North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 43 - Industrial Commission › Article 43-02 - Mineral Exploration and Development › Chapter 43-02-03 - Oil and Gas Conservation › Section 43-02-03-28 - Safety regulation

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
During drilling operations all oil wells must be cleaned into
				  a pit or tank, not less than forty feet [12.19 meters] from the derrick floor
				  and one hundred fifty feet [45.72 meters] 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, electric generator, flare, or treater may be placed nearer
				  than one hundred fifty feet [45.72 meters] to any producing well or oil tank
				  that is not an oil processing vessel as defined in American Society of
				  Mechanical Engineers (ASME) section VIII. Placement as close as one hundred
				  twenty-five feet [38.10 meters] may be allowed if a spark or flame arrestor is
				  utilized on the equipment. Placement of an oil processing vessel as defined in
				  ASME section VIII as close as fifty feet [15.24 meters] may be allowed if
				  approved by the director. The required distances above must be measured
				  horizontally from closest vessel edge to closest edge of the boiler, generator,
				  flare, or treater or closest vessel edge to flame arrestor or burner air inlet
				  edge. Any rubbish or debris that might constitute a fire hazard must be removed
				  to a distance of at least one hundred fifty feet [45.72 meters] from the
				  vicinity of wells and tanks. All waste must be burned or disposed of in such
				  manner as to avoid creating a fire hazard. All vegetation must be removed to a
				  safe distance from any production or injection equipment to eliminate a fire
				  hazard.
The director may require remote operated or automatic
				  shutdown equipment to be installed on, or shut in for no more than forty days,
				  any well that is likely to cause a serious threat of pollution or injury to the
				  public health or safety.
Surface casing may not be plumbed into the production flow
				  line to relieve pressure without approval from the director.
No well shall be drilled nor production or injection
				  equipment installed nor saltwater handling facility or treating plant
				  constructed less than five hundred feet [152.40 meters] from an occupied
				  dwelling unless agreed to in writing by the owner of the dwelling or authorized
				  by order of the commission.
Subsurface pressure must be controlled during all drilling,
				  completion, and well-servicing operations with appropriate fluid weight and
				  pressure control equipment. The operator conducting any well hydraulic fracture
				  stimulation shall give prior written notice, up to thirty-one days and not less
				  than twenty-one days, to any operator of a well completed in the same or
				  adjacent pool, if publicly available information indicates or if the operator
				  is made aware, if the completion intervals are within two thousand six hundred
				  and forty feet [804.67 meters] of one another. Notice must include
				  twenty-four-hour emergency contact information, planned start and end dates,
				  and contact information for scheduling updates.
General Authority:
NDCC 38-08-04
Law Implemented:
NDCC
					 38-08-04