North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 43 - Industrial Commission › Article 43-02 - Mineral Exploration and Development › Chapter 43-02-03 - Oil and Gas Conservation › Section 43-02-03-21 - Casing, tubing, and cementing requirements

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
All wells drilled shall be constructed with strings of casing
				  which must be properly cemented at sufficient depths to adequately protect and
				  isolate all formations containing water, oil, or gas or any combination of
				  these; protect the pipe through salt sections encountered; and isolate the
				  uppermost sand of the Dakota group.
Drilling of the surface hole must be with freshwater-based
				  drilling mud or other method approved by the director which will protect all
				  freshwater-bearing strata. This includes water used during the cementing of
				  surface casing for displacement. The surface casing must consist of new or
				  reconditioned pipe that has been previously tested to one thousand pounds per
				  square inch [6900 kilopascals]. The surface casing must be set and cemented at
				  a point not less than fifty feet [15.24 meters] below the base of the Fox Hills
				  formation. Sufficient cement must be used on surface casing to fill the annular
				  space behind the casing to the bottom of the cellar, if any, or to the surface
				  of the ground. If the annulus space is not adequately filled with cement, the
				  director must be notified immediately. The operator shall diligently perform
				  remedial work after obtaining approval from the director. All strings of
				  surface casing must stand cemented under pressure for at least twelve hours
				  before drilling the plug. The term "under pressure" as used herein must be
				  complied with if one float valve is used or if pressure is otherwise held.
				  Cementing must be by the pump and plug method while the drilling rig is on the
				  well or other methods approved by the director. An appropriate accurate gauge
				  must be maintained on the surface casing of any well, not properly plugged and
				  abandoned, to detect any buildup of pressure caused by the migration of fluids.
				  Surface casing pressure must be monitored and maintained to keep the
				  hydrostatic pressure at the surface casing shoe below the pressure the
				  formation integrity test was performed at.
Surface casing strings must be allowed to stand under
				  pressure until the tail cement has reached a compressive strength of at least
				  five hundred pounds per square inch [3450 kilopascals]. All filler cements
				  utilized must reach a compressive strength of at least two hundred fifty pounds
				  per square inch [1725 kilopascals] within twenty-four hours and at least three
				  hundred fifty pounds per square inch [2415 kilopascals] within seventy-two
				  hours. All compressive strengths on surface casing cement must be calculated at
				  a temperature of eighty degrees Fahrenheit [26.67 degrees Celsius].
Production or intermediate casing strings must consist of new
				  or reconditioned pipe that has been previously tested to two thousand pounds
				  per square inch [13800 kilopascals]. Such strings must be allowed to stand
				  under pressure until the tail cement has reached a compressive strength of at
				  least five hundred pounds per square inch [3450 kilopascals]. All filler
				  cements utilized must reach a compressive strength of at least two hundred
				  fifty pounds per square inch [1725 kilopascals] within twenty-four hours and at
				  least five hundred pounds per square inch [3450 kilopascals] within seventy-two
				  hours, although in any horizontal well performing a single stage cement job
				  from a measured depth of greater than thirteen thousand feet [3962.4 meters],
				  the filler cement utilized must reach a compressive strength of at least two
				  hundred fifty pounds per square inch [1725 kilopascals] within forty-eight
				  hours and at least five hundred pounds per square inch [3450 kilopascals]
				  within ninety-six hours. All compressive strengths on production or
				  intermediate casing cement must be calculated at a temperature found in the
				  Mowry formation using a gradient of 1.2 degrees Fahrenheit per one hundred feet
				  [30.48 meters] of depth plus eighty degrees Fahrenheit [26.67 degrees Celsius].
				  At a formation temperature at or in excess of two hundred thirty degrees
				  Fahrenheit [110 degrees Celsius], cement blends must include additives to
				  address compressive strength regression.
Each surface casing string must be tested by application of
				  pump pressure of at least one thousand pounds per square inch [6900
				  kilopascals] and each other casing string shall be tested by application of
				  pump pressure of at least one thousand five hundred pounds per square inch
				  [10350 kilopascals] immediately after cementing, while the cement is in a
				  liquid state, or the casing string must be pressure tested after all cement has
				  reached five hundred pounds per square inch [3450 kilopascals] compressive
				  strength. If, at the end of thirty minutes, this pressure has dropped more than
				  ten percent, the casing must be repaired after receiving approval from the
				  director. Thereafter, the casing again must be tested in the same manner.
				  Further work may not proceed until a satisfactory test has been obtained. The
				  casing in a horizontal well may be tested by use of a mechanical tool set near
				  the casing shoe after the horizontal section has been drilled.
All flowing wells must be equipped with tubing. A tubing
				  packer must also be utilized unless a waiver from the director is obtained
				  after demonstrating the casing will not be subjected to excessive pressure or
				  corrosion. The packer must be set as near the producing interval as
				  practicable, but in all cases must be above the perforations.
General Authority:
NDCC 38-08-04
Law Implemented:
NDCC
					 38-08-04