Wyoming Administrative Code › Agency 055 - Oil and Gas Conservation Commission › Sub-Agency 0001 - General Agency, Board or Commission Rules › Chapter 3 - OPERATIONAL RULES, DRILLING RULES › Section 3-22 - General Drilling Rules

Current through July 13, 2024
(a) The following
				shall apply to the drilling of all wells unless altered, modified, or changed
				for a particular well, pool, unit, area or lands upon hearing before the
				Commission:
(i) Surface casing shall be run to
				reach a depth below all known or reasonably estimated utilizable groundwater
				(as defined in Chapter 3, Section 8(c)(iv)) to protect the Use Class category
				and to prevent blowouts or uncontrolled flows. Unless otherwise approved by the
				Supervisor, surface casing shall be set at a minimum of three (3) joints or
				approximately one hundred (100) to one hundred twenty (120) feet below the
				depth of any Wyoming Office of State Engineer permitted water supply wells
				designated for domestic, stock water, irrigation or municipal use, within a
				minimum of one-quarter (1/4) mile radius and shall be cemented to surface. Any
				coalbed methane well receiving a Ground Water Appropriate Permit (Form UW 5)
				from the State Engineer's Office is exempt from this specific subsection. Fresh
				water flows detected during drilling, including seismic, core, or other
				exploratory holes, shall be recorded on Form 19 (Report of Fresh Water Flows)
				and reported to the Commission on the next business day. Information contained
				on the form shall describe the depth at which the sand was encountered, the
				thickness, and the rate of water flow, if known. In areas where pressures and
				formations are unknown, surface casing shall be of sufficient size to permit
				the use of an intermediate string or strings of casing. Surface casing shall be
				set in or through an impervious formation and shall be cemented by the pump and
				plug or displacement or other approved method with sufficient cement to fill
				the annulus to the top of the hole, all in accordance with reasonable
				requirements of the Supervisor. The Supervisor may require the Owner or
				Operator to pump a specified quantity of excess cement above the design volume
				if severe washed out hole conditions are known to exist on the surface hole
				portion of wells in the immediate vicinity of the well to be drilled. If cement
				is not circulated to the surface during the primary operation, the
				Owner/Operator shall perform supplemental cementing operations to assure that
				the annular space from the casing shoe to the surface is filled with cement.
				The Supervisor may require the Owner or Operator to provide cased hole bond
				logs to be run for casing strings to demonstrate isolation from the placement
				of cement across and above the productive intervals or above the last casing
				shoe in the well, if there is a demonstrated reason to believe an inadequate
				cement job was performed.
(ii)
				Unless otherwise provided by specific order of the Commission for a particular
				well or wells or for a particular pool or parts thereof, cemented casing string
				shall stand under pressure until the cement at the shoe has reached a
				compressive strength of five hundred pounds per square inch (500 lbs./sq. in.).
				In addition, the API free-water separation for all cement slurries used shall
				average no more than four (4) milliliters per two hundred fifty (250)
				milliliters of cement. All cements used shall achieve a minimum compressive
				strength of one hundred (100) psi in twenty-four (24) hours measured at eighty
				degrees Fahrenheit (80? F.). Testing for these properties shall be in
				accordance with accepted industry standards. The term "under pressure" as used
				herein shall be complied with if one float valve is used or if pressure is
				otherwise held;
(iii) There shall
				be installed and maintained on all wells blowout preventers and related
				equipment in accordance with Chapter 3, Section 23(i) of these rules;
(iv) Setting depths of all casing strings
				shall be determined by taking into account formation fracture gradients and the
				maximum anticipated pressure to be maintained within the wellbore;
(v) If and when it becomes necessary to run a
				production string, such string shall be cemented by the pump and plug method
				and shall be properly tested by the pressure method before cement plugs are
				drilled;
(vi) Natural gas, which
				may be encountered in a substantial quantity in any section of cable tool
				drilled hole above the ultimate objective, shall be shut off with reasonable
				diligence either by mudding, by casing, or other approved method, and confined
				to its original source to the satisfaction of the Supervisor. Any gas escaping
				from the well during drilling operations shall be, so far as practicable,
				conducted to a safe distance from the well site and burned.