Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(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.