Pennsylvania Code › Title 25 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION › Part I - Department of Environmental Protection › Subpart C - Protection of Natural Resources › Article I - Land Resources › Chapter 79 - OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION › GENERAL PROVISIONS › Section 79.1 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The following words and terms, when used in this
						  chapter, have the following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates
						  otherwise:
Act
-The Oil and Gas Conservation Law
						  (58
						  P. S. §§
													401-419). This chapter
						  applies only to the formations and the wells which are covered by the
						  act.
Blowout
-A sudden or violent escape of
						  oil or natural gas, as from a drilling well when high formational pressure is
						  encountered.
Blowout preventer
-A heavy casinghead
						  control fitted with special gates or rams which can be closed around the drill
						  pipe, or which completely closes the top of the casing.
Casinghead gas
-Gas or vapor, or both
						  gas and vapor, indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from the stratum with
						  oil.
Common source of supply
-A
						  pool.
Condensate
-Liquid hydrocarbons which
						  were originally in the gaseous phase in the reservoir.
Correlative rights
-The rights of each
						  owner of oil and gas interest in a common pool or source of supply of oil or
						  gas to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtain and produce his just
						  and equitable share of the oil and gas in the pool or sources of supply without
						  being required to drill unnecessary wells or incur other unnecessary expense to
						  recover or receive the oil or gas or its equivalent.
Cubic foot of gas
-The volume of gas
						  contained in one cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base and a standard
						  temperature base. For Department reports only, the standard pressure base shall
						  be 14.73 pounds per square inch absolute and the standard temperature base
						  shall be 60°F.
Drill
-To drill or redrill a well or
						  deepen an existing well.
Drilling unit
-The term includes
						  spacing unit and means the area designated in a spacing order as a unit and
						  within which all operators have the opportunity to participate in the well or
						  wells drilled thereon on a just and equitable basis.
Fees
-Fees, as provided in the act,
						  shall be made payable to the "Commonwealth of Pennsylvania" and credited to the
						  account of the Department for its use under the act.
Gas
-Natural gas and other volatile
						  hydrocarbons not defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was
						  in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.
Lease
-A tract or tracts of land which
						  by virtue of an oil and gas lease, fee or oil and gas ownership, constitute a
						  single tract or leasehold estate for the purpose of the development or
						  operation thereof for oil or gas, or both.
Nonparticipating operator
-An operator
						  who owns an interest in land included in a spacing unit, and who has not
						  elected to participate in the drilling, equipping, completing and operating the
						  well or wells to be drilled on the unit, and to share in the costs of the
						  same.
Oil
-Crude petroleum oil and other
						  hydrocarbons regardless of gravity produced at a well in liquid form by
						  ordinary production methods. The term does not include liquid hydrocarbons
						  which were originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.
Operator
-An owner of the right to
						  develop, operate and produce oil and gas from the pool. If there is no oil and
						  gas lease in existence, the owner of the oil and gas rights shall be considered
						  as operator to the extent of 7/8 of the oil and gas in that portion of the pool
						  underlying the tract owned by that owner and a royalty owner as to a 1/8
						  interest in the oil and gas. If the oil is owned separately from the gas, the
						  owner of the substance being produced or sought to be produced from the pool
						  shall be considered as operator of the pool.
Participating operator
-An operator who
						  owns an interest in land included in a spacing unit, and who has elected to
						  participate in the drilling, equipping, completing and operating the well to be
						  drilled on the unit, and to share in the costs of the same.
Person
-A natural person, corporation,
						  association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian,
						  fiduciary or other representative, of any kind. The term includes a department,
						  agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth or a governmental subdivision
						  thereof.
Pool
-An underground reservoir
						  containing a common accumulation of oil or gas, or both, not in communication
						  laterally or vertically with another accumulation of oil or gas.
Producer
-The owner of a well capable
						  of producing oil or gas, or both.
Royalty owner
-An owner of oil or gas
						  in place of oil or gas rights subject to a lease covering the oil or gas in
						  place or oil or gas rights. The term also includes an owner of an interest in
						  an oil or gas lease which entitles him to share in the production of the oil or
						  gas under the lease or the proceeds therefrom without obligating him to pay any
						  costs under the lease. The term also includes the owner of an interest in the
						  oil or gas in place or oil or gas rights who has not executed an oil or gas
						  lease to the extent that the owner is not designated an operator.
Spacing unit
-A drilling unit.
Waste
-The following is considered
						  waste:
(i) Physical waste as the term
						is generally understood in the oil and gas industry which includes the
						following:
(A) Permitting the migration of
						oil, gas or water from the stratum in which it is found to other strata if the
						migration would result in the loss of recoverable oil or gas, or
						both.
(B) The drowning with water
						of a stratum or part thereof capable of producing oil or gas in paying
						quantities except for secondary recovery purposes or in hydraulic fracturing or
						other completion practices.
(C) The
						unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas.
(D) The inefficient or improper use, or
						unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy.