Texas Administrative Code
Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION
Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS
Chapter 3 - OIL AND GAS DIVISION
Section 3.20 - Notification of Fire Breaks, Leaks, or Blow-Outs

Universal Citation: 16 TX Admin Code § 3.20

Current through Reg. 50, No. 13; March 28, 2025

(a) General requirements.

(1) Operators shall give immediate notice of a fire, leak, spill, or break to the appropriate commission district office by telephone or telegraph. Such notice shall be followed by a letter giving the full description of the event, and it shall include the volume of crude oil, gas, geothermal resources, other well liquids, or associated products lost.

(2) All operators of any oil wells, gas wells, geothermal wells, pipelines receiving tanks, storage tanks, or receiving and storage receptacles into which crude oil, gas, or geothermal resources are produced, received, stored, or through which oil, gas, or geothermal resources are piped or transported, shall immediately notify the commission by letter, giving full details concerning all fires which occur at oil wells, gas wells, geothermal wells, tanks, or receptacles owned, operated, or controlled by them or on their property, and all such persons shall immediately report all tanks or receptacles struck by lightning and any other fire which destroys crude oil, natural gas, or geothermal resources, or any of them, and shall immediately report by letter any breaks or leaks in or from tanks or other receptacles and pipelines from which oil, gas, or geothermal resources are escaping or have escaped. In all such reports of fires, breaks, leaks, or escapes, or other accidents of this nature, the location of the well, tank, receptacle, or line break shall be given by county, survey, and property, so that the exact location thereof can be readily located on the ground. Such report shall likewise specify what steps have been taken or are in progress to remedy the situation reported and shall detail the quantity (estimated, if no accurate measurement can be obtained, in which case the report shall show that the same is an estimate) of oil, gas, or geothermal resources, lost, destroyed, or permitted to escape. In case any tank or receptacle is permitted to run over, the escape thus occurring shall be reported as in the case of a leak. (Reference Order Number 20-60,399, effective 9-24-70.)

(b) The report hereby required as to oil losses shall be necessary only in case such oil loss exceeds five barrels in the aggregate.

(c) Any operation with respect to the pickup of pipeline break oil shall be done subject to the following provisions. The provisions hereafter set out shall not apply to the picking up and the returning of pipeline break oil to the pipeline from which it escaped either at the place of the pipeline break, or at the nearest pipeline station to the break where facilities are available to return such oil to the pipeline; provided, that such operations are conducted by the pipeline operator at the time of the pipeline break and its repair; provided, further, that such authority as is herein granted for the picking up of pipeline break oil shall not relieve the operator of such pipeline of notifying the commission of such pipeline break, and the furnishing to the commission of the information required by the provisions set out in subsection (a) of this section for reporting such pipeline breaks.

(1) Any person desiring to pick up, reclaim, or salvage pipeline break oil, other than as provided in this subsection, shall obtain in writing a permit before commencing operations. All applications for permits to pick up, reclaim, or salvage such oil shall be made in writing under oath to the district office.

(2) Applications to pick up, reclaim, or salvage pipeline break oil shall state the location of such oil, the location of the break in the pipeline causing the leakage of such oil, the name of the pipeline, the owner thereof, and the date of the break.

(3) Pipeline break oil that is not returned to the pipeline from which it escaped shall be offered to the applicant to reclaim by the operator of such pipeline but shall be charged to such pipeline stock account.

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