Alabama Administrative Code › Title 400 - STATE OIL AND GAS BOARD OF ALABAMA › GOVERNING ONSHORE LANDS OPERATIONS › Chapter 400-1-1 - GENERAL › Section 400-1-1-.05 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
The words defined hereafter shall have the following meaning
				  when used within these rules:
(1)
Abandoned well
shall mean, for purposes only of compliance with
				requirements herein, that a well is to be considered abandoned when it has not
				been used for six (6) consecutive months and cannot be operated, whether
				because it was drilled as a dry hole or has ceased to produce, or operation
				shave not been conducted thereon, or for some other reason.
(2)
Area of exposure
shall mean
				the area within a circle constructed with the point of escape as its center and
				the radius of exposure as its radius.
(3)
Barrel
shall mean forty-two
				(42) U.S. gallons, and when used for liquid hydrocarbon volumes it shall be at
				a temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60°F), with deductions for the
				full percent of any basic sediment, water, and other impurities present,
				ascertained by centrifugal or other recognized and customary tests.
(4)
Blow out
shall mean any
				uncontrolled escape of fluids, hydrocarbons, or any other materials from a
				well.
(5)
Blow-out
				preventer
shall mean a heavy casinghead device or devices that helps
				control or prevent a blow out by closing around the drill string, or work
				string, or that completely closes the top of the casing if the drill string,
				tubing, or other pipe is withdrawn.
(6)
Board
shall mean the State
				Oil and Gas Board of Alabama.
(7)
Bottom-hole pressure
shall mean the pressure per square inch (psi)
				at or near the face of the producing horizon obtained by means of a
				pressure-recording instrument or other method approved by the Board, with
				readings corrected to a predetermined plane or datum.
(8)
Casing pressure
shall mean
				the pressure at the surface of a well between the casing and tubing or between
				two (2) strings of casing.
(9)
Casinghead gas
shall mean any gas or vapor or both, indigenous to
				an oil pool and produced from such pool with the oil.
(10)
Christmas tree
(wellhead
				connection) shall mean an assembly of valves and fittings attached to the head
				of the casing of a well to control the flow.
(11)
Class II injection well
shall mean an injection well which is used (1) to inject brine or other fluids
				which are brought to the surface in connection with natural gas storage
				operations or oil or natural gas production and which may be commingled with
				waste waters from plants which are an integral part of production operations,
				unless those waters are classified as a hazardous waste at the time of
				injection; (2) for enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas; or (3) for storage
				of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and
				pressure.
(12)
Cleansing
shall mean the removal or neutralization of any
				impurities found in produced oil or natural gas.
(13)
Completion
shall mean, for
				purposes only of compliance with requirements herein, that a well is considered
				completed when drilling operations have ceased or at such other times as the
				Supervisor may determine.
(14)
Compressor station
shall mean an installation in a pipeline in
				which the pressure of gas is raised for transmission through
				pipelines.
(15)
Condensate
shall mean the liquid produced by the condensation of
				gas or vapor, either after it leaves the reservoir or while still in the
				reservoir.
(16)
Consenting
				owner
shall mean an owner having a working interest in an oil and gas
				lease or an unleased oil and gas interest in an established or proposed spacing
				unit, who has reached an agreement in writing with the Board-appointed operator
				of the unit relative to the terms and conditions which will govern the manner
				in which his interest shall be developed and operated.
(17)
Conservation
shall mean the
				conserving, preserving, guarding, or protecting of oil and gas resources of the
				State by obtaining the maximum efficiency with minimum waste in the production,
				transportation, processing, treating, and marketing of the nonrenewable oil and
				gas resources of the State.
(18)
Contingency plan
shall mean a written document that shall provide
				an organized plan of action for alerting and protecting the public within an
				area of exposure following the accidental release of a potentially hazardous
				volume of hydrogensul fide.
(19)
Cubic foot of gas
shall mean a volume of gas expressed in cubic
				feet and computed at a base pressure of 14.65 pounds per square inch absolute
				(psia), and flowing temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60°F);
				correction to be made for pressure deviation and for specific gravity according
				to tests made by the Balance Method, or other methods customary to the industry
				if approved by the Supervisor.
(20)
Day
shall mean a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours from
				7:00 a.m. one day to 7:00 a.m. the following day.
(21)
Developed area or developed
				unit
shall mean a drainage or production unit having a well completed
				the reon which is capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities;
				however, in the event it is shown, and the Board finds, that apart of any unit
				is nonproductive, then the developed part of the unit shall include only that
				part found to be productive.
(22)
Disposer
shall mean any person or company who receives wastes for
				disposal in a disposal facility that is in compliance with existing state and
				federal regulations.
(23)
Drainage unit or production unit
shall mean the area in a pool,
				which may be drained efficiently and economically by one well. For simplicity,
				the term "production unit" is used hereinafter from time to time in place of
				the term "drainage or production unit."
(24)
Drilling unit
shall mean an
				administrative unit established by the Board to provide and allow for the
				drilling of a well.
(25)
Enhanced recovery
shall mean the increased recovery from a pool
				achieved by flooding, pressuring, cycling, or pressure maintenance and which
				may include the injection in to the pool of a substance or a form of energy
				extrinsic to the pool.
(26)
Facility modification
shall mean any change in the operation, such
				as an increase in throughput, in excess of the currently permitted capacity, or
				any change that would increase the radius of exposure.
(27)
Field
shall mean the
				general area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one
				pool, and field shall include the underground reservoir or reservoirs
				containing crude oil or natural gas, or both. The words field and pool mean the
				same thing when only one underground reservoir is involved; however, field,
				unlike pool, may relate to two or more pools.
(28)
Flowline
shall mean a
				pipeline that transports full well stream production from a well site to the
				production equipment where produced hydrocarbons are first separated,
				dehydrated, commingled with other production, or otherwise processed or to the
				point of custody transfer.
(29)
Forced integrated unit or forced pooled unit
shall mean a drilling
				unit in which all nonconsenting owners have beenordered by the Board to
				integrate or pool their tracts and interests and develop them in accordance
				with law and the rules and regulations of the Board.
(30)
Gas
shall mean all natural
				gas, including casinghead gas and occluded natural gas found in coal beds, and
				all other liquid or gaseous hydrocarbons not defined as oil.
(31)
Gas well
shall mean a well
				capable of producing gas from a gas pool or gas pools.
(32)
Gathering line
shall mean
				all pipelines, equipment, facilities, or buildings downstream of production
				equipment and used in the transportation of hydrocarbons to a treatment or
				storage facility or to a transmission line.
(33)
Illegal oil
shall mean oil
				which has been produced within the State of Alabama from any well or wells in
				excess of the amount allowed by any rule, regulation, or order of the Board, as
				distinguished from oil produced within the State of Alabama not in excess of
				the amount so allowed, which is legal oil.
(34)
Illegal gas
shall mean gas
				which has been produced within the State of Alabama from any well or wells in
				excess of the amount allowed by any rule, regulation, or order of the Board, as
				distinguished from gas produced within the State of Alabama not in excess of
				the amount so allowed, which is legal gas.
(35)
Illegal product
shall mean
				any product of oil or gas, any part of which was processed or derived, in whole
				or part, from illegal oil or illegal gas or from any product there of, as
				distinguished from legal product, which is a product processed or derived to no
				extent from illegal oil or illegal gas.
(36)
Location
or
site
shall mean the area surrounding a well, production facility,
				processing facility, injection facility, storage facility, plant, or other
				facility that has been developed for oil and gas operations.
(37)
Mode of transportation
shall mean any waste transportation method including trucks, rail cars, barges,
				maritime vessels, aircraft, or any other means of transportation acceptable to
				the Supervisor.
(38)
Month
				and calendar month
shall mean the period or interval of time from 7:00
				a.m. on the first (1st) day of any month of the calendar to 7:00 a.m. of the
				first (1st) day of the next succeeding month of the calendar.
(39)
Nonconsenting owner
shall
				mean an owner having aworking interest in an oil and gas lease or an unleased
				oil and gas interest in an established or proposed spacing unit, who has
				reached no agreement in writing with the Board-appointed operator of the unit
				relative to the terms and conditions which will govern the manner in which his
				interest shall be developed and operated.
(40)
Oil
shall mean crude
				petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced
				at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the
				result of condensation of gas after it leaves the pool.
(41)
Oil well
shall mean a well
				capable of producing oil from an oil pool or oil pools.
(42)
Onshore lands
shall mean
				all lands within the territorial jurisdiction of the State, except those lands
				in Mobile Bay and coastal areas of Baldwin and Mobile Counties overlain by
				water.
(43)
Operator
shall mean any person who is authorized by the Board to operate an oil, gas, or
				Class II injection well, or production or processing facility, or engages in
				the transportation of hydrocarbons by pipeline, including the handling and
				disposal of wastes that may be generated during operation of a well, or
				production or processing facility. The person named as operator according to
				the most current records of the Board is charged with complying with the oil
				and gas statutes and the rules and regulations of the Board.
(44)
Owner
shall mean the person
				who has the right to drill into and to produce from any pool and to appropriate
				the production either for himself or for himself and another, or
				others.
(45)
Person
shall mean any natural person, firm, corporation, association, partnership,
				joint venture, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary,
				representative of any kind, or any other group acting as a unit, and the plural
				as well as the singular number.
(46)
Pipe
shall mean any pipe or
				tubing used in the transportation of hydrocarbons or produced waters.
(47)
Pipeline
shall mean all
				parts of those physical facilities through which hydrocarbons or produced
				waters move in transportation, including pipes, valves, and other appurtenances
				attached to pipes, compressor units, or metering stations.
(48)
Plant
shall mean any
				combination of a production facility or a processing facility operated as a
				unit.
(49)
Pool
shall
				mean an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude
				petroleum oil or natural gas or both and each zone of a general structure,
				which is completely separated from any other zone in the structure. The
				classification of such pool, as to oil or gas, is determined after notice and
				hearing and is based on the type of hydrocarbons in such pool.
(50)
Pressure base
shall mean an
				absolute pressure agreed upon or set as a base for converting the volume of gas
				metered to a correct volume.
(51)
Pressure maintenance
shall mean the injection of gas, water, or
				other fluid into an oil or gas pool to maintain pressure or retard pressure
				decline in the pool for the purpose of enhanced recovery.
(52)
Processing facility
shall
				mean either a cleansing facility or an extraction facility.
(a)
Cleansing facility
shall
				mean a facility designed to remove or neutralize any impurities, such as
				hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide, found in produced oil or natural
				gas.
(b)
Extraction
				facility
shall mean a facility designed to separate or remove substances
				from the produced hydrocarbons by chemical reactions or physical actions and
				converting the substances to new products such as natural gas liquids, gas, and
				elemental sulfur.