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 43-02-02-17 - Casing and tubing requirements

Current through Supplement No. 393, July, 2024
All wells drilled for subsurface minerals below the base of
				  the Fox Hills formation shall be completed with strings of casing which shall
				  be properly cemented at sufficient depths to adequately protect and isolate all
				  formations containing water, subsurface minerals, 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 shall be with freshwater-based
				  drilling mud or other method approved by the director which will protect all
				  freshwater-bearing strata. The surface casing shall consist of new or
				  reconditioned pipe that has been previously tested to one thousand pounds per
				  square inch [6900 kilopascals]. The surface casing shall 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 shall 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 shall be notified immediately. The operator shall
				  diligently perform work after obtaining approval from the director. All strings
				  of surface casing shall stand cemented under pressure for at least twelve hours
				  before drilling the plug or initiating tests. The term "under pressure" as used
				  herein shall be complied with if one float valve is used or if pressure is
				  otherwise held. Cementing shall be by the pump and plug method or other methods
				  approved by the director. The director is authorized to require an accurate
				  gauge 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 strings must 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 shall be calculated at a temperature of
				  eighty degrees Fahrenheit [26.67 degrees Celsius].
Unless otherwise specified by the director, production or
				  intermediate casing strings shall consist of new or reconditioned pipe that has
				  been previously tested to two thousand pounds per square inch [13800
				  kilopascals]. Such strings must 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 a 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 shall be
				  calculated at a temperature found in the Mowry formation using a gradient of
				  one and two tenths degrees Fahrenheit per one hundred feet [30.48 meters] of
				  depth plus eight degrees Fahrenheit [26.674 degrees Celsius].
After cementing, each casing string shall be tested by
				  application of pump pressure of at least one thousand five hundred pounds per
				  square inch [10350 kilopascals]. If, at the end of thirty minutes, this
				  pressure has dropped one hundred fifty pounds per square inch [1035
				  kilopascals] or more, the casing shall be repaired after receiving approval
				  from the director. Thereafter, the casing shall again be tested in the same
				  manner. Further work shall 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 beer
				  drilled.
All flowing wells must be equipped with tubing. A tubing
				  packer must aisc be utilized unless a waiver is obtained by 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
					 38-12-02
Law Implemented:
NDCC
					 38-12-02