Compilation of Rules and Regulations of the State of Georgia
Department 391 - RULES OF GEORGIA DEPARTMENT OF NATURAL RESOURCES
Chapter 391-3 - ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
Subject 391-3-13 - OIL AND GAS AND DEEP DRILLING
Rule 391-3-13-.10 - Drilling

Universal Citation: GA Rules and Regs r 391-3-13-.10

Current through Rules and Regulations filed through March 20, 2024

(1) Identification of wells. The operator of any well shall paint or stencil and post and keep posted in a conspicuous place near the well, the name of the operator, the name of the lease or property owner, the number of the well and the number of the permit for the well. The identification shall be posted before spudding or re-entry and shall remain posted until the well is properly plugged and the location is restored to a condition satisfactory to the Director. In the event of a change of operator, well name or number, a new sign reflecting the change shall be posted.

(2) Notices of activities. The Director shall be notified by telephone no less than twenty-four (24) hours (or other time-period acceptable to the Director) prior to performing any one or more of the following activities:

(a) spudding;

(b) setting casing;

(c) electrical or geophysical logging;

(d) drill-steam testing;

(e) removing drilling rig;

(f) perforating;

(g) plugging; or,

(h) any other activity the Director may designate.

(3) Prior notification to performing the aforesaid activities shall be to allow the Director to send a duly authorized representative to the location to witness the activity at the specified time, if the Director deems necessary.

(4) Control of wells. The operator shall take all necessary precautions to keep all wells under control at all times, shall utilize only contractors or employees trained and competent to drill and operate such wells, and shall utilize and maintain materials and high-pressure fittings and equipment necessary to insure the safety of operating conditions and procedures. The design of integrated casing, cementing, drilling mud and blow-out prevention programs shall be based upon sound engineering principles and must take into account the depths at which various fluid or mineral-bearing formations are expected to be penetrated, the formation fractures gradients and pressures expected to be encountered, and other pertinent geologic and engineering data and information about the area.

(5) Notification of fire, leaks, or blow-outs. The operator shall immediately notify the Director by phone giving full details concerning all fires, leaks or blow-outs which occur at such wells. Drillers shall take immediate action to control fires, leaks or blow-outs as appropriate.

(6) Well record. During the drilling of every well, the owner, operator, contractor, driller, or other persons responsible for the conduct of drilling operations, shall keep at the well a detailed and accurate record available to the Division and its agents at all times. Pertinent information from such records shall be recorded on a "Well Information Form" obtained from the Division. The "Well Information Form" shall be furnished to the Director within forty-five (45) days after removal of the rig from the well site and will describe progressively the general lithology of strata, water and oil or gas encountered as well as such additional information as to abnormal pressure, zones of lost circulation, caving strata, casing record, and other information as are usually recorded in the normal procedure of drilling. The "Well Information Form" shall be held in confidence as described in paragraph (9) below.

(7) Electrical, Geophysical and Other Logs.

(a) A record of all electrical, sonic, radioactivity, mud, and mechanical logging or surveying of the well shall be maintained and two copies furnished to the Director within forty-five (45) days after completion. Field prints of logs necessary to determine fresh water-salt water interfaces and, if appropriate, integrity of cement to casing must be available to the Division's agent at Oil well site.

(b) To assure the protection of fresh surface-water and ground-water zones, the Division shall have the authority to require and/or perform geophysical logging at any time during the drilling provided:
1. Hole conditions allow such logging;

2. The operator does not intend or has not scheduled to perform spontaneous potential-resistivity type logs of sufficient accuracy to identify the fresh water-salt water interface.

(c) The Division will not perform any logging where the operator has performed logging adequate for identifying the fresh water-salt water interface. If the Division performs the logging of any well, the owner or operator shall prepare and provide full access to the well and assist the Division as necessary until the logging is completed. If the owner of operator is requested to conduct logging, such logging shall be at the owner or operator's expense. Two copies of all geophysical logs obtained by the Division shall be supplied to the owner of the well within (30) days. All geophysical logs obtained by the Division shall be held in confidence as provided in paragraph (9) of this paragraph.

(8) Samples: Each operator shall file with the Director a complete set of cuttings or cores correctly labeled and identified as to depth, notlater than thirty (30) days for cuttings and ninety (90) days for core splits after completion of the well. Cuttings shall be collected at 30 foot intervals from a depth of 500 feet to the total depth drilled. Cuttings are not required for the uppermost 500 feet. Missing intervals shall be noted and the reasons for the missing samples shall be described. Side-wall cores need not be submitted as long as written descriptions are filed within forty-five (45) days after completion of the well.

(9) Confidentiality. If an applicant or an operator believes that information contained in their application or that is generated as a result of their operation and that must be submitted to the Division to comply with these rules, is protected under Georgia law from disclosure to the public, they must comply with the Division's June 2015 Procedures for Submitting Information Pursuant to a Claim that Information in the Submittal is Protected Under Georgia Law from Disclosure to the Public or any updates or substitution to such procedures.

(10) Protection of fresh surface-water and ground-water supplies. All fresh water shall be confined to its respective strata and shall be adequately protected. Special precautions identified in paragraphs (11), (12), (13), (14), and (15) and rule 391-3-13-.12 shall be taken in drilling and abandoning of wells to guard against any loss of fresh water or contamination of fresh surface-water or ground-water supplies by oil, condensate, gas, salt-water, or other contaminants.

(11) Mud pits, sumps, reserve pits and dikes.

(a) Before commencing to drill, properly maintained mud pits, sumps, reserve pits or tanks of sufficient size to receive and contain the maximum volume of drilling fluid anticipated at the surface shall be constructed, and thereafter maintained, for the reception of such materials.

(b) After a well is completed or abandoned, all fluids, and recoverable slurry that remain in all pits, sumps, and tanks shall be safely returned to the well on location, or removed and disposed of, as approved by the Director. All mud pits, sumps, reserve pits and dikes shall be backfilled with earth or graded and compacted in such a manner as to be returned to a nearly natural state.

(12) Casing.

(a) The operator shall case and cement all wells with a sufficient number of strings of high-quality casing, without leaks, in a manner necessary to:
1. prevent release of fluids from any stratum through the well bore (directly or indirectly) into the ground waters or onto the surface, except into pits or tanks provided for this purpose;

2. prevent communication between separate hydrocarbon bearing strata (except where such strata have been approved for commingling) and between hydrocarbon and water-bearing strata;

3. prevent contamination of fresh-water strata;

4. support unconsolidated sediments; and,

5. otherwise provide a means to control formation pressures and fluids.

(b) The operator shall install such casing necessary to withstand collapse, bursting, tensility, and other stresses and the casing shall be cemented in a manner which supports the casing. Safety factors in casing program design shall be of sufficient magnitude to provide optimum well control while drilling and to assure safe operations for the life of the well.

(c) Determination of proper casing-setting depths shall be based upon all geologic factors including the presence or absence of hydrocarbons and fresh-water depths on a well-for-well basis.

(d) Surface casing shall be new or reconditioned pipe that, to the satisfaction of the Director, has been tested, inspected and certified to verify a good usable condition. Surface casing shall be set at a depth and cemented in a manner necessary to protect all fresh-water aquifers and provide well control until the next string of casing is set. Surface casing shall be cemented with a volume sufficient to fill the annular space from the casing shoe to the surface, plus 10 percent. Cement shall be added from the bottom upward. All cement shall be allowed to set for 12 hours before the cement plug is drilled or test initiated. If cement returns are not received at the surface or returns are lost while circulating, remedial cementing at the surface will be done be running a minimum of 100 feet of small diameter pipe in the annular space bringing cement to the surface. Also if circulation is lost during cementing operations, the Director may require that a temperature or cement bond log be run to determine whether the casing is properly cemented.

(e) Production casing shall be set before completing well for production, and such casing shall be new pipe or reconditioned pipe that to the satisfaction of the Director has been tested, inspected, and certified to verify good usable condition. It shall be cemented in a manner necessary to cover or isolate all zones which contain hydrocarbons, but in case, a calculated volume sufficient to fill the annular space at least 500 feet above the uppermost producible hydrocarbon zone must be used. After the cement has set and before drilling the plug, the casing or a maximum test of 1500 pounds per square inch. Whenever the pressure drops ten (10) percent in thirty (30) minutes, the casing will be deemed inadequate and shall be repaired and retested until the requirements thereof are met.

(13) Blow-out prevention. Adequate blow-out preventers and high pressure fittings for keeping the well control shall be attached to properly anchored and cemented casing strings. The blow-out preventers must meet the approval of the Director and shall be tested regularly and the results recorded in the driller's log. Agents of the Division may require that the blow-out preventers be tested at any reasonable time during operations provided such testing does not result in creating a hazardous condition.

(14) Control of formation pressures. The operator shall continuously maintain in the hole, from top to bottom, good drilling fluid of sufficient weight to control any formation pressures which may be encountered. In the event of lost-circulation, the operator will immediately notify the Director and make provisions to restore circulation either by casing-off the affected zone, increasing mud viscosity, or other techniques acceptable to the Director. The aforementioned drilling fluid requirements shall in no way be construed to preclude other drilling techniques. Air drilling, flame drilling, electric-arc drilling, plasma jet drilling, laser beams, and erosion drilling are permitted, provided, however, that the operator uses other appropriate methods approved by the Director to control any pressures which may be encountered.

(15) Directional drilling. All wells must be drilled with due diligence to maintain a reasonably vertical well bore; however, a well may be intentionally deviated and directionally controlled, provided that the location of the deviated well at total depth of the well is in compliance with the applicable spacing rules and the requirements of paragraph (3) above are met.

O.C.G.A. § 12-4-2, et seq., as amended.

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