New Mexico Administrative Code
Title 19 - NATURAL RESOURCES AND WILDLIFE
Chapter 15 - OIL AND GAS
Part 18 - PRODUCTION OPERATING PRACTICES
Section 19.15.18.8 - GAS-OIL RATIO AND PRODUCTION TESTS

A. An operator shall take a gas-oil ratio test no sooner than 20 days nor later than 30 days following the completion or recompletion of each oil well, if:

B. Provisions of 19.15.18.8 NMAC that are applicable to the pool shall govern wells completed within one mile of the outer boundary of a defined oil pool producing from the same formation. The operator shall report the test results to the division on form C-116 within 10 days following the test's completion. The gas-oil ratio the operator reports shall become effective for proration purposes on the first day of the calendar month following the date they are reported.

C. Each operator shall take an annual gas-oil ratio test of each producing oil well, located within a pool not exempted from the requirements of 19.15.18.8 NMAC, during a period the division prescribes. The division shall establish a gas-oil ratio survey schedule setting forth the period in which operators are to take gas-oil ratio tests for each pool where the division requires a test. The gas-oil ratio test shall be a test the division designates, made by the method and in the manner the division in its discretion may prescribe from time to time.

D. An operator shall file the results of gas-oil ratio tests taken during survey periods with the division on form C-116 not later than the 10th of the month following the close of the survey period for the pool in which the well is located. The gas-oil ratios thus reported shall become effective for proration purposes on the first day of the second month following the survey period's close. Unless the operator files form C-116 within the required time limit, the division shall not assign a further allowable to the affected well until the operator file form C-116.

E. In the case of special tests taken between regular gas-oil ratio surveys, the gas-oil ratio becomes effective for proration purposes upon the date the division receives form C-116 reporting the test results. A special test does not exempt a well from the regular survey.

F. During a gas-oil ratio test, an operator shall not produce a well at a rate exceeding the top proration unit allowable for the pool in which it is located by more than twenty-five percent.

G. The director may exempt such pools as the director deems proper from the gas-oil ratio test requirements of 19.15.18.8 NMAC. The exemption shall be by division order directed to the operators in the pool being exempted.

H. The director may require annual productivity tests of oil wells in pools exempt from gas-oil ratio tests, during a period the division prescribes. The division shall establish an oil well productivity survey schedule setting forth the period in which productivity tests are to be taken for each pool where the division requires the tests.

I. An operator shall file the results of productivity tests taken during survey periods with the division on form C-116 (with the word "exempt" inserted in the column normally used for reporting gas production) not later than the 10th of the month following the close of the survey period for the pool in which the well is located. Unless the operator files form C-116 within the required time limit, the division shall not assign further allowables to the affected well until the operator files form C-116.

J. In the case of special productivity tests taken between regular test survey periods, which result in a change of allowable assigned to the well, the allowable change shall become effective upon the date the division receives form C-116. A special test does not exempt a well from the regular survey.

K. During the productivity test, an operator shall not produce a well at a rate exceeding the top proration unit allowable for the pool in which it is located by more than twenty-five percent.