16 Tex. Admin. Code § 3.11 - Inclination and Directional Surveys Required
(a) General. All wells shall be drilled as
nearly vertical as possible by normal, prudent, practical drilling operations.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to permit the drilling of any well
in such a manner that the wellbore crosses lease and/or property lines (or unit
lines in cases of pooling) without special permission.
(b) Inclination surveys.
(1) Requirements.
(A) An inclination survey made by persons or
concerns approved by the commission shall be filed on a form prescribed by the
commission for each well drilled or deepened with rotary tools, except as
hereinafter provided, or when, as a result of any operation, the course of the
well is changed. The first shot point of such inclination survey shall be made
at a depth not greater than 500 feet below the surface of the ground, and
succeeding shot points shall be made either at 500-foot intervals or at the
nearest drill bit change thereto, but not to exceed 1,000 feet apart.
(B) Inclination surveys conforming to these
requirements may be made either during the normal course of drilling or after
the well has reached total depth. Acceptable directional surveys may be filed
in lieu of inclination surveys.
(C)
Copies of all directional or inclination surveys, regardless of the reason for
which they are run, shall be filed as a part of or in addition to the
inclination surveys otherwise required by this section. If computations are
made from dipmeter surveys to determine the course of the wellbore in any
portion of the surveyed interval, a report of such computations shall be
required.
(D) Inclination surveys
shall not be required in any well drilled to a total depth of 2,000 feet or
less on a regular location at least 150 feet from the nearest lease line,
provided the well is not intentionally deviated from the vertical in any manner
whatsoever.
(E) Inclination surveys
shall not be required on wells deepened with rotary tools if the well is
deepened no more than 300 feet or the distance from the surface location to the
nearest lease or boundary line, whichever is the lesser, and provided that the
well was not intentionally deviated from the vertical at any time before or
after the beginning of deepening operations.
(F) Inclination surveys will not be required
on wells that are drilled and completed as dry holes and are permanently
plugged and abandoned. If such wells are reentered at a later date and
completed as producers or injection or disposal wells, inclination reports will
be required and must be filed with the appropriate completion form for the
well.
(G) Inclination survey
filings will not be required on wells that are reentries within casing of
previously producing wells if inclination data are already on file with the
Railroad Commission of Texas (commission). If such data are not on file with
the commission, the results of an inclination survey must be reported on the
appropriate form and filed with the completion form, except as provided by
subparagraph (D) of this paragraph.
(2) Reports.
(A) The report form shall be signed and
certified by a party having personal knowledge of the facts therein contained.
The report shall include a tabulation of the maximum drifts which could occur
between the surface and the first shot point, and each two successive shot
points, assuming that all of the unsurveyed hole between any two shot points
has the same inclination as that measured at the lowest shot point, and the
total possible accumulative drift, assuming that all measured angles of
inclination are in the same direction.
(B) In addition, the report shall be
accompanied by a certified statement of the operator, or of someone acting at
his direction on his behalf, either:
(i) that
the well was not intentionally deviated from vertical; or
(ii) that the well was deviated at random,
with an explanation of the circumstances.
(C) The report shall be filed in the district
office by attaching one copy to each appropriate completion form for the
well.
(D) The commission may
require the submittal of the original charts, graphs, or discs resulting from
the surveys.
(c) Directional surveys.
(1) When required.
(A) When the maximum displacement indicated
by an inclination survey is greater than the actual distance from the surface
location to the nearest lease line or pooled unit boundary, it will be
considered to be a violating well subject to plugging and to penalty action.
However, an operator may submit a directional survey, run at his own expense by
a commission approved surveying company, to show the true bottom hole location
of the well to be within the prescribed limits. When such directional survey
shows the well to be bottomed within the confines of the lease, but nearer to a
well or lease line or pooled unit boundary than allowed by applicable rules, or
by the permit for the well if the well has been granted an exception to §
3.37 of this title (relating to
Statewide Spacing Rule), a new permit will be required if it is established
that the bottom hole location or completion location is not a reasonable
location.
(B) Directional surveys
shall be required on each well drilled under the directional deviation
provisions of this section.
(C) No
oil, gas, or geothermal resource allowable shall be assigned any well on which
a directional survey is required under any provision of this section until a
directional survey has been filed with and accepted by the
commission.
(2) Filing
and type of survey.
(A) Directional surveys
required under this section must be run by competent surveying companies,
approved by the commission, signed and certified by a person having actual
knowledge of the facts, in the manner prescribed by the commission in
accordance with §
3.12 of this title (relating to
Directional Survey Company Report).
(B) All directional surveys, unless otherwise
specified by the commission, shall be either single shot surveys or multi-shot
surveys with the shot points not more than 200 feet apart, beginning within 200
feet of the surface, and the bottom hole location must be oriented both to the
surface location and to the lease lines (or unit lines in cases of
pooling).
(C) If more than 200 feet
of surface casing has been run, the operator may begin the directional survey
immediately below the surface casing depth. However, if such method is used,
the inclination drifts from the surface of the ground to the surface casing
depth must be added cumulatively and reported on the appropriate form. This
total shall be assumed to be in the direction least favorable to the operator,
and such point shall be considered the starting point of the directional
survey.
(d)
Intentional deviation of wells.
(1)
Definitions.
(A) Directional deviation--The
intentional deviation of a well from vertical in a predetermined compass
direction.
(B) Random
deviation--The intentional deviation of a well without regard to compass
direction for one of the following reasons:
(i) to straighten a hole which has become
crooked in the normal course of drilling;
(ii) to sidetrack a portion of a hole because
of mechanical difficulty in drilling.
(2) When permitted.
(A) Directional deviation. A permit for
directionally deviating a well may be granted by the commission:
(i) for the purpose of seeking to reach and
control another well which is out of control or threatens to evade
control;
(ii) where conditions on
the surface of the ground prevent or unduly complicate the drilling of a well
at a regular location;
(iii) where
conditions are encountered underground which prevent or unduly hinder the
normal completion of the well;
(iv)
where it can be shown to be advantageous from the standpoint of mechanical
operation to drill more than one well from the same surface location to reach
the productive horizon at essentially the same positions as would be reached if
the several wells were normally drilled from regular locations prescribed by
the well spacing rules in effect;
(v) for the purpose of drilling a horizontal
drainhole; or
(vi) for other
reasons found by the commission to be sufficient after notice and
hearing.
(B) Random
deviation. Permission for the random deviation of a well may be granted by the
commission whenever the necessity for such deviation is shown, as prescribed in
paragraph (3)(C) of this subsection.
(3) Applications for deviation.
(A) Applications for wells to be
directionally deviated must specify on the application to drill both the
surface location of the well and the projected bottom hole location of the
well. On the plat, in addition to the plat requirements provided for in §
3.5 of this title (relating to
Application to Drill, Deepen, Reenter, or Plug Back) (Statewide Rule 5), the
following shall be included:
(i) two
perpendicular lines providing the distance in feet from the projected
bottomhole location, rather than the surface location, to the nearest points on
the lease, pooled unit, or unitized tract line. If there is an unleased
interest in a tract of the pooled unit or unitized tract that is nearer than
the pooled unit or unitized tract line, the nearest point on that unleased
tract boundary shall be used;
(ii)
a line providing the distance in feet from the projected bottomhole location to
the nearest point on the lease line, pooled unit line, or unitized tract line.
If there is an unleased interest in a tract of the pooled unit that is nearer
than the pooled unit line, the nearest point on that unleased tract boundary
shall be used;
(iii) a line
providing the distance in feet from the projected bottomhole location, rather
than the surface location, to the nearest oil, gas, or oil and gas well,
identified by number, applied for, permitted, or completed in the same lease,
pooled unit, or unitized tract and in the same field and reservoir;
and
(iv) perpendicular lines
providing the distance in feet from the two nearest non-parallel survey/section
lines to the projected bottomhole location.
(B) If the necessity for directional
deviation arises unexpectedly after drilling has begun, the operator shall give
written notice by letter or telegram of such necessity to the appropriate
district office and to the commission office in Austin, and upon giving such
notice, the operator may proceed with the directional deviation. The commission
may, at its discretion, accept written notice electronically transmitted. If
the operator proceeds with the drilling of a deviated well under such
circumstances, he proceeds at his own risk. Before any allowable shall be
assigned to such well, a permit for the subsurface location of each completion
interval shall be obtained from the commission under the provisions set out in
the commission rules. However, should the operator fail to show good and
sufficient cause for such deviation, no permit will be granted for the
well.
(C) If the necessity for
random deviation arises unexpectedly after the drilling has begun, the operator
shall give written notice by letter or telegram of such necessity to the
appropriate district office and to the commission office in Austin, and, upon
giving such notice, the operator may proceed with the random deviation, subject
to compliance with the provisions of this section on inclination surveys. The
commission may, at its discretion, accept written notice electronically
transmitted.
(e) Surveys on request of other operators.
The commission, at the written request of any operator in a field, shall
determine whether a directional survey, an inclination survey, or any other
type of survey approved by the commission for the purpose of determining bottom
hole location of wells, shall be made in regard to a well complained of in the
same field.
(1) The complaining party must
show probable cause to suspect that the well complained of is not bottomed
within its own lease lines.
(2) The
complaining party must agree to pay all costs and expenses of such survey,
shall assume all liability, and shall be required to post bond in a sufficient
sum as determined by the commission as security against all costs and risks
associated with the survey.
(3) The
complaining party and the commission shall agree upon the selection of the well
surveying company to conduct the survey, which shall be a surveying company on
the commission's approved list.
(4)
The survey shall be witnessed by the commission, and may be witnessed by any
party, or his agent, who has an interest in the field.
(5) Nothing in these rules shall be construed
to prevent or limit the commission, acting on its own authority, from
conducting spot checks and surveys at any time and place for the purpose of
determining compliance with the commission rules and regulations.
(f) Penalties.
(1) False reports. The filing of a false or
incorrect directional survey shall be grounds for cancellation of the well
permit, for pipeline severance of the lease on which the well is located, for
penalty action under the applicable statutes, and/or for such other and further
action as may be appropriate.
(2)
Other. The same penalties and actions as set forth in paragraph (1) of this
subsection shall be assessable against any operator who refuses to comply with
a commission order which issues under subsection (e) of this section.
Notes
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