Missouri Code of State Regulations › Title 10 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Division 50 - Oil and Gas Council › Chapter 3 - Well Spacing for Oil and Gas Pools › Section 10 CSR 50-3.010 - Spacing Units for Primary Production

Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 14, July 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This amendment, which includes language
				  previously found in
				  10 CSR 50-2.070,
				  incorporates all requirements for spacing of wells used for primary oil or gas
				  production changes the size of standard spacing units for oil and gas
				  production wells to meet current industry practice, clarifies the authorities
				  of the state geologist and the council, and specifies the types of wells that
				  are exempt from spacing requirements.
PURPOSE: Spacing patterns for wells in a pool or
				  reservoir are established by this rule to prevent waste, to avoid the drilling
				  of unnecessary wells, to contribute to orderly development, and to protect
				  correlative rights . Wells should be located in a relatively uniform spacing
				  pattern even under diversified ownership conditions to protect correlative
				  rights along property lines. Optimum spacing is considered to be the maximum
				  number of reservoir acres that can be economically and efficiently drained by
				  one (1) well within a reasonable time. For example, if one (1) well can be
				  drilled economically on ten (10) acres and this is the area that can be drained
				  efficiently, then the spacing or acreage attributable to the well should not be
				  less than ten (10) acres. A well so spaced will ultimately recover as much oil
				  for the ten (10) acres as would be recovered by more than one (1) well, thereby
				  avoiding the drilling of unnecessary wells. This rule provides requirements
				  for, and limitations on, the spacing of wells and for certain exceptions and
				  exemptions thereto.
(1) All
				wells for the primary production of oil and gas drilled into the same pool,
				except as explicitly exempted by this rule, shall be subject to spacing units
				as follows:
(A) Oil wells. Not more than one
				(1) oil well shall be drilled upon any tract of land into the same pool as
				specified in the following:
1. A standard
				spacing unit shall be ten (10) acres. The well shall not be located closer than
				three hundred thirty feet (330') to any unit line, nor closer than six hundred
				sixty feet (660') to the nearest oil well completed in or capable of producing
				from the same pool. Except as provided in paragraph (1)(A)2., no oil well shall
				be drilled on less than ten (10) acres except by order of the state geologist;
				or
2. Due to the low natural
				reservoir pressure at shallow depths, oil may be drained economically and
				efficiently through primary production only by using smaller spacing units. A
				standard spacing unit for an oil well drilled to a total depth of less than one
				thousand five hundred feet (1500') shall be two and one-half (2.5) acres or
				three hundred thirty feet (330') from an oil well completed in or producing
				from the same pool and shall not be drilled nearer than one hundred sixty-five
				feet (165') from any unit line. No oil well shall be drilled on less than two
				and one-half (2.5) acres except by order of the state geologist; and