Alabama Administrative Code › Title 400 - STATE OIL AND GAS BOARD OF ALABAMA › GOVERNING COALBED METHANE GAS OPERATIONS › Chapter 400-3-2 - PERMITING OF WELLS › Section 400-3-2-.02 - Spacing Of Wells

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1)
				Each well drilled in search of oil or gas shall be spaced on either (a) a
				drilling unit or (b) a drainage or production unit. A drilling unit is an
				administrative unit established by the Board to provide and allow for the
				drilling of a well. A drainage or production unit is the area in a pool that
				may be drained efficiently and economically by one well. Prior to the
				establishment of a field and the establishment of drainage or production units
				within the field, an operator may drill a well on a drilling unit. When the
				Board, after notice and hearing, establishes a field for a pool, special field
				rules apply for that field. The special field rules designate, among other
				things, the drainage or production units for the field. Thereafter, wells are
				drilled on the drainage or production units designated in the special field
				rules. The term "spacing unit" is used from time to time in these regulations.
				A spacing unit is either (a) a drilling unit or (b) a drainage or production
				unit. For simplicity, the term "production unit" is hereinafter used from time
				to time in place of the longer term "drainage and production unit." A spacing
				unit shall not include any part of another unit established for the same
				pool.
(2) The spacing for a well to
				be drilled to a pool or pools in an established field shall be governed by
				special field rules for that particular field. The spacing for gob wells and
				horizontal boreholes in areas designated as underground mine areas or in
				unitized areas shall be provided for in special field rules. With respect to a
				well to be drilled to a pool or pools that are not governed by special field
				rules, the following shall be applicable for determining the drilling unit for
				a well.
(a) A well shall be drilled on a
				drilling unit consisting of a governmental quarter-quarter section
				(approximately 40 acres). Such well shall be located at least three hundred
				thirty (330) feet from every exterior boundary of the drilling unit.
(b) The Supervisor, upon receipt of written
				justification from an operator, may approve a permit application under section
				(2)(a) for a well to be drilled on a drilling unit consisting of approximately
				40 contiguous surface acres other than a governmental quarter-quarter section
				as set forth herein.
(c) The
				Supervisor may require that a well to be drilled on a drilling unit contiguous
				with an existing field be drilled and completed as an extension of the field,
				in accordance with field spacing provisions in the special field rules thereof.
				If, however, an operator provides written justification that such proposed well
				will likely be completed in a pool or pools not defined in the special field
				rules for said field, the Supervisor may approve the drilling and completion of
				such well in compliance with the spacing provisions as set forth
				herein.
(d) Pursuant to Section
				9-17-12(c) of the
Code of Ala. 1975
, the Board may grant an exception to
				the spacing rules as may be reasonably necessary where it is shown, after
				notice and hearing, and the Board finds, that the unit is partly outside the
				pool, or for some other reason, that a well located in accordance with
				applicable rules would be nonproductive, would not be at the optimum position
				in such spacing unit for the most efficient and economic drainage of the unit,
				or where topographical conditions are such as to make the drilling at an
				authorized location on the unit unduly burdensome or where an exception is
				necessary to prevent confiscation of property. Provided, however, that an
				exceptional location order issued by the Board for a well shall expire one (1)
				year from the date of issuance of the order unless a well has been spudded at
				said exceptional location.
(e) No
				well shall be drilled within two hundred (200) feet of any permanent residence,
				unless otherwise approved by the Board.