Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION › Section 3.21 - Fire Prevention and Swabbing

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) No
				hydrocarbon flow tank, unless entirely buried, shall hereafter be placed nearer
				than 150 feet from any derrick, rig, building, power plant, or boiler of any
				description. The director of the Oil and Gas Division or his delegate may
				administratively grant exceptions to this requirement. If the director of the
				Oil and Gas Division declines to administratively grant, continue, or extend an
				exception, the operator shall move the hydrocarbon flow tank to the required
				distance or request a hearing on the matter. After hearing, the examiner shall
				recommend final action to the commission.
(b) No field working hydrocarbon tank having
				a capacity of 10,000 barrels or more shall be built nearer than 200 feet
				(measured from shell to shell) to any other like tank.
(c) No person engaged in the production,
				transportation, storage, handling, refining, reclaiming, processing, treating,
				or marketing of crude petroleum oil or the products or by-products thereof
				shall store, either permanently or temporarily, crude petroleum oil or the
				products and by-products thereof in open pits or earthen storage.
(d) All oil tanks where there is a gas hazard
				shall be gas tight and provided with proper gas vents.
(e) No forge or open light shall be placed
				inside the derrick of a well showing oil or gas.
(f) Boilers must be equipped with steam lines
				for fighting fire and must not be set nearer than 150 feet to any producing
				well.
(g) All wells shall be
				cleaned into a pit not less than 40 feet from the derrick floor and 150 feet
				from any fire hazard.
(h) No boiler
				or electric lighting generator shall be placed or remain nearer than 150 feet
				to any producing well or oil tank.
(i) Any rubbish or debris that might
				constitute a fire hazard shall be removed to a distance of at least 150 feet
				from the vicinity of any well, tank, or pump station. All waste shall be burned
				or disposed of in such manner as to avoid creating a fire hazard.
(j) Dikes or fire walls shall not be required
				except such fire walls must be erected and kept around all permanent oil tanks,
				or battery of tanks, that are within the corporate limits of any city, town, or
				village; or where such tanks are closer than 500 feet to any highway or
				inhabited dwelling or closer than 1,000 feet to any school or church; or where
				such tanks are so located as to be deemed by the commission to be an
				objectionable hazard.
(k) Swabbing,
				bailing, or air jetting of wells is prohibited as a production method for wells
				unless the Commission has, after notice and hearing, granted an exception to
				this subsection. The Commission shall give notice of the hearing at least 10
				days prior to the date of the hearing.
(1) An
				operator seeking an exception to allow swabbing, bailing, or air jetting of a
				well shall:
(A) provide the Commission with
				the names and mailing addresses of the mineral interest owners of record and
				surface owners of record of the lease on which a well for which an exception is
				sought is located;
(B) present
				evidence at the hearing establishing:
(i) the
				method of production proposed;
(ii)
				that any production is properly accounted for pursuant to §
												RSA
				3.26 of this title (relating to Separating
				Devices, Tanks, and Surface Commingling of Oil);
(iii) that the proposed exception is
				necessary to prevent waste or protect correlative rights;
(iv) that wellhead control is sufficient to
				prevent releases from the well;
(v)
				that no pollution of usable quality water or safety hazard will result from
				either the proposed production method or the condition of the well;
				and
(vi) that the operator
				possesses a continuing good faith claim to the right to operate the
				well.