Current through Supplement No. 392, April, 2024
1. The storage
facility operator shall prepare, maintain, and comply with a plan to delineate
the area of review for a proposed storage facility, periodically re-evaluate
the delineation, and perform corrective action that meets the requirements of
this section and is acceptable to the commission. The requirement to maintain
and implement a commission-approved plan is directly enforceable regardless of
whether the requirement is a condition of the permit. As a part of the storage
facility permit application, the storage facility operator shall submit an area
of review and corrective action plan that includes the following:
a. The method for delineating the area of
review, results of the reservoir or geomechanical modeling and simulation,
inputs that will be made, and the site characterization data on which the model
will be based.
b. A description of:
(1) The re-evaluation date, not to exceed
five years, at which time the storage facility operator shall re-evaluate the
area of review.
(2) The monitoring
and operational conditions that would warrant a re-evaluation of the area of
review before the next scheduled re-evaluation date.
(3) How monitoring and operational data will
be used to inform an area of review re-evaluation.
(4) How corrective action will be conducted
to meet requirements of this section, and how corrective action will be
adjusted if there are changes in the area of review.
2. The storage facility operator
shall perform the following actions to delineate the area of review and
identify all wells that require corrective action:
a. Applicable to oil and gas and saline
reservoirs. Predict, using existing site characterization, monitoring and
operational data, and reservoir modeling and simulation, the projected lateral
and vertical migration of the injectate in the subsurface from the commencement
of injection activities until the oil or gas movement ceases, or until the end
of a fixed time as determined by the director:
(1) Be based on detailed geologic data
collected to characterize the injection zone, confining zones, and any
additional zones; and anticipated operating data, including injection
pressures, rates, and total volumes over the proposed life of the storage
project.
(2) Consider any geologic
heterogeneities, other discontinuities, data quality, and their possible impact
on model predictions.
(3) Consider
potential migration through faults, fractures, and artificial
penetrations.
b.
Applicable to salt caverns. Using site-specific geology, cavern construction
data acquired during dissolution mining, and geomechanical modeling, determine
necessary buffers as setbacks for the following:
(1) Future drilling in the proximity of the
cavern.
(2) Additional
caverns.
3.
The storage facility operator shall perform corrective action on all wells in
the area of review that are determined to need corrective action, using methods
designed to prevent the movement of injectate or fluid into or between
underground sources of drinking water or other unauthorized zones.
4. At the re-evaluation date, not to exceed
five years, as specified in the area of review and corrective action plan, or
when monitoring and operational conditions warrant, the storage facility
operator shall:
a. Re-evaluate the area of
review in the same manner specified in subdivision a or b of subsection 2,
whichever is applicable.
b.
Identify all wells or caverns in the re-evaluated area of review in the same
manner specified in subsection 2.
c. Perform corrective action on wells
requiring action in the re-evaluated area of review in the same manner
specified in subsection 3.
d.
Submit an amended area of review and corrective action plan or demonstrate to
the commission through monitoring data and modeling results that no amendment
to the plan is needed. Any amendments to the plan are subject to the director's
approval and must be incorporated into the permit.
5. All modeling inputs and data used to
support area of review delineations and re-evaluations must be retained until
project completion. Upon project completion, the storage facility operator
shall deliver the records to the commission.
General Authority: NDCC 38-08-04
Law Implemented: NDCC
38-25
