New York Codes, Rules and Regulations › Title 6 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL CONSERVATION › Chapter V - RESOURCE MANAGEMENT SERVICES › Subchapter B - Mineral Resources › Part 553 - Well Spacing › Section 553.4 - Exceptions

Current through Register Vol. 46, No. 28, July 10, 2024
Where in its opinion there exists good and sufficient
					 reason to permit an exception to the well spacing provisions of sections
					 553.1,
					 553.2 and
					 553.3  of this Part,
					 the department may permit reasonable well location exceptions which will
					 protect correlative rights and prevent waste. Any application for such an
					 exception shall be made in writing in triplicate as a separate attachment to
					 the application for permit as outlined in section
					 552.1  of this
					 Title and shall set forth in ample detail the reason or reasons for such
					 exception request. Upon receipt of this exception request, the department shall
					 promptly schedule a public hearing to facilitate a decision on the application.
					 When a location exception is granted, the department may adjust the production
					 from such well or take such other action as it may deem necessary for the
					 protection of correlative rights or to prevent waste.
Departmental Order
In the Matter of Considering the Establishment of Drilling
					 Units in the Oriskany
and Reef Gas Pools of the Wyckoff Field in Steuben
					 County
The Conservation Department of the State of New York does
					 hereby order as follows:
1. Contiguous
				  spacing units of 160 acres, more or less, subject to an accurate survey, are
				  hereby established for the production of gas from the Oriskany and Reef Pools
				  underlying the said Wyckoff Field.
2. Such spacing units shall as nearly as
				  possible conform to those delineated on the map below, hereby, made a part of
				  this order, except that minor variances may be granted by the department to
				  correct any errors that may exist in said map or to simplify spacing unit
				  formation and/or operations.
3. All
				  indicated spacing unit boundaries coinciding with property lines, roads, or
				  extensions thereof, will continue to remain so and all adjustments that may be
				  necessary will be made on spacing unit boundaries that do not coincide with
				  such established features.
4. The
				  department reserves the right to decide what constitutes a minor variance and
				  the right to grant or deny such variance.
5. The single permitted well in each spacing
				  unit may be drilled at any point within an approximate 40-acre area in the
				  center of the unit, but in no case nearer than 660 feet to any boundary of the
				  unit, subject however, to the restrictions contained in section
				  553.2  of the
				  rules and regulations of the department applicable thereto.
6. Unless otherwise agreed, pursuant to
				  section 78 of the Conservation Law or ordered pursuant to section 79 of said
				  law, the owner of each royalty interest within any spacing unit shall
				  participate in the royalty income from the unit well in the relation that the
				  acreage owned by him bears to the total acreage in such unit.
7. In the absence of any agreement to the
				  contrary or an order pursuant to section 79 of the Conservation Law, the party
				  holding the largest percentage of working interest in a spacing unit will be
				  considered the operator thereof.
8.
				  It will be the operator's responsibility to identify by accurate survey, the
				  spacing unit boundaries and fractional acreages therein; to set forth the
				  participation factors of the working and royalty interests and to file a formal
				  unit declaration thereof with the Division of Oil and Gas in the Conservation
				  Department and, as a matter of record, at the Steuben County
				  Courthouse.
9. If all of the
				  working interests in any spacing unit fail to agree upon a plan for the
				  development and operation thereof, including their participation factors, or if
				  any royalty interests which have not granted the necessary pooling powers to
				  the working interests fail to agree on their participation factors, such unit
				  shall not be developed, any gas produced or sold therefrom, unless the proceeds
				  of all such production are paid into escrow pending final determination of a
				  proceeding under section 79 of the Conservation Law and any judicial review
				  thereof.
10. All wells shall be
				  completed in such manner that there will be no commingling of gas from the
				  Oriskany and Reef Pools below the surface of the ground.
11. If a well is completed in a manner
				  permitting simultaneous production from the Oriskany and Reef Pools, the well
				  head assembly and connections must be such as will permit individual testing of
				  the pools.
12. The department will
				  establish additional spacing units at the perimeter of those delineated on the
				  attached map if future drilling so requires.
13. The existing four wells and their
				  respective spacing units will be subject to all phases of this order.
14. This order shall be effective
				  immediately. [Filed July 19, 1968]
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