Or. Admin. Code § 632-010-0008 - Definitions
The definitions in ORS 520.005 apply to this rule division. In addition, the following definitions apply:
(1) "Allowable Quantity" means the amount of
natural gas or oil allowed by order of the board to be produced within a stated
period.
(2) "Atmospheric Pressure"
means the pressure of air at sea level, equivalent to about 14.73 pounds per
square inch absolute.
(3) "Barrel"
means 42 U.S. gallons of oil at a temperature of 15.55 degrees Centigrade (60
degrees Fahrenheit), with deductions for the full percent of basic sediment,
water, and other impurities present, ascertained by centrifugal or other
recognized and customary tests.
(4)
"Blowout" means an uncontrolled escape of oil, natural gas, or water as a flow
from a well.
(5) "Blowout
Preventer" means a heavy casing-head control of special gates or rams that will
seal the annular space between drill pipe or tubing and casing or completely
close off the top of the inner casing string.
(6) "Board" means the Governing Board of the
State Department of Geology and Mineral Industries.
(7) "Bottom Hole Pressure" means the pressure
in pounds per square inch at or near the bottom of an oil or gas well
determined at the face of the producing horizon by means of a pressure
recording instrument, adopted and recognized by the oil and gas industry, and
corrected to the sea level elevation.
(8) "Casing Pressure" means the pressure in
the annular space between the tubing and casing measured at the
wellhead.
(9) "Completion" means a
well is in such condition that it is capable of producing oil or gas, or both.
(10) "Contaminate" means any
chemical, ion radionuclide, synthetic organic compound, microorganism, waste or
other substance that does not occur naturally in groundwater or that occurs
naturally but at a lower concentration.
(11) "Contamination" means introduction of
contaminate.
(12) "Decommission"
means the condition of a well when it has been lawfully and permanently plugged
and the well pad, access road and other related disturbance reclaimed to a
secondary beneficial use that is compatible with the land use designation
according to these rules with the approval of the department.
(13) "Department" means the State Department
of Geology and Mineral Industries.
(14) "Development" means any work performed
to bring about production of oil or gas, or both.
(15) "Developed Area or Developed Unit" means
a unit as defined in ORS
520.005(12)
having a well completed thereon capable of producing oil or gas in paying
quantities. However, in the event the board finds that a part of any unit is
nonproductive, then the developed area of the unit includes only the productive
part.
(16) "Differential Pressure"
means:
(a) In the case of wellhead
measurement, the difference between the tubing pressure and the casing
pressure; or
(b) In the case of an
orifice meter, the pressure difference between the upstream and the downstream
sides of the orifice, a pressure difference measured with a differential gauge
or with a manometer (U tube).
(17) "Disposal Well" means any well used for
the purpose of disposal of produced saltwater and produced oil field
waste.
(18) "Drilling Unit" means
the acreage dedicated to a well before field limits and spacing rules are
established by the board.
(19)
"Edge Water" means water that holds the oil or gas, or both, in a higher
structural position usually encroaching on a pool as the oil or gas is
recovered.
(20) "Fair Share" means
that part of recoverable oil or gas, or both, in a developed area of a pool
proportional by area to the recoverable oil or gas, or both, in the entire
developed area of the pool, insofar as these amounts can be practically
ascertained.
(21) "Gas Allowable"
means the amount of natural gas authorized to be produced by order of the
board.
(22) "Gas-Oil Ratio" means
the relation of the gas in cubic feet to the production of oil in barrels as
accepted by pipelines.
(23) "Gas
Repressuring" means the introduction of gaseous substances into a pool by
artificial means in order to replenish, replace, or increase the reservoir
energy.
(24) "Gas Well" means:
(a) A well that produces natural gas
only;
(b) That part of a well where
the gas producing stratum has been successfully cased off from the oil so that
the gas and oil are produced through separate casing or tubing;
(c) Any well capable of producing gas in
commercial quantities; or
(d) A
well producing from a reservoir containing no commercially significant liquid
hydrocarbons.
(25) "Idle
Well" means an inactive well that has not been completed, suspended, or
decommissioned with approval of the department.
(26) "Illegal Gas" means gas that has been
produced within the state from any well or wells in excess of the amount
allowed by any rule, regulation, or order of the board.
(27) "Illegal Oil" means oil that has been
produced within the state from any well in excess of the amount allowed by any
rule, or order of the board.
(28)
"Illegal Product" means any product of oil or gas, any part of which was
processed or derived, in whole or in part from illegal oil or illegal gas, or
from any product thereof.
(29)
"Indices of Productive Value" means the factors to be considered in
ascertaining the productivity of all property in a pool for the purpose of
fixing the allowable production. These indices may include, at the discretion
of the board, potential acreage, gas-oil ratios, static reservoir pressures,
flowing pressures, fluid level drawdowns, the well or wells, or any other
pertinent factors.
(30) "Lease"
means the exclusive right to explore for, drill for, and produce petroleum,
natural gas, and associated hydrocarbons.
(31) "Lessee" means a person who becomes a
mineral rights owner by leasing mineral rights from a mineral rights
owner.
(32) "Mineral Rights Owner"
means the person who has the exclusive right to lease or grant rights for
mineral exploration and includes owners of unleased mineral rights and lessees
of mineral rights.
(33) "Mud-Laden
Fluid" means any approved mixture of fluid and clay or other material that will
effectively seal the formation to which it is applied.
(34) "Net Drainage" means the drainage or
migration of oil or gas within the reservoir not equalized by
counter-drainage.
(35) "Oil
Allowable" means the amount of oil authorized to be produced by order of the
board.
(36) "Oil Well" means any
well that is not a gas well and is capable of producing oil or condensate in
paying quantities.
(37) "Operator"
means any person who is in charge of the development of a lease or the
construction, development or operation of a well subject to the
division.
(38) "Overage,
Overproduction" means the oil or gas produced in excess of the allowable
quantity fixed by the board.
(39)
"Period Allowable" means the period as designated by the department, in which
an allowable quantity may be produced.
(40) "Pool" means an underground reservoir
containing a common accumulation of oil and natural gas. A zone of a structure
that is completely separated from any other zone in the same structure is a
pool.
(41) "Potential" means the
computed daily ability of a well to produce oil and/or natural gas as
determined by a test made in conformity with rules prescribed by the
board.
(42) "Permittee" means any
person who has the right to drill a well and has received a permit or is an
operator.
(43) "Pressure
Maintenance" means:
(a) The re-introduction,
in the early stages of field development, of gas or fluid produced from an oil
or gas well to maintain the pressure of the reservoir; or
(b) The introduction of gas or fluid for the
same purpose, but obtained from an outside source.
(44) "Producer" means the owner of one or
more wells capable of producing oil or gas or both.
(45) "Proved Oil or Gas Area" means the area
that has been shown by development or geological information to be such that
additional wells drilled thereon are reasonably certain to be commercially
productive of oil or gas, or both.
(46) "Purchaser" means any person who
directly or indirectly purchases, transports, takes, or otherwise removes
production from a well, wells, or pool.
(47) "Run" means oil or gas piped from one
place to another.
(48) "Separator"
means an apparatus for separating fluid, as it is produced.
(49) "Service Well" means any well drilled to
be used for the purpose of underground natural gas storage or to monitor such
underground storage.
(50) "Shortage
or Underage" means the amount of production less than the allowable.
(51) "Spacing Unit" means the acreage
dedicated by the board to a well after field limits and rules are
established.
(52) "Storage" means
produced oil, gas, or both confined in tanks, reservoirs, or containers.
(53) "Suspension" means the status
of a well that is not in a plugged or completed condition when it has been
safely left unattended, with the written approval of the department, for a
period of 30 days or more.
(54)
"Unlawful Abandonment" means the condition of:
(a) An idle well from which drilling
equipment has been removed;
(b) An
idle well with drilling equipment present but no activity for 30 consecutive
days; or
(c) Any suspended well
whose period of approved suspension has expired and an additional 30 days has
elapsed.
(55) "Wellhead"
means equipment consisting of valves installed at the surface of the
well.
(56) "Well Log" means the
written record progressively describing the strata, water, and oil or gas
encountered in drilling a well with such additional information as to give
volumes, pressure, rate of fill-up, water depths, caving strata, casing record,
etc., as is recorded in the normal procedure of drilling. It also includes all
electrical and mechanical surveys performed in the well bore.
(57) "Wildcat Well" means a drilling or
producing well located in an area that is not a "Proved Oil or Gas Area".
NOTE: Additional definitions may be found in ORS 520.005 and 520.015.
Notes
Stat. Auth.: ORS 520
Stats. Implemented: ORS 520.095
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