West Virginia Code of State Rules › Agency 39 - Oil And Gas Conservation Commission › Title 39 - LEGISLATIVE RULE WEST VIRGINIA OIL AND GAS CONSERVATION COMMISSION › Series 39-01 - Rules of the Commission › Section 39-1-2 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. XLI, No. 28, July 12, 2024
2.1. "Annual" means twelve consecutive
				calendar months beginning January 1 and ending December 31.
2.2. "Authorized Agent" means a
				representative as designated by the Commission.
2.3. "Barrel" means forty-two (42) United
				States gallons of 231 cubic inches each at a temperature of sixty (60) degrees
				Fahrenheit.
2.4. "Code" means the
				Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended.
2.5. "Commission" means the West Virginia Oil
				and Gas Conservation Commission, composed of three (3) members appointed by the
				Governor, the Secretary of the Department of Environmental Protection and the
				Chief of the Office of Oil and Gas of the Department of Environmental
				Protection.
2.6. "Commissioner and
				Chairman" means the person appointed by the Governor, possessing a degree from
				an accredited college or university in petroleum engineering or geology and
				must be a registered professional engineer.
2.7. "Completion" means that an oil well is
				considered completed when the well is first capable of producing new oil
				through wellhead equipment. A gas well is considered completed when the well is
				capable of producing gas through wellhead equipment. A dry hole is considered
				completed when all provisions of plugging have been performed, pursuant to the
				requirements of the Office of Oil and Gas. A multiple completion is the
				completion of more than one pool of hydrocarbon fluids into one (1) well
				bore.
2.8. "Vertical Deep Well"
				means a well drilled to a depth below the top of the uppermost member of the
				Onondaga Group which does not meet the definition of a Horizontal Deep Well as
				defined in subsection 2.16.
2.9.
				"Cubic Foot of Gas" means the volume of gas contained in 1 cubic foot of space
				at a standard pressure base and a standard temperature base. The standard
				pressure base shall be fourteen and seventy-three hundredths (14.73) psia, and
				the standard temperature base shall be sixty (60) degrees Fahrenheit.
2.10. "Day" means a period of
				twenty-four (24) consecutive hours.
2.11. "Designated Agent" means a resident of
				the State of West Virginia, as required by the Office of Oil and Gas, upon whom
				process, notices, orders or other communications issued pursuant to this rule
				may be served.
2.12. "Field" means
				a geographic area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one
				(1) pool; and "Field" shall include the underground reservoir or reservoirs
				containing oil or gas or both. The words "Field" and "Pool" are synonymous when
				only one (1) underground reservoir is involved; however, "Field" may relate to
				two (2) or more pools.
2.13. "Gas
				Well" means any well which produces 6,000 cubic feet or more than 6,000 cubic
				feet of gas to each one (1) barrel of oil on initial gas-oil ratio test,
				defining oil and gas as in the statute.
2.14. "Heel" means the physical turn when a
				well's trajectory approximates horizontal in the target formation.
2.15. "Hearing" means a proceeding in which
				any matter is heard before the Commission.
2.16. "Horizontal Deep Well" means a deep
				well permitted in accordance with either article 6 or article 6A, chapter 22,
				of the West Virginia Code, drilled to a depth below the top of the uppermost
				member of the Onondaga Group targeting a shale, siltstone or other low
				permeability reservoir.
2.17. "Log
				or Well Log" means a systematic detailed geological record of formations
				encountered in the drilling of a well.
2.18. "Offset Operator" means any owner of
				any tract or parcel, with the right to develop, operate, and produce oil and
				gas from a pool and to appropriate the oil and gas produced there from, either
				for such person or for such person and others; located within one half of the
				distance to the next possible drill site, based on either special field rules
				or spacing as set forth in this Rule. In the event that there is no oil and gas
				lease in existence with respect to the tract in question, the owner of the oil
				and gas rights therein shall be considered an operator.
2.19. "Oil Well" means any well which
				produces less than 6,000 cubic feet of gas to each one barrel of oil on initial
				gas-oil ratio test, defining oil and gas as in the statute.
2.20. "Operational Order" means an order
				issued by the Commission upon application of one or more operators to define
				the area to be covered by the order; establish minimum horizontal deep well
				spacing, to include distances between laterals which will be controlled by the
				same operator and different operators who agree in writing to specific spacing
				between the wells they control; establish minimum lease or unit boundary
				setbacks parallel to the lateral and at the toe and heel, toe to toe, heel to
				heel, or toe to heel setbacks for units of the same operator and different
				operators who agree in writing to specific spacing between wells they control;
				establish minimum distances between wells adjacent to other operators and
				minimum lease or unit boundary setbacks parallel to the lateral and at the toe
				and heel, toe to toe, heel to heel, or toe to heel setbacks for units in cases
				where different operators are involved which have not entered into a written
				agreement to utilize the minimum distances for the same operator.
2.21. "Non-productive Interval" means any
				portions or intervals of a well that do not meet the definition of "productive
				interval," as defined in subsection 2.22, such as surface wellhead location and
				any vertical, angled or other portions of the wellbore that are not perforated
				in the target formation.
2.22.
				"Productive Interval" of a horizontal deep well for purposes of setback and
				spacing limitations, but not for purposes of a determination of unit boundaries
				or lease royalty payments, means the perforated length of a well bore in the
				target formation, as shown on a directional survey, projected vertically to the
				surface.
2.23. The words, "Person,
				Operator, Royalty Owner, Independent Producer, Oil, Gas, Pool, Well, Shallow
				Well, Deep Well, Drilling Unit, Waste, Correlative Rights, and Just and
				Equitable Share of Production", are defined by the statute and said definitions
				are hereby adopted in this rule.
2.24. "Purchaser" means any person who
				directly or indirectly purchases, transports, takes or otherwise removes oil,
				gas or other hydrocarbon to his account from a well, lease, drilling unit or
				pool.
2.25. "Special Field Rules"
				are rules ordered after a deep well has been drilled establishing a field or
				pool and an application is filed by the operator of the deep well or by the
				operator of any lands directly and immediately affected by the drilling of such
				deep well or wells in the field or pool. The special field rules will designate
				the field or pool by name, the area to which they are applicable, the acreage
				of each drilling unit, the shape thereof, the minimum distance from the outside
				boundary of each drilling unit at which a deep well may be drilled and a
				minimum distance between deep wells. The Commission may conform the size and
				shape of the drilling unit upon which a deep well is situated to the applicable
				special field rules.
2.26.
				"Statute" means WV Code §22C-9.
2.27. "Toe" means the terminus of the
				horizontal well bore.
2.28. "Unit"
				means a mineral tract or two (2) or more mineral tracts which have been
				combined in such a manner that the combined tracts may be regarded as a common
				tract for the drilling and operation of a deep oil or gas well.
2.29. "Well Spacing" means the pattern or
				minimum distances from drilling unit boundary lines and from other deep wells
				drilling to or producible from the same pool, at which deep wells may be
				located.