South Carolina Code of Regulations › Chapter 121 - DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES › Section 121-8.2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 6, June 28, 2024
Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms below shall be
			 defined as follows:
A. "Act" means Act
		  179 of 1977, Part 1 (Section
		  48-43-10,
		  et seq., Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, as amended).
B. "Barrel of Oil" means forty-two gallons of
		  231 cubic inches per gallon at sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60°F).
C. "Blow-out preventer" means a heavy
		  casinghead control that may be closed around the drill string or that
		  completely closes the top of the casing if the pipe is withdrawn.
D. "Casing shoe" means a reinforcing collar
		  of steel screwed onto the bottom joint of casing to prevent abrasion or
		  distortion of the casing as it forces its way past obstructions on the wall of
		  the borehole.
E. "Casinghead gas"
		  means any gas or vapor, or both gas and vapor, indigenous to an oil stratum and
		  produced from such stratum with oil.
F. "Circulation" means the passing of fluid
		  down through the drill stem and up to the surface in the process of rotary
		  drilling, or down the casing and up to the surface in the setting of
		  casing.
G. "Class II Well" means an
		  injection well which is used (1) to inject brine or other fluids which are
		  brought to the surface in connection with oil or natural gas production
		  operations, and which may be commingled with waste waters from gas plants which
		  are an integral part of production operations, unless those waters are
		  classified as a hazardous waste at the time of injection; (2) for enhanced
		  recovery of oil or natural gas; (3) to inject other fluids associated with
		  drilling or production operations as the Commission may deem appropriate; or
		  (4) for storage of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and
		  pressure.
H. "Commission" means the
		  South Carolina Water Resources Commission, or its authorized
		  representatives.
I. "Common Source
		  of Supply" (See pool).
J.
		  "Completion" means that a well has been fully developed and tested for
		  production of oil or gas, or for non-producing wells, that the well has been
		  plugged and abandoned according to provisions of these regulations.
K. "Condensate" means liquid hydrocarbons
		  that were originally in the gaseous phase in the reservoir.
L. "Cubic Foot of Gas" means the volume of
		  gas contained in one cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base of 14.73
		  pounds per square inch absolute (psia) and a standard temperature base of
		  60°F.
M. "Drilling unit" means
		  the area which can be efficiently and economically drained by one well, which
		  is recognized as such for the purpose of drilling or production as approved by
		  the Commission.
N. "Exploration"
		  means significant physical activities conducted for the purpose of obtaining
		  geological, geophysical, or geochemical information about oil or gas on or
		  under the lands and waters of the State, including seismic activities but not
		  including exploratory well drilling.
O. "Exploratory well", also known as a
		  wildcat well, means any well that is drilled outside of known oil or gas
		  producing areas. A well within known producing areas that is drilled deeper
		  than the deepest producing pool is also an exploratory well.
P. "Field" means the general area which is
		  underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one pool; and field shall
		  include the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing crude oil or natural
		  gas, or both. The words field and pool mean the same thing when only one
		  underground reservoir is involved; however, field, unlike pool, may relate to
		  two or more pools.
Q. "Fluid" means
		  a material or substance which flows or moves whether in a semi-solid, liquid,
		  sludge, gas, or any other form or state.
R. "Gas" means all natural gas and all other
		  hydrocarbons not herein defined as oil, and its production can include
		  condensate.
S. "Just and Equitable
		  Share" means, as to each person, that part of the authorized production from
		  the pool that is substantially in the proportion that the amount of recoverable
		  oil or gas or both in the developed area of his tract or tracts in the pool
		  bears to the recoverable oil or gas or both in the total of the developed areas
		  in the pool.
T. "Oil" means crude
		  petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are
		  produced in liquid form by ordinary production methods, but does not include
		  liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in a gaseous phase in the
		  reservoir.
U. "Operator" means any
		  person who, duly authorized, is in charge of the development of a lease or the
		  operation of an exploration or producing well, and, in addition, for the
		  purpose of assigning responsibility, may also be the person indicated as
		  operator by the most current records of the Commission.
V. "Owner" means any person who has the right
		  to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas that he
		  produces therefrom, either for himself or for himself and others.
W. "Person" means any natural person,
		  corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor,
		  administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representatives of any kind, and
		  includes any government or any political subdivision or any agency
		  thereof.
X. "Pollution" means the
		  act of emitting pollutants into the air or water or onto the land.
Y. "Pool" means a common accumulation of oil,
		  or gas, or both, which is located within the interconnected porous spaces in a
		  rock formation beneath the surface of the earth. Common Source of Supply, and
		  Reservoir, are terms used interchangeably with "Pool."
Z. "Property line" as used herein means the
		  boundary dividing tracts on which mineral rights, royalty, or leases are
		  separately owned, except that where such tracts or leases have been unitized
		  the boundaries of the unit shall be considered the "property line."
AA. "Prorated Pool" means a pool designated
		  by the Commission which has been assessed and for which allowables have been
		  assigned to each well within the pool.
BB. "Protect correlative rights" means that
		  the action or regulation by the Commission should afford a reasonable
		  opportunity to each person entitled thereto to recover or receive the oil or
		  gas in his tract or tracts or the equivalent thereto, without being required to
		  drill unnecessary wells or to incur other unnecessary expense to recover or
		  receive such oil or gas or its equivalent.
CC. "Special field rules" means those rules
		  promulgated for, and which are limited in their application to, individual
		  pools and fields within the State of South Carolina.
DD. "Spudding" means to begin the actual
		  drilling of the well.
EE. "State"
		  means the State of South Carolina.
FF. "Submerged lands" means all lands,
		  whether public or private, overlain by water within the territorial
		  jurisdiction of South Carolina.
GG.
		  "Temporary abandonment" means, for purposes only of compliance with
		  requirements herein, that a well is to be considered temporarily abandoned when
		  it has not been used for six (6) consecutive months and cannot be operated,
		  whether because it was drilled as a dry hole or has ceased to produce, or
		  operations have not been conducted thereon, or for some other reasons;
		  provided, however, such definition shall not be construed to require the
		  plugging of a well that has been approved for future utility by the Commission.
		  The operator of a temporarily abandoned well shall submit a letter to the
		  Commission every six (6) months to describe the future utility of such
		  well.
HH. "Underground Source of
		  Drinking Water (USDW)" means an aquifer or its portion: 1) which supplies any
		  public water system; or, 2) which contains a sufficient quantity of ground
		  water to supply a public water system; and, a) currently supplies drinking
		  water for human consumption; or b) contains water with fewer than ten thousand
		  milligrams per liter total dissolved solids.
II. "Unit" means an area of land, deposit, or
		  deposits of minerals, stratum or strata, or pool or pools, or a part or parts
		  thereof, as to which parties with interests therein are bound to share minerals
		  produced on a specific basis and as to which those having the right to conduct
		  drilling or mining operations therein are bound to share investment and
		  operating costs on a specified basis. A unit may be formed by agreement of the
		  parties involved or by order of the Commission or an agency of the federal
		  government empowered to do so. A unit formed by order of a governmental agency
		  is termed a "compulsory unit."
JJ.
		  "Waste" means and includes: physical waste, as that term is generally
		  understood in the oil and gas industry; (2) the inefficient, excessive, or
		  improper use, or the unnecessary dissipation of, reservoir energy; (3) the
		  inefficient storing of oil or gas; (4) the locating, drilling, equipping,
		  operating, or producing of any oil or gas well in a manner that causes, or
		  tends to cause, reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable
		  from a pool under prudent and proper operations, or that causes or tends to
		  cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; (5)
		  the production of oil or gas in excess of: (a) transportation or marketing
		  facilities; (b) reasonable market demand; (c) the amount reasonably required to
		  be produced in the proper drilling, completing or testing of the well from
		  which it is produced; or (d) gas otherwise usefully utilized, except gas
		  produced from an oil well pending the time when with reasonable diligence, the
		  gas can be sold or otherwise usefully utilized on terms and conditions that are
		  just and reasonable, and the production of such gas has been approved by order
		  of the Commission; and (6) underground or above ground waste in the production
		  or storage of oil, gas, or condensate, however caused, and whether or not
		  defined in other subdivisions hereof.
KK. "Well" means any excavation that is
		  cored, bored, drilled, jetted, or dug for the purpose of exploring for or
		  producing oil or gas or for the purpose of enhanced recovery or for the
		  disposal of oil-field wastes or for the storage of hydrocarbons.
LL. "Well spacing" shall mean the pattern of
		  minimum distances from property boundary lines, and from other wells drilling
		  to or producing from the same pool, and which wells may be located on the
		  surface as established by laws, rules, regulations or orders of the
		  Commission.