Virginia Administrative Code › Title 4 - CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES › Agency 25 - DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY › Chapter 160 - VIRGINIA GAS AND OIL BOARD REGULATIONS › Section 4VAC25-160-200 - Surveys and tests

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
A.
				Deviation tests.
1. An inclination survey
				shall be made on all rotary drilled wells located in accordance with a field
				rule established by the board. An inclination survey is not required for wells
				drilled in accordance with the distance limitations of § 45.2-1616 of the
				Code of Virginia.
2. The first shot
				point shall be at a depth not greater than the bottom of the surface casing or,
				for a well drilled through a coal seam, at a depth not greater than that of the
				bottom of the coal protection string. Succeeding shot points shall be no more
				than 1,000 feet apart, or as otherwise ordered by the director.
3. Inclination surveys conforming to these
				requirements may be made either during the normal course of drilling or after
				the well has reached total depth. Survey data shall be certified in writing as
				being true and correct by the designated agent or person in charge of a
				permittee's Virginia operations, or the drilling contractor, and shall indicate
				the resultant lateral deviation as the maximum calculated lateral displacement
				determined at any inclination survey point in a horizon approved for
				production, by an order of the board or a permit approved by the director,
				assuming that all displacement occurs in the direction of the nearest boundary
				of the unit. The resultant lateral deviation shall be recorded on the drilling
				or completion report filed by the permittee.
4. If a directional survey determining the
				location of the bottom of the hole is filed upon completion of the well, it
				shall not be necessary to file the inclination survey data.
5. A directional survey shall be made when:
a. A well is directionally controlled and is
				thereby intentionally deflected from vertical;
b. The resultant lateral deviation of any
				well, calculated from inclination survey data, is greater than the distance
				from the center of the surface location of the well bore to the nearest
				boundary of the area where drilling is allowed in a unit established by the
				board; or
c. A well is drilled as
				an exception location and a directional survey is ordered by the
				board.
6. The board or
				the director, on their own initiative or at the request of a gas or oil owner
				on a contiguous unit or tract, may require the permittee drilling any well to
				make a directional survey of the well if there is reasonable cause therefor.
				Whenever a survey is required by the board or the director at the request of a
				contiguous owner and the permittee of the well and contiguous owner are unable
				to agree as to the terms and conditions for making the directional survey, the
				permittee shall pay for the survey if the bottom hole location is found to be
				outside of the area approved for drilling, and the contiguous owner shall pay
				for the survey if the bottom hole location is found to be inside of the area
				approved for drilling.
7.
				Directional surveys shall be run from total depth to the base of the surface
				casing or coal protection string, unless otherwise approved by the board or the
				director. In the event that the proposed or final location of the producing
				interval or intervals of any well is not in accordance with this section or a
				board order, the unit operator shall apply to the board for an exception to
				spacing. However, directional surveys to total depth shall not be required in
				cases where the interval below the latest survey is less than 500 feet, and in
				such an instance, a projection of the latest survey shall be deemed to satisfy
				board requirements.
8. The results
				of each inclination or directional survey made in accordance with this section
				shall be filed by the permittee with the first drilling or completion report
				required by the division.