Mississippi Administrative Code › Title 26 - Oil and Gas › Part 2 - WIDE RULES AND REGULATIONS (Order No. 201-51) › Chapter 1 › Rule 26-2-1.14 - DEVIATION OF HOLE AND DIRECTIONAL SURVEY

Current through June 25, 2024
(a) Each operator
				shall file on Form No. 3 a record of all deviation tests taken.
(b) No well shall cross drilling unit lines
				unless permit is obtained from the Board after notice and hearing.
(c) Except as set forth in paragraphs (d),
				(e) and (f) hereof, no well may be directionally deviated from its normal
				course unless authorization so to do is first obtained from the Board after
				notice and hearing.
(d) Intentional
				deviations of short distances necessary to straighten the hole, sidetrack junk,
				or correct other mechanical difficulties may be accomplished without the
				issuance of a permit, but the operator shall immediately notify the Board by
				letter, facsimile or e-mail (followed by letter) of the fact thereof.
(e) Intentional deviations may be
				accomplished without notice and hearing where the application for permit and
				location plat duly filed with the Board verifies that the unit configuration,
				surface location, proposed bottom hole location and all perforations in
				between, comply with the spacing requirements in Rules 7 and 8 or any special
				field rules adopted for the field in which said well is located.
(f) In the event an operator in good faith
				commences and proceeds with the drilling of a properly permitted well and
				thereafter, for reasons acceptable to the operator, desires to directionally
				deviate the well from its normal course, he may do so at his own risk, first
				notifying the Board by letter or fax or e-mail of the fact thereof. On the
				completion of such well as a producer, the operator must immediately apply for
				a permit from the Board on notice and hearing for approval of such intentional
				deviation. Pending such approval, the Board may assign a temporary allowable
				only to such well.
(g) In cases of
				directionally deviated drilling, the Board shall have the right to assess
				appropriate allowable penalties to prevent undue drainage from offset
				properties and to adjust possible inequities caused by the directional
				drilling.
(h) When a well is
				directionally deviated from its normal course for any reason, a complete
				angular deviation and directional survey of the finished hole shall be made at
				the expense of the operator and a certified copy of such survey shall be filed
				with the Board within thirty (30) days.
(i) The Board shall have the right to make or
				to require any operator to make a directional survey of any hole at such
				operator's expense. The Board shall also have the right to require an operator
				to make a directional survey of any hole at the request of an offset operator,
				if, in the Board's opinion, such is necessary, but at the expense and risk of
				said offset operator unless it is found that such well is completed at a point
				outside the operator's drilling unit.
(j) All producible wells drilled which are an
				exception to the spacing rules under Statewide Rule 9 shall have directional
				surveys made to the total depth of the hole before setting the final string of
				casing. A certified copy of such directional survey shall be filed with the
				Board by the operator within thirty (30) days from the making thereof. This
				requirement may be waived by the State Oil and Gas Supervisor, with the
				concurrence of the Chief Engineer, upon acceptable proof filed by the operator,
				whether by inclination survey or otherwise, that the bottomhole location did
				not cross any unit boundaries.
(k)
				For purposes of this rule, the term deviation shall mean any intentional
				directional change in a wells normal course of any degree, including, but not
				limited to, those which are horizontal.
MCA Section
				   53-1-17(3)
				  (1972)