Texas Administrative Code
Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION
Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS
Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION
Section 3.11 - Inclination and Directional Surveys Required

(A) An inclination survey made by persons or concerns approved by the commission shall be filed on a form prescribed by the commission for each well drilled or deepened with rotary tools, except as hereinafter provided, or when, as a result of any operation, the course of the well is changed. The first shot point of such inclination survey shall be made at a depth not greater than 500 feet below the surface of the ground, and succeeding shot points shall be made either at 500-foot intervals or at the nearest drill bit change thereto, but not to exceed 1,000 feet apart.

(B) Inclination surveys conforming to these requirements may be made either during the normal course of drilling or after the well has reached total depth. Acceptable directional surveys may be filed in lieu of inclination surveys.

(C) Copies of all directional or inclination surveys, regardless of the reason for which they are run, shall be filed as a part of or in addition to the inclination surveys otherwise required by this section. If computations are made from dipmeter surveys to determine the course of the wellbore in any portion of the surveyed interval, a report of such computations shall be required.

(D) Inclination surveys shall not be required in any well drilled to a total depth of 2,000 feet or less on a regular location at least 150 feet from the nearest lease line, provided the well is not intentionally deviated from the vertical in any manner whatsoever.

(E) Inclination surveys shall not be required on wells deepened with rotary tools if the well is deepened no more than 300 feet or the distance from the surface location to the nearest lease or boundary line, whichever is the lesser, and provided that the well was not intentionally deviated from the vertical at any time before or after the beginning of deepening operations.

(F) Inclination surveys will not be required on wells that are drilled and completed as dry holes and are permanently plugged and abandoned. If such wells are reentered at a later date and completed as producers or injection or disposal wells, inclination reports will be required and must be filed with the appropriate completion form for the well.

(G) Inclination survey filings will not be required on wells that are reentries within casing of previously producing wells if inclination data are already on file with the Railroad Commission of Texas (commission). If such data are not on file with the commission, the results of an inclination survey must be reported on the appropriate form and filed with the completion form, except as provided by subparagraph (D) of this paragraph.

(A) The report form shall be signed and certified by a party having personal knowledge of the facts therein contained. The report shall include a tabulation of the maximum drifts which could occur between the surface and the first shot point, and each two successive shot points, assuming that all of the unsurveyed hole between any two shot points has the same inclination as that measured at the lowest shot point, and the total possible accumulative drift, assuming that all measured angles of inclination are in the same direction.

(B) In addition, the report shall be accompanied by a certified statement of the operator, or of someone acting at his direction on his behalf, either:

(C) The report shall be filed in the district office by attaching one copy to each appropriate completion form for the well.

(D) The commission may require the submittal of the original charts, graphs, or discs resulting from the surveys.

(A) When the maximum displacement indicated by an inclination survey is greater than the actual distance from the surface location to the nearest lease line or pooled unit boundary, it will be considered to be a violating well subject to plugging and to penalty action. However, an operator may submit a directional survey, run at his own expense by a commission approved surveying company, to show the true bottom hole location of the well to be within the prescribed limits. When such directional survey shows the well to be bottomed within the confines of the lease, but nearer to a well or lease line or pooled unit boundary than allowed by applicable rules, or by the permit for the well if the well has been granted an exception to § 3.37 of this title (relating to Statewide Spacing Rule), a new permit will be required if it is established that the bottom hole location or completion location is not a reasonable location.

(B) Directional surveys shall be required on each well drilled under the directional deviation provisions of this section.

(C) No oil, gas, or geothermal resource allowable shall be assigned any well on which a directional survey is required under any provision of this section until a directional survey has been filed with and accepted by the commission.

(A) Directional surveys required under this section must be run by competent surveying companies, approved by the commission, signed and certified by a person having actual knowledge of the facts, in the manner prescribed by the commission in accordance with § 3.12 of this title (relating to Directional Survey Company Report).

(B) All directional surveys, unless otherwise specified by the commission, shall be either single shot surveys or multi-shot surveys with the shot points not more than 200 feet apart, beginning within 200 feet of the surface, and the bottom hole location must be oriented both to the surface location and to the lease lines (or unit lines in cases of pooling).

(C) If more than 200 feet of surface casing has been run, the operator may begin the directional survey immediately below the surface casing depth. However, if such method is used, the inclination drifts from the surface of the ground to the surface casing depth must be added cumulatively and reported on the appropriate form. This total shall be assumed to be in the direction least favorable to the operator, and such point shall be considered the starting point of the directional survey.

(A) Directional deviation--The intentional deviation of a well from vertical in a predetermined compass direction.

(B) Random deviation--The intentional deviation of a well without regard to compass direction for one of the following reasons:

(A) Directional deviation. A permit for directionally deviating a well may be granted by the commission:

(B) Random deviation. Permission for the random deviation of a well may be granted by the commission whenever the necessity for such deviation is shown, as prescribed in paragraph (3)(C) of this subsection.

(A) Applications for wells to be directionally deviated must specify on the application to drill both the surface location of the well and the projected bottom hole location of the well. On the plat, in addition to the plat requirements provided for in § 3.5 of this title (relating to Application to Drill, Deepen, Reenter, or Plug Back) (Statewide Rule 5), the following shall be included:

(B) If the necessity for directional deviation arises unexpectedly after drilling has begun, the operator shall give written notice by letter or telegram of such necessity to the appropriate district office and to the commission office in Austin, and upon giving such notice, the operator may proceed with the directional deviation. The commission may, at its discretion, accept written notice electronically transmitted. If the operator proceeds with the drilling of a deviated well under such circumstances, he proceeds at his own risk. Before any allowable shall be assigned to such well, a permit for the subsurface location of each completion interval shall be obtained from the commission under the provisions set out in the commission rules. However, should the operator fail to show good and sufficient cause for such deviation, no permit will be granted for the well.

(C) If the necessity for random deviation arises unexpectedly after the drilling has begun, the operator shall give written notice by letter or telegram of such necessity to the appropriate district office and to the commission office in Austin, and, upon giving such notice, the operator may proceed with the random deviation, subject to compliance with the provisions of this section on inclination surveys. The commission may, at its discretion, accept written notice electronically transmitted.