North Dakota Administrative Code › Title 43 - Industrial Commission › Article 43-02 - Mineral Exploration and Development › Chapter 43-02-02 - Subsurface Mineral Exploration and Development › Section 43-02-02-01 - Definitions

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
The terms used throughout this chapter have the same meaning
				  as in North Dakota Century Code chapter 38-12, except:
1. "Barrel" means forty-two United States gallons [158.99
				  liters] measured at sixty degrees Fahrenheit [15.56 degrees Celsius] and
				  fourteen and seventy-three hundreths pounds per square-inch absolute [1034.19
				  grams per square centimeter].
2. "Bottom hole or subsurface pressure" means the pressure in
				  pounds per square-inch gauge under conditions existing at or near the producing
				  horizon.
3. "Certified or registered mail" means any form of service
				  by the United States postal service, federal express, Pitney Bowes, and any
				  other commercial nationwide delivery service that provides the mailer with a
				  document showing the date of delivery or refusal to accept delivery.
4. "Completion" means when the well is capable of producing
				  subsurface minerals through wellhead equipment from the ultimate producing zone
				  after casing has been run.
5. "Deep well" means any well to explore for, develop, or
				  produce subsurface minerals which is drilled into rocks older than the
				  Greenhorn formation or which encounters brackish or saline formation
				  waters.
6. "Department" means the department of mineral resources of
				  the industrial commission.
7. "Deposit" means an underground concentration containing a
				  common accumulation of subsurface minerals.
8. "Director" means the director of the department of mineral
				  resources of the industrial commission.
9. "Exception location" means a location which does not
				  conform to the general spacing requirements established by the rules or orders
				  of the commission but which has been specifically approved by the
				  commission.
10. "Field" means the general area underlaid by a
				  concentration of subsurface minerals. Field also includes the geological
				  formation containing such subsurface minerals.
11. "Log or well log" means a systematic, detailed, and
				  correct record of formations encountered in the drilling of a well, and
				  includes commercial electrical logs and similar records.
12. "Nonhydrocarbon gas" means all naturally occurring
				  gaseous elements and compounds except hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide as
				  regulated under North Dakota Century Code chapter 38-08.
13. "Occupied dwelling" means a residence which is lived in
				  by a person at least six months throughout a calendar year.
14. "Operator" means any person or persons who, duly
				  authorized, is in charge of the development of a lease or the operation of a
				  producing property.
15. "Product" means any commodity made from any subsurface
				  mineral.
16. "Recomplete" means the subsequent completion of a well in
				  a different pool.
17. "Reservoir" means a pool or common source of
				  supply.
18. "Saltwater handling facility" means and includes any
				  container, such as a pit, tank, or pool, whether covered or uncovered, used for
				  the handling, storage, disposal of deleterious substances obtained, or used, in
				  connection with the drilling or operation of wells.
19. "Shallow well" means any well drilled into rocks younger
				  than the Belle Fourche formation which does not encounter saline or brackish
				  formation waters for the purpose of developing or producing subsurface
				  minerals.
20. "Shut-in pressure" means the pressure noted at the
				  wellhead when the well is completely shut in, not to be confused with bottom
				  hole pressure.
21. "Testhole" means any hole drilled to a total depth of
				  less than one thousand feet [304.8 meters] for the purpose of gathering
				  information on subsurface minerals.
22. "Waste" means:
a. Physical waste;
b. Operations which cause or tend to cause unnecessary or
				  excessive surface loss; or
c. Operations that do not recover all of the mineral being
				  mined that is technically and economically possible.
General Authority:
NDCC
					 38-12-02
Law Implemented:
NDCC
					 38-12-02