the detriment of others;
(B)
take an undue proportion of the obtainable oil or gas; or
(C) cause undue drainage between developed
leases.
(22) "Day"
means a period of 24 consecutive hours.
(23) "Deliverability" means the amount of
natural gas, expressed in Mcf per day, that a well is capable of producing into
a pipeline, while maintaining a back pressure against the wellhead. The amount
of back pressure to be maintained and the test procedure shall be specified by
the commission in the basic proration order for the common source of supply in
which the well is located.
(24)
"Department" means the Kansas department of health and environment.
(25) "Dike" means a permanent structure that
meets the following conditions:
(A) Is
constructed at or above the surface of the earth and totally encloses
production facilities or lease equipment; and
(B) is used to temporarily contain fluids
resulting from oil and gas activities and discharged as a result of unforeseen
circumstances.
If there is any excavation below the surface of the earth within the containment area, the dike shall be considered an emergency pit and shall require a permit in accordance with K.A.R. 82-3-600.
(26) "Director" means the director
of the conservation division of the commission.
(27) "Division order" means a dated, written
statement, duly signed by the owners and delivered to the purchasers,
certifying and guaranteeing the interests of ownership of production and
directing payment according to those interests.
(28) "Drilling time log" means the
chronological tabulation or plotting of the rate of penetration of subsurface
rocks by the rotary bit.
(29)
"Enhanced recovery" means any process involving the injection of fluids into a
pool to increase the recovery of oil or gas.
(30) "Exploratory hole" means a hole drilled
for the purpose of obtaining geological information in connection with the
exploration for or production of oil or gas.
(31) "Field" means a geographic area
containing one or more pools.
(32)
"First purchaser" means the person holding the division order and issuing
checks to pay any working or royalty interest.
(33) "Fluid" means a material or substance
that flows or moves in a semisolid, liquid, sludge, or gas state.
(34) "Freshwater" means water containing not
more than 1,000 milligrams of total dissolved solids per liter. This upper
limit is approximately equivalent to 1,000 parts of salt per million or 500
parts of chlorides per million.
(35) "Gas" means the gas obtained from gas or
combination wells, regardless of its chemical analysis.
(36) "Gas (cubic foot)" means the volume of
gas contained in one cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base and at a
standard temperature base. The standard pressure base shall be 14.65 pounds per
square inch absolute, and the standard temperature base shall be 60 degrees
Fahrenheit.
(37) "Gas-oil ratio"
means the ratio of gas produced, in cubic feet, to one barrel of oil produced
during the concurrent period.
(38)
"Gas (sour)" means either of the following:
(A) Any natural gas containing more than 112
grains of hydrogen sulfide per 100 cubic feet or more than 30 grains of total
sulphur per 100 cubic feet; or
(B)
gas that is found by the commission to be unfit for sale due to its hydrogen
sulfide content.
(39)
"Illegal production" means any production in violation of the statutes, rules,
regulations, or orders of the commission.
(40) "Injection" means injection of fluids or
natural gas for enhanced recovery, or disposal of brines or fluids into an
injection well.
(41) "Liquid"
means a solution or substance, excluding gas, that flows freely at standard
temperature and pressure.
(42)
"Mousehole" means a service hole drilled at a slight angle and normally about
30 feet deep on those wells drilled by rotary tools.
(43) "Mud-laden fluid," as the term is
commonly used in the industry, means any commission-approved mixture of water
and clay, and may include additional materials that will effectively seal a
formation to which they are applied.
(44) "Multiple completion" means the
completion of any well that permits production from two or more common sources
of supply with the common sources of supply completely segregated.
(45) "Oil (crude)" means any petroleum
hydrocarbon that is produced from a well in liquid phase and that existed in a
liquid phase in the reservoir.
(46) "Oil (pipeline)" means oil free from
water and basic sediment to the degree that it is acceptable for pipeline
transportation and refinery use.
(47) "Open flow" means the volume of gas that
a gas well is capable of producing at the wellhead during a period of 24 hours
against atmospheric pressure, computed according to the standard procedure
approved by the commission.
(48)
"Operator" means a person who is responsible for the physical operation and
control of a well, gas-gathering system, or underground natural gas storage
facility.
(49) "Overage" or
"overproduction" means the oil or gas produced in excess of the allowable.
(50) "Person" means any natural
person, corporation, association, partnership, governmental or political
subdivision, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary,
or any other legal entity.
(51)
"Pipeline" means any pipes above or below the ground used or to be used for the
transportation of oil or gas in either a liquid or gaseous state.
(52) "Pit" means any constructed, excavated,
or naturally occurring depression upon the surface of the earth, which shall
include surface ponds as referenced in
K.S.A. 55-171 and amendments thereto.
(A) "Burn pit" means a pit used for the
temporary confinement of oil leakage at a lease site or of materials commonly
known as tank bottoms, basic sediment, bottom sediment, bottom settlings, or
paraffin, for the purpose of burning these contents.
(B) "Containment pit" means a temporary pit
constructed to aid in the cleanup and to temporarily contain fluids resulting
from oil and gas activities that were spilled as a result of immediate,
unforeseen, and unavoidable circumstances.
(C) "Drilling pit" means any pit, including
working pits and reserve pits, used to temporarily confine fluid or exempt
exploration and production waste resulting from oil and gas activities, or
store spent drilling fluids generated during the drilling or completion of any
oil and gas exploratory hole, service well, or storage well.
(D) "Emergency pit" means a permanent pit
that is used for the emergency storage of oil or saltwater, or both, discharged
as a result of any equipment malfunction.
(E) "Haul-off pit" means a pit used to store
spent drilling fluids and cuttings transferred from working pits or steel pits
at a well location whose surface geologic conditions or near surface geologic
conditions, or both, preclude the use of an earthen reserve pit.
(F) "Reserve pit" means a pit used to store
spent drilling fluids and cuttings transferred from working pits and permitted
as a drilling pit.
(G) "Settling
pit" means a pit used for the collection or treatment of fluids, or both,
resulting from oil and gas activities.
(H) "Working pit" means a pit used to
temporarily confine fluids or refuse resulting from oil and gas activities
during the drilling or completion of any oil, gas, exploratory, service, or
storage well and permitted as a drilling pit.
(I) "Workover pit" means a pit used to
contain fluids during the performance of remedial operations on a previously
completed well.
(53)
"Pool" means a single and separate natural reservoir of oil or gas
characterized by a single pressure system.
(54) "Producer" means any person who owns, in
whole or in part, a well capable of producing oil or gas, or both.
(55) "Production" means produced oil, gas,
condensate, or casinghead gas.
(56) "Productivity of a well" means the daily
capacity of a well to produce oil or gas.
(57) "Productivity of a pool" means the sum
of the productivities of the wells completed in the pool.
(58) "Proration" means the regulation of the
amount of allowed production to prevent waste or to prevent any of the
following in a manner that would favor any one pool as compared to any other
pool in this state:
(A) Undue drainage
between developed leases;
(B)
unratable taking; or
(C)
unreasonable discrimination between or among operators, producers, and royalty
owners who are within a common source of supply.
(59) "Purchaser" means any person who
purchases production from a well, lease, or common source of supply.
(60) "Rathole" means the service hole drilled
at a slight angle and normally about 40 feet deep on those wells drilled by
rotary tools.
(61) "Reasonable
market demand" means the amount of crude petroleum or natural gas that must be
produced to satisfy current rates of consumption.
(62) "Recompletion" means that a well is
reworked for the purpose of developing new zones after its initial well
completion.
(63) "Refuse" means
any exempt exploration and production waste, as defined in
40 C.F.R.
261.4 (b)(5), published July 1, 2000, and
hereby adopted by reference, generated from oil and gas activities, including
produced or nonproduced accumulated water in a pit or dike.
(64) "Seismic shot hole" means the borehole
in which an explosive is detonated for the purpose of generating a seismic
signal.
(65) "Sensitive
groundwater area" means a geographic area designated by the commission as
having hydrogeologic, climatic, soil, and other characteristics that make the
area's fresh and usable groundwater vulnerable to pollution from oil and gas
activities.
(66) "Shortage" means
the amount by which the oil or gas legally produced and either sold or removed
from the premises is less than the allowable.
(67) "Solid" means a material or substance
that does not flow freely at standard temperature and pressure.
(68) "Special order" means an order directed
to specifically named persons or to a group that does not constitute a general
class and that is dispositive of a particular matter as applied to a specific
set of facts.
(69) "Spill" means
any escape of saltwater, oil, or refuse by overflow, seepage, or other means
from the vicinity of oil, gas, injection, service, or gas storage wells, or
from tanks, pipelines, dikes, or pits, if the wells, tanks, pipelines, dikes,
or pits are involved in or related to any of the following:
(A) The exploration or drilling for oil or
gas;
(B) the lease storage,
treatment, or gathering of oil or gas; or
(C) the drilling, operating, abandonment, or
postabandonment of wells. For purposes of this regulation, "vicinity" means the
area within six feet of the wellhead.
(70) "Spud date" means the date of first
actual penetration of the earth with a drilling bit.
(71) "Storage oil" means produced oil
confined in tanks, reservoirs, or containers.
(72) "Storage oil (lease)" means produced oil
in tanks, reservoirs, or containers on the lease where it was produced.
(73) "Stratigraphic hole" means a
hole, normally of small diameter, that is drilled through subsurface strata for
exploratory purposes, with no intent to produce hydrocarbons through the hole
being drilled, and does not utilize a detonated explosive for generating a
seismic signal.
(74) "Surface
casing" is the first casing put in a well that is cemented into place. It
serves to shut out shallow water formations. It also acts as a foundation or
anchor for all subsequent drilling activity. For purposes of compliance with
K.A.R. 82-3-106, additional strings of casing that are set and cemented in a
well bore below the lowest fresh and usable water strata shall be deemed to be
surface casing.
(75) "Tertiary
recovery process" means the process or processes described in
K.S.A. 79-4217, and amendments thereto.
(76) "Underage" and "under production" mean
the difference between the assigned oil or gas allowable volume and the actual
oil or gas production volume if the actual oil or gas production volume is less
than the assigned oil or gas allowable volume.
(77) "Undue drainage" means the uncompensated
migration of either oil or gas between or among developed leases within the
same common source of supply caused by the unratable production of any well or
wells located on one or more of the leases.
(78) "Usable water" means water containing
not more than 10,000 milligrams of total dissolved solids per liter. This upper
limit is approximately equivalent to 10,000 parts of salt per million or 5,000
parts of chlorides per million.
(79) "Waste oil" means any tank bottom; basic
sediment; cut oil; reclaimed oil from pits, ponds, or streams; dead oil;
emulsions; or other types of oil not defined as pipeline oil.
(80) "Waterflood" means the process of
injecting fluids into one or more wells to enhance the recovery of oil.
(81) "Well" means any hole or
penetration of the surface of the earth for geological, geophysical, or any oil
and gas activity.
(A) "Combination well"
means a well that produces both oil and gas, excluding casinghead gas, from the
same common source of supply.
(B)
"Discovery well" means the first well completed in a common source of supply
that is not in communication with any other common source of supply.
(C) "Disposal well" means a well into which
those fluids brought to the surface in connection with oil and natural gas
production are injected, for purposes other than enhanced recovery.
(D) "Enhanced recovery injection well" means
a well into which fluids are injected to increase the recovery of hydrocarbons.
(E) "Gas well" means a well that
meets either of the following criteria:
(i)
Produces gas not associated with oil at the time of production from the
reservoir; or
(ii) produces more
than 15,000 standard cubic feet of gas to each stock tank barrel of oil from
the same common source of supply, as measured by the gas-oil ratio test
prescribed by and reported on the form furnished by the commission.
(F) "Hardship well" means a well
authorized by commission order to produce at a specified rate because
reasonable cause exists to expect that production below the specified rate
would damage the well and cause waste.
(G) "Injection well" means a well that is
used for any of the following:
(i) To inject
brine or other fluids that are brought to the surface in connection with
natural gas storage operations or oil or natural gas production and that may be
commingled with waste waters from gas plants that are an integral part of
production operations, unless those waste waters are classified as a hazardous
waste at the time of injection;
(ii) to conduct enhanced recovery operations
for oil or natural gas;
(iii) to
store hydrocarbons that are liquid at standard temperature and pressure;
(iv) to conduct simultaneous
injection operations; or
(v) to
inject permitted fluids.
(H) "Minimum well" means any oil well that
has a productivity of 25 barrels or less per day.
(I) "Oil well" means a well that has produced
one stock tank barrel or more of crude oil to each 15,000 standard cubic feet
of gas, as measured by the gas-oil ratio test prescribed by and reported on the
form furnished by the commission. One stock tank barrel is equivalent to 42
U.S. gallons measured at 607 F.
(J) "Service well" means a well drilled for
any of the following:
(i) The injection of
fluids in enhanced recovery projects;
(ii) the supply of fluids for enhanced
recovery projects; or
(iii) the
disposal of saltwater.
(K) "Storage well" means a well used to
inject or extract natural gas for storage purposes.
(82) "Wellhead working pressure" means the
static pressure in the annulus while flowing through the tubing, or static
pressure in the tubing while flowing through the annulus, except in cases in
which the casinghead is not in open communication with the producing formation
because of the presence of a packer or other obstruction in the annular space
between the casing and tubing. In these cases, the wellhead working pressure
shall be determined by adjusting the observed tubing pressure for the effect of
friction caused by flow through the tubing, or by using a bottom-hole pressure
bomb and correcting back to wellhead conditions.
(83) "Well history" means the chronological
record of the development and completion of a well.
(84) "Well log" means the written record
progressively describing the well's down-hole development.
(b) Any term not defined in this
regulation or in any applicable commission rule, regulation, or order shall be
interpreted to be consistent with its common use in the industry.
Notes
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