Arkansas Administrative Code › Agency 178 - Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission › Rule 178.00.18-003 - General Rule B-17 Well Drilling Pits and Completion Pits Requirements

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, June, 2024
RULE B-17:
WELL DRILLING PITS AND COMPLETION
			 PITS REQUIREMENTS
a) Applicability
This rule applies to all pits constructed during the drilling,
			 completion and testing of a brine, oil, gas, or oil and gas production well,
			 brine injection or disposal well, Class II Disposal Well, and Class II
			 Commercial Disposal Well. Pits as used in context of this rule refer to the
			 type pits as defined in subparagraph c) below.
b) Joint Enforcement
After the effective date of this rule, any Operator who
			 constructs or operates a pit covered by this Rule, shall be subject to the
			 specific enforcement provisions under the respective authorities of the
			 Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission (AOGC) or the Arkansas Department of
			 Environmental Quality (ADEQ). The regulation of the activities covered under
			 this rule by AOGC and ADEQ shall be in accordance with a Memorandum of
			 Agreement (MOA) between AOGC and ADEQ.
c) Definitions:
1) AOGC: Arkansas Oil and Gas
		  Commission.
2) ADEQ: Arkansas
		  Department of Environmental Quality.
3) APC&EC: Arkansas Pollution Control and
		  Ecology Commission.
4) Closed Loop
		  System: A system that uses a combination of solids control equipment
		  incorporated in a series of steel tanks that eliminates the use of a
		  Pit.
5) Completion Flow-Back Fluid:
		  Any of a number of liquid and gaseous fluids or mixtures of fluids, chemicals
		  and or solids that flow from a well and consisting of Drilling Fluid, silt,
		  debris, water, brine, oil scum, paraffin, or other materials which have been
		  removed from the well bore during the initial completion of a well, but does
		  not include Frac Flow-Back Fluid.
6) Cuttings: Fragments of rock which are a
		  result of the cutting action of the drill bit on rock formations encountered in
		  the well, which are transported to the surface by the Drilling Fluid.
7) Discharge: The release, overflow, leakage
		  or seepage of any fluids covered by this Rule.
8) Drilling Fluid: Any of a number of liquid
		  and gaseous fluids and mixtures of fluids and solids (as solid suspensions,
		  mixtures and emulsions of liquids, gases, Cuttings and other solids) utilized
		  during brine, oil, or gas drilling operations. Drilling Fluid is generally
		  synonymous with drilling mud, which typically contains bentonitic clays,
		  chemical additives, foaming agents, lubricants, emulsifiers and weighting
		  materials, and which encompasses most muds used in drilling operations,
		  especially muds that contain significant amounts of suspended solids,
		  emulsified water or oil. Mud includes all types of Water-Based, Oil-Based and
		  synthetic-based Drilling Fluids.
9)
		  Director of the ADEQ: The Director of the Arkansas Department of Environmental
		  Quality or his or her designated representative.
10) Director of AOGC: The Director of the
		  Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission or his or her designated
		  representative.
11) Ecologically
		  Sensitive Waterbody (ESW): Waters that have been given the designated use of
		  Ecologically Sensitive Waterbody by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology
		  Commission. This beneficial use identifies segments known to provide habitat
		  within the existing range of threatened, endangered or endemic species of
		  aquatic or semi-aquatic life forms.
12) Encountered Water: Water encountered
		  during brine, oil, or gas drilling operations, which is of sufficient quantity
		  to require disposal, and which is not Produced Water.
13) Exploration and Production Waste (E&P
		  Waste): Wastes associated with the exploration, development and production of
		  brine, oil, or gas and which are not regulated by the provisions of, and,
		  therefore, exempt from the Federal Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, and
		  may include, but are not limited to the following: salt water (produced brine
		  or produced water); Oil-Based Drilling Fluids; Water-Based Drilling Fluids,
		  Completion Flow-Back Fluid, Frac Flow-Back Fluid, Workover Flow-Back Fluid,
		  Produced Water; rainwater from firewalls and Pits at drilling and production
		  facilities; and other wastes not described above.
14) Extraordinary Resource Waters (ERW):
		  Waters that have been given the designated use of Extraordinary Resource
		  Waterbody by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology Commission. This
		  beneficial use is a combination of the chemical, physical and biological
		  characteristics of a water body and its watershed which is characterized by
		  scenic beauty, aesthetics, scientific values, broad scope recreation potential
		  and intangible social values.
15)
		  Frac Flow-Back Fluid: Fluids that consist of fresh water and solids such as
		  sand or other proppant (resin or ceramic grains) or other additives that flow
		  from a well following hydraulic fracturing of a well, until such time as the
		  volume of fluid utilized for the hydraulic fracturing process in the well has
		  been recovered.
16) Natural and
		  Scenic Waterways (NSW): Waters that have been given the designated use of
		  Natural and Scenic Waterways by the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecology
		  Commission. This beneficial use identifies segments which have been
		  legislatively adopted into a state or federal system.
17) Nonhazardous Oilfield Wastes (NOW):
		  Fluids to be used or reused in connection with activities associated with the
		  exploration, development, and production of brine, oil, or gas and includes,
		  but is not limited to, Drilling Fluids, completion fluids, surfactants, and
		  chemicals used to detoxify brine, oil, or gas wastes.
18) Oil-Based Drilling Fluid: Drilling Fluid
		  containing diesel or crude oil rather than fresh water as the main liquid phase
		  of the drilling mud.
19) Operator:
		  Any person who has the primary management and ultimate decision-making
		  responsibility over the operation of a facility or activity. The Operator is
		  responsible for ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations and
		  conditions.
20) Person: Natural
		  person, corporation, organization, municipality, government or governmental
		  subdivision or agency, public or private corporation, business trust, estate,
		  trust, individual, partnership, association, or any other legal
		  entity.
21) Pit: shall include:
A) Circulation Pit: A pit used during
		  drilling where Drilling Fluids are circulated during drilling operations. The
		  Circulation Pit may be part of the Mud Pit. Circulation Pits may also refer to
		  a series of open, above-ground tanks, usually made of steel.
B) Completion Pit: A pit used for storage of
		  Completion Flow-Back Fluid and Drilling Fluids or other materials which have
		  been cleaned out of the well bore during the initial completion of a well.
		  Circulation or Mud Pits may be used as a Completion Pits when drilling
		  operations conclude.
C) Emergency
		  Pit: A pit used for containing fluids at an operating well during an actual
		  emergency and for a temporary period of time. Use of the Emergency Pit is
		  necessitated due to unplanned operational issues, which may include but is not
		  limited to, a temporary shutdown of a disposal well or fluid injection well or
		  associated equipment, temporary overflow of saltwater storage tanks on a
		  producing lease, gas flaring, cement circulation, or a producing well loading
		  up with formation fluids.
D) Mud
		  Pit: A pit or series of pits used during drilling where fluids are mixed and
		  circulated during drilling operations. Mud Pits may also refer to a series of
		  open, above-ground tanks, usually made of steel.
E) Reserve Pit: A pit not part of the active
		  circulation system, used to store Drilling Fluids or to contain fluids
		  generated during drilling operations. Such fluids would include, but not be
		  limited to, Cuttings, Drilling Fluids, and Encountered Water.
F) Test Pit: A pit constructed for use during
		  a well test.
G) Workover Pit: A pit
		  used for storage of Completion Flow-Back Fluid, Workover Flow-Back Fluid and
		  other materials which have been cleaned out of the well bore during any
		  subsequent completion or re-completion.
22) Pollution: Such contamination or other
		  alteration of the physical, chemical, or biological properties of any waters of
		  the state, or such discharge of any liquid, gaseous, or solid substance in any
		  waters of the state as will, or is likely to, render the waters harmful,
		  detrimental, or injurious to public health, safety, or welfare; to domestic,
		  commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, or other legitimate
		  beneficial uses; or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish, or other aquatic
		  life.
23) Produced Water: Water
		  produced from any productive or potentially productive brine, oil, or gas
		  producing interval in the well, which is not Completion Flow-Back Fluid, Frac
		  Flow-Back Fluid, Workover Flow-Back Fluid, or Encountered Water.
24) Stormwater: Rainwater runoff, snow melt
		  runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
25) Water-Based Drilling Fluid: Drilling
		  Fluid containing fresh waters rather than diesel or crude oil as the liquid
		  component of the drilling mud.
26)
		  Waters of the State: All streams, lakes, marshes, ponds, watercourses,
		  waterways, wells, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other
		  bodies or accumulations of water, surface and underground, natural or
		  artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or
		  border upon this state or any portion of the state.
27) Water Table: The surface between the zone
		  of saturation and the zone of aeration and the surface of a body of unconfined
		  ground water at which the pressure is equal to that of the
		  atmosphere.
28) Workover Flow-Back
		  Fluid: Any of a number of liquid and gaseous fluids and mixtures of fluids,
		  chemicals and or solids consisting of Drilling Fluid, silt, debris, water,
		  brine, oil scum, paraffin, or other materials which are removed from the well
		  bore during the subsequent or recompletion of a well.