North Dakota Administrative Code
Title 43 - Industrial Commission
Article 43-02 - Mineral Exploration and Development
Chapter 43-02-03 - Oil and Gas Conservation
Section 43-02-03-01 - Definitions

1. "Adjusted allowable" means the allowable production a proration unit receives after all adjustments are applied.

2. "Allocated pool" is one in which the total oil or natural gas production is restricted and allocated to various proration units therein in accordance with proration schedules.

3. "Allowable production" means that number of barrels of oil or cubic feet of natural gas authorized to be produced from the respective proration units in an allocated pool.

4. "Barrel" means forty-two United States gallons [158.99 liters] measured at sixty degrees Fahrenheit [15.56 degrees Celsius] and fourteen and seventy-three hundredths pounds per square inch absolute [1034.19 grams per square centimeter].

5. "Barrel of oil" means forty-two United States gallons [158.99 liters] of oil after deductions for the full amount of basic sediment, water, and other impurities present, ascertained by centrifugal or other recognized and customary test.

6. "Bottom hole or subsurface pressure" means the pressure in pounds per square inch gauge under conditions existing at or near the producing horizon.

7. "Bradenhead gas well" means any well capable of producing gas through wellhead connections from a gas reservoir which has been successfully cased off from an underlying oil or gas reservoir.

8. "Casinghead gas" means any gas or vapor, or both gas and vapor, indigenous to and produced from a pool classified as an oil pool by the commission.

9. "Certified or registered mail" means any form of service by the United States postal service, federal express, Pitney Bowes, and any other commercial, nationwide delivery service that provides the mailer with a document showing the date of delivery or refusal to accept delivery.

10. "Commercial injection well" means one that only receives fluids produced from wells operated by a person other than the principal on the bond.

11. "Common purchaser for natural gas" means any person now or hereafter engaged in purchasing, from one or more producers, gas produced from gas wells within each common source of supply from which it purchases, for processing or resale.

12. "Common purchaser for oil" means every person now engaged or hereafter engaging in the business of purchasing oil in this state.

13. "Common source of supply" is synonymous with pool and is a common accumulation of oil or gas, or both, as defined by commission orders.

14. "Completion" means an oil well shall be considered completed when the first oil is produced through wellhead equipment into tanks from the ultimate producing interval after casing has been run. A gas well shall be considered complete when the well is capable of producing gas through wellhead equipment from the ultimate producing zone after casing has been run. A dry hole shall be considered complete when all provisions of plugging are complied with as set out in this chapter.

15. "Condensate" means the liquid hydrocarbons recovered at the surface that result from condensation due to reduced pressure or temperature of petroleum hydrocarbons existing in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.

16. "Cubic foot of gas" means that volume of gas contained in one cubic foot [28.32 liters] of space and computed at a pressure of fourteen and seventy-three hundredths pounds per square inch absolute [1034.19 grams per square centimeter] at a base temperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit [15.56 degrees Celsius].

17. "Director" means the director of oil and gas of the industrial commission, the assistant director of oil and gas of the industrial commission, and their designated representatives.

18. "Enhanced recovery" means the increased recovery from a pool achieved by artificial means or by the application of energy extrinsic to the pool, which artificial means or application includes pressuring, cycling, pressure maintenance, or injection to the pool of a substance or form of energy but does not include the injection in a well of a substance or form of energy for the sole purpose of:

19. "Exception well location" means a location which does not conform to the general spacing requirements established by the rules or orders of the commission but which has been specifically approved by the commission.

20. "Flow line" means a pipe or conduit of pipes used for the transportation, gathering, or conduct of a mineral from a wellhead to a separator, treater, dehydrator, tank battery, or surface reservoir.

21. "Gas lift" means any method of lifting liquid to the surface by injecting gas into a well from which oil production is obtained.

22. "Gas-oil ratio" means the ratio of the gas produced in cubic feet to a barrel of oil concurrently produced during any stated period.

23. "Gas-oil ratio adjustment" means the reduction in allowable of a high gas-oil ratio proration unit to conform with the production permitted by the limiting gas-oil ratio for the particular pool during a particular proration period.

24. "Gas transportation facility" means a pipeline in operation serving one or more gas wells for the transportation of natural gas, or some other device or equipment in like operation whereby natural gas produced from gas wells connected therewith can be transported.

25. "Gas well" means a well producing gas or natural gas from a common source of gas supply as determined by the commission.

26. "High gas-oil ratio proration unit" means a proration unit with a producing oil well with a gas-oil ratio in excess of the limiting gas-oil ratio for the pool.

27. "Inactive pipeline" means any underground gathering pipeline system or portion thereof that has not transported fluid for more than one year.

28. "Injection or input well" means any well used for the injection of air, gas, water, or other fluids into any underground stratum.

29. "Injection pipeline" means a pipe or conduit of pipes used for the transportation of fluids, typically via an injection pump, from a storage tank or tank battery directly to an injection well.

30. "Limiting gas-oil ratio" means the gas-oil ratio assigned by the commission to a particular oil pool to limit the volumes of casinghead gas which may be produced from the various oil-producing units within that particular pool.

31. "Log or well log" means a systematic, detailed, and correct record of formations encountered in the drilling of a well, including commercial electric logs, radioactive logs, dip meter logs, and other related logs.

32. "Multiple completion" means the completion of any well so as to permit the production from more than one common source of supply.

33. "Natural gas or gas" means and includes all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not herein defined as oil.

34. "Occupied dwelling" or "permanently occupied dwelling" means a residence which is lived in by a person at least six months throughout a calendar year.

35. "Official gas-oil ratio test" means the periodic gas-oil ratio test made by order of the commission and by such method and means and in such manner as prescribed by the commission.

36. "Offset" means a well drilled on a forty-acre [16.19-hectare] tract cornering or contiguous to a forty-acre [16.19-hectare] tract having an existing oil well, or a well drilled on a one hundred sixty-acre [64.75-hectare] tract cornering or contiguous to a one hundred sixty-acre [64.75-hectare] tract having an existing gas well; provided, however, that for wells subject to a fieldwide spacing order, "offset" means any wells located on spacing units cornering or contiguous to the spacing unit or well which is the subject of an inquiry or a hearing.

37. "Oil well" means any well capable of producing oil or oil and casinghead gas from a common source of supply as determined by the commission.

38. "Operator" is the principal on the bond covering a well and such person shall be responsible for drilling, completion, and operation of the well, including plugging and reclamation of the well site.

39. "Overage or overproduction" means the amount of oil or the amount of natural gas produced during a proration period in excess of the amount authorized on the proration schedule.

40. "Potential" means the properly determined capacity of a well to produce oil, or gas, or both, under conditions prescribed by the commission.

41. "Pressure maintenance" means the injection of gas or other fluid into a reservoir, either to increase or maintain the existing pressure in such reservoir or to retard the natural decline in the reservoir pressure.

42. "Proration day" consists of twenty-four consecutive hours which shall begin at seven a.m. and end at seven a.m. on the following day.

43. "Proration month" means the calendar month which shall begin at seven a.m. on the first day of such month and end at seven a.m. on the first day of the next succeeding month.

44. "Proration schedule" means the periodic order of the commission authorizing the production, purchase, and transportation of oil or of natural gas from the various units of oil or of natural gas proration in allocated pools.

45. "Proration unit for gas" consists of such geographical area as may be prescribed by special pool rules issued by the commission.

46. "Recomplete" means the subsequent completion of a well in a different pool.

47. "Reservoir" means pool or common source of supply.

48. "Saltwater handling facility" means and includes any container and site used for the handling, storage, disposal of substances obtained, or used, in connection with oil and gas exploration, development, and production and can be a stand-alone site or an appurtenance to a well or treating plant.

49. "Shut-in pressure" means the pressure noted at the wellhead when the well is completely shut in, not to be confused with bottom hole pressure.

50. "Spacing unit" is the area in each pool which is assigned to a well for drilling, producing, and proration purposes in accordance with the commission's rules or orders.

51. "Stratigraphic test well" means any well or hole, except a seismograph shot hole, drilled for the purpose of gathering information with no intent to produce oil or gas from or inject into such well.

52. "Subsurface observation well" means a well used to observe subsurface phenomena, including the presence of carbon dioxide, pressure fluctuations, fluid levels and flow, temperature, and in situ water chemistry.

53. "Tank bottoms" means that accumulation of hydrocarbon material and other substances which settle naturally below crude oil in tanks and receptacles that are used in handling and storing of crude oil, and which accumulation contains basic sediment and water in an amount rendering it unsalable to an ordinary crude oil purchaser; provided, that with respect to lease production and for lease storage tanks, a tank bottom shall be limited to that volume of the tank in which it is contained that lies below the bottom of the pipeline outlet thereto.

54. "Treating plant" means any plant permanently constructed or portable used for the purpose of wholly or partially reclaiming, treating, processing, or recycling tank bottoms, waste oils, drilling mud, waste from drilling operations, produced water, and other wastes related to crude oil and natural gas exploration and production. This is not to be construed as to include saltwater handling and disposal operations which typically recover skim oil and solids from their operations, treating mud or cuttings at a well site during drilling operations, treating flowback water during completion operations at a well site, or treating tank bottoms at the well site or facility where they originated.