Iowa Administrative Code › Agency 561 - Natural Resources Department › Chapter 17 - Oil, Gas, and Metallic Minerals › Rule 561-17.6 - Drilling

Current through Register Vol. 47, No. 3, July 24, 2024
Unless altered, modified, or changed for particular common
				sources of supply, upon notice and hearing before the department, the following
				rules shall apply to all wells drilled.
(1)
Sealing off strata.
During the drilling of any well for production of or exploration for oil, gas,
			 or metallic minerals, all oil, gas, and water strata above and below the
			 producing horizon shall be sealed or separated where necessary in order to
			 prevent their contents from passing into other strata.
All fresh waters and waters of present or probable value for
				domestic, public, commercial or livestock purposes shall be confined to their
				respective strata and shall be adequately protected by methods approved by the
				department. Special precautions shall be taken in drilling and abandoning wells
				to guard against any loss of artesian water from the strata in which it occurs,
				and the contamination of artesian water by objectionable water, oil, or
				gas.
All water shall be shut off and excluded from the various oil
				and gas bearing strata which are penetrated. Water shutoffs shall ordinarily be
				made by cementing casing with or without the use of mud-laden fluid.
(2)
Casing and tubing
			 requirements.
All wells drilled for oil, gas or production of metallic
			 minerals shall be completed with strings of casing which shall be properly
			 cemented at sufficient depths to protect all water, oil, or gas bearing strata.
Sufficient cement shall be used on surface to fill the annular
				space back of the casing to the bottom of the cellar or to the surface of the
				ground. All strings of casing shall stand cemented under pressure for at least
				12 hours before drilling plug or initiating tests. The term "under pressure" as
				used herein will be complied with if one float valve is used or if pressure is
				otherwise held. Cementing shall be by the pump and plug method, or other method
				approved by the director.
All flowing wells shall be tubed. The tubing shall be set as
				near the bottom as practicable, but tubing perforations shall not be above the
				top of pay unless authorized by the department.
(3)
Defective casing or
			 cementing.
In any well that appears to have defective, faultily
			 cemented, or corroded casing which will permit or may create underground waste,
			 the operator shall proceed with diligence to use the appropriate method and
			 means to eliminate such hazard of underground waste. If such hazard of waste
			 cannot be eliminated, the well shall be properly plugged and
			 abandoned.
(4)
Blowout
			 prevention.
In all drilling operations, proper and necessary
			 precautions shall be taken for keeping the well under control, including the
			 use of a blowout preventer and high-pressure fittings attached to properly
			 cemented casing strings, where indicated by geologic conditions.
(5)
Pulling outside string of
			 casing.
In pulling outside strings of casing from any oil or gas well,
			 the space outside the casing left in the hole shall be kept and left full of
			 mud-laden fluid or cement of adequate specific gravity to seal off all fresh
			 and salt water strata and any strata bearing oil or gas not producing. No
			 casing shall be removed without the prior approval of the department.
(6)
Safety rules.
All oil
			 wells shall be cleaned into a pit or tank, not less than 40 feet from the
			 derrick floor and 150 feet from any fire hazard. All flowing oil wells must be
			 produced through an approved oil and gas separator or emulsion treater of ample
			 capacity and in good working order. No boiler or portable electric lighting
			 generator shall be placed or remain nearer than 150 feet from any producing
			 well or oil tank. Any rubbish or debris that might constitute a fire hazard
			 shall be removed to a distance of at least 150 feet from the vicinity of wells
			 and tanks. All waste shall be disposed of in such manner as to avoid creating a
			 fire hazard and to comply with the rules of the environmental protection
			 commission. The drilling fluid level shall be maintained continuously at a
			 height sufficient to control subsurface pressures. During the course of
			 drilling, blowout preventers shall be tested at least once each 24-hour period,
			 and results of the test shall be noted in the driller's record.
(7)
Preservation of cores and
			 samples.
Sample cuttings shall be taken at 5-foot intervals and at
			 each change of formation, if less than 5 feet thick, in all wells drilled for
			 oil, gas, or metallic mineral exploration or production, for the storage of dry
			 natural gas, or casinghead gas, and for the development of reservoirs for the
			 storage of liquid petroleum gas in the state of Iowa, unless a geophysical log
			 is to be taken for the entire depth of the well. Where a geophysical log is to
			 be taken for the entire depth of the well, sample cuttings shall be taken at
			 10-foot intervals and at each formation change if less than 10 feet thick. The
			 director may grant a variance from the 10-foot sample interval under special
			 conditions.
Each sample shall be carefully identified as to well name and
				depth of sample, and all samples shall be shipped at the operator's expense to
				the department.
The operator of any well drilled as provided in the foregoing
				paragraph shall, during the drilling of, or immediately following the
				completion of, any given well, advise the director of all intervals that are to
				be cored, or have been cored, and such cores as are taken shall be preserved
				and forwarded to the department at the operator's expense.
This rule shall not be construed as prohibiting the operator
				from taking samples of the core for identification and tests pertaining to oil
				and gas or metallic minerals. In the event that it is necessary for the
				operator to utilize all or any portion of the core to the extent that
				representative samples, sufficiently large to analyze, are not available for
				the state, the operator shall furnish the director with the results of
				identification or testing procedures.
(8)
Well completion or recompletion
			 report and well log.
Within ten days after completion of a well
			 drilled for oil or gas or production of metallic minerals or for the storage of
			 dry natural gas, or casinghead gas, or for the development of reservoirs for
			 the storage of liquid petroleum gas, the operator or the operator's agent shall
			 file with the director a complete log or record of the well, duly signed, on
			 forms prescribed by the department. This record shall be filed even though
			 samples of the drill cuttings have been taken and preserved for subsequent
			 delivery to the department. The logs on the wells shall be forwarded to the
			 department and shall be confidential for a period of six months when so
			 requested by the operator in writing.
A proper log on any well shall include all normally recorded
				information on the following:
a. Depth
			 to and thickness of water-bearing beds, including, where measured, the static
			 water level and volume of such water.
b. Lithology of formations penetrated,
			 including color, hardness, and character of the rock, and particularly showing
			 the position and thickness of coal beds and deposits of mineral materials of
			 economic value.
c. Any caverns,
			 large voids, losses of circulation, and sudden appreciable changes in water
			 level.
d. A record of all oil, gas,
			 and highly mineralized water encountered, including fill-up, volumes, and
			 pressures.
e. A record of all
			 casing and liner used, including the size, weight, amount, and depth set, the
			 amount of cement used on each casing string, and the amount of casing stripped
			 from the hole on completion or abandonment of the well.
f. Data on drill stem tests.
g. Generalized description of any core taken
			 during drilling.
h. Data on
			 perforating, acidizing, fracturing, shooting, and testing.
i. Data on bridge plugs set, make and type of
			 plug, depth set, whether left in place or removed, and details of plug back
			 operation below the bridge.
j.
			 Electrical or other geophysical logging.