New Mexico Administrative Code › Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE › Chapter 14 - GEOTHERMAL POWER › Part 1 - GENERAL PROVISIONS - DEFINITIONS › Section 19.14.1.7 - DEFINITIONS

Current through Register Vol. 35, No. 13, July 16, 2024
A. "Commission"
				shall mean the oil conservation commission.
B. "Condensate" shall mean the liquid
				recovered from the condensation of gases or steam produced from a geothermal
				reservoir.
C. "Correlative rights"
				shall mean the opportunity afforded, insofar as is practicable to do so, the
				owner of each property in a geothermal reservoir to produce his just and
				equitable share of the geothermal resources within such reservoir, being an
				amount, so far as can be practicably determined, and so far as can be
				practicably obtained without waste, substantially in the proportion that the
				quantity of recoverable geothermal resources under such property bears to the
				total recoverable geothermal resources in the reservoir, and for such purpose
				to use his just and equitable share of the natural heat or energy in the
				reservoir.
D. "Designated agent"
				shall mean that person designated by the owner or operator of any geothermal
				resources well to be his agent in all matters concerning the keeping of records
				within the state.
E. "Development
				well" shall mean a well drilled within the established limits of a designated
				geothermal field or within one mile thereof, for the commercial production of
				geothermal resources.
F. "Disposal
				well" shall mean a well drilled or converted for the purpose of disposing of
				fluids into a formation other than a geothermal reservoir.
G. "Division" shall mean the oil conservation
				division of the New Mexico energy and minerals department.
H. "Drilling operations" shall mean the
				actual drilling, redrilling, completion or recompletion of a well for
				geothermal production or injection, including the running and cementing of
				casing, the performance of such operations as logging and perforating, and the
				installation of wellhead equipment.
I. "Exploratory well" shall mean a well
				drilled for the discovery or evaluation of geothermal resources one mile or
				more beyond the established limits of a designated geothermal field.
J. "Geothermal section" shall mean that
				section of the oil conservation division charged with the authority and duty of
				regulating the drilling, development and production of geothermal resources,
				and with conserving and preventing waste of geothermal resources within this
				state pursuant to the provisions of the Geothermal Resources Conservation
				Act.
K. "Geothermal field" shall
				mean an area defined by the division which contains a well, or wells, capable
				of commercial geothermal production. "Geothermal field" includes
				"low-temperature thermal field."
L.
				"Geothermal gradient well" (see thermal gradient well)
M. "Geothermal observation well" shall mean
				any well which is to be utilized for the express purpose of evaluating or
				monitoring a geothermal reservoir by pressure observation or limited
				production.
N. "Geothermal
				reservoir" shall mean any common source of geothermal resources, whether the
				fluids produced from the reservoir are native to the reservoir, or flow into or
				are injected into said reservoir.
O. "Geothermal resources" shall mean the
				natural heat of the earth or the energy, in whatever form, below the surface of
				the earth present in, resulting from, created by, or which may be extracted
				from, this natural heat, and all minerals in solution or other products
				obtained from naturally heated fluids, brines, associated gases and steam, in
				whatever form, found below the surface of the earth, but excluding oil,
				hydrocarbon gas and other hydrocarbon substances.
P. "Geothermal resources area" shall mean the
				same general surface area which is underlain, or appears to be underlain, by
				one or more formations containing geothermal resources.
Q. "Geothermal resources well" (see
				well)
R. "Geothermal waters" shall
				mean the water or brine produced from a geothermal reservoir.
S. "Injection" shall mean the placing of
				fluids in an underground stratum through a wellbore, whether by pressure at the
				surface or by gravity flow, and whether for disposal or other
				purpose.
T. "Injection well" shall
				mean a well drilled or converted for the purpose of injecting fluids into a
				geothermal reservoir.
U. "Log or
				well log" shall mean a systematic detailed and correct recorded description of
				the lithologic sequence encountered while drilling a geothermal well.
V. "Low-temperature thermal field" shall mean
				an area defined by the commission which contains a well, or wells, capable of
				production of low-temperature thermal waters.
W. "Low-temperature thermal water" shall mean
				naturally heated water the temperature of which is less than boiling at the
				altitude of occurrence, which has value by virtue of the heat contained therein
				and is found below the surface of the earth, or in warm springs on the
				surface.
X. "Low-temperature
				thermal well" shall mean a well drilled to produce low-temperature thermal
				water for the purpose of extracting heat for agricultural, commercial,
				industrial, municipal or domestic uses.
Y. "Multiple completion" shall mean the
				completion of a well in such a manner as to produce from more than one
				geothermal reservoir.
Z. "Operator"
				shall mean any person drilling, maintaining, operating, producing or in control
				of any well, and shall include "owner" when any well is operated or has been
				operated or is about to be operated by or under the direction of the
				owner.
AA. "Owner" shall mean the
				person who has the right to drill into and to produce from any geothermal
				resources area, and to appropriate the geothermal resources thereof for himself
				or for himself and another.
BB.
				"Person" shall mean any individual, firm, association or corporation or any
				other group or combination acting as a unit.
CC. "Potential" shall mean the properly
				determined ability of a well to produce geothermal resources under conditions
				prescribed by the division.
DD.
				"Temporary abandonment" shall mean a state or period of suspended operations
				during which essentially continuous drilling, production, injection, storage or
				work-over procedures have not taken place. Such period shall be 60 days for
				drilling wells and six months for all other classes of wells.
EE. "Thermal gradient well" shall mean a well
				drilled or used solely for temperature observation purposes, and which shall
				not be completed as a geothermal producing well or as an injection or disposal
				well.
FF. "Unorthodox well
				location" shall mean a location which does not conform to the well location
				requirements established by the geothermal rules and regulations of the
				division.
GG. "Waste" shall mean
				any physical waste including, but not limited to, underground waste resulting
				from the inefficient, excessive or improper use or dissipation of reservoir
				heat or energy or resulting from the location, spacing, drilling, equipping,
				operation or production of a geothermal resources well in such a manner as to
				reduce or tend to reduce the ultimate economic recovery of the geothermal
				resources within a reservoir and surface waste resulting from the inefficient
				production, gathering, transportation, storage or utilization of geothermal
				resources and the handling of geothermal resources in such a manner that causes
				or tends to cause the unnecessary or excessive loss or destruction of
				geothermal resources obtained or released from a geothermal
				reservoir.
HH. "Well" shall mean
				any exploratory well, development well, injection well, disposal well, thermal
				gradient well, geothermal observation well, or low-temperature thermal well, as
				defined herein.