Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION › Section 3.37 - Statewide Spacing Rule

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Distance
				requirements.
(1) No well for oil, gas, or
				geothermal resource shall hereafter be drilled nearer than 1,200 feet to any
				well completed in or drilling to the same horizon on the same tract or farm,
				and no well shall be drilled nearer than 467 feet to any property line, lease
				line, or subdivision line; provided the commission, in order to prevent waste
				or to prevent the confiscation of property, may grant exceptions to permit
				drilling within shorter distances than prescribed in this paragraph when the
				commission shall determine that such exceptions are necessary either to prevent
				waste or to prevent the confiscation of property.
(2) When an exception to this section is
				desired, application shall be made by filing the proper fee as provided in
				§
										RSA
				3.78 of this title (relating to Fees and
				Financial Security Requirements) and the appropriate form according to the
				instructions on the form, accompanied by a plat as described in subsection (c)
				of this section. A person acquainted with the facts pertinent to the
				application shall certify that all facts stated in it are true and within the
				knowledge of that person.
(A) When an
				exception to only the minimum lease-line spacing requirement is desired, the
				applicant shall file a list of the mailing addresses of all affected persons,
				who, for tracts closer to the well than the greater of one-half of the
				prescribed minimum between-well spacing distance or the minimum lease-line
				spacing distance, include:
(i) the designated
				operator;
(ii) all lessees of
				record for tracts that have no designated operator; and
(iii) all owners of record of unleased
				mineral interests.
(B)
				When an exception to the minimum between-well spacing requirement of this
				section is desired, the applicant is required to file the mailing addresses of
				those persons identified in subparagraph (A)(i)-(iii) of this paragraph for
				each adjacent tract and each tract nearer to the well than the greater of
				one-half the prescribed minimum between-well spacing distance or the minimum
				lease-line spacing.
(3)
				An exception may be granted pursuant to subsection (h)(2) of this section, or
				after a public hearing held after at least 10 days notice to all persons
				described in paragraph (2) of this subsection. At any such hearing, the burden
				shall be on the applicant to establish that an exception to this section is
				necessary either to prevent waste or to prevent the confiscation of property.
				For purposes of giving notice of an application for an exception, the
				commission will presume that every person described in paragraph (2) of this
				subsection will be affected by the application, unless the Oil and Gas Division
				director or the director's delegate determines they are unaffected. Such
				determination will be made only upon written request and a showing by the
				applicant that:
(A) competent, conclusive
				geological or engineering data indicate that no drainage of hydrocarbons from
				the particular tract(s) subject to the request will occur due to production
				from the applicant's proposed well; and
(B) notice to the particular operator(s),
				lessee(s) of record, or owner(s) of record of unleased mineral interest would
				be unduly burdensome or expensive.
(4) If, after diligent efforts, the applicant
				is unable to ascertain the name and address of one or more persons required by
				this subparagraph to be notified, then the applicant shall notify such persons
				by publishing notice of the application in a form approved by the Commission.
				The applicant shall publish the notice once each week for two consecutive weeks
				in a newspaper of general circulation in the county where the well will be
				located. The first publication shall be published at least 14 days before the
				protest deadline in the notice of application. The applicant shall file with
				the Commission a publisher's affidavit or other evidence of
				publication.