805 Ky. Admin. Regs. 1:001

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 6, December 1, 2024

Section 805 KAR 1:001 - Definitions for 805 KAR Chapter 1

RELATES TO: KRS 353.500 - 353.730

NECESSITY, FUNCTION, AND CONFORMITY: KRS 353.500 authorizes the department to promulgate administrative regulations to regulate the all aspects of oil and gas wells in the Commonwealth. This administrative regulation establishes definitions for terms used in 805 KAR Chapter 1.

Section 1. Definitions.

(1) "Abandoned" is defined by KRS 353.510(12).

(2) "Abnormal pressure" means a reservoir pressure that exceeds the hydrostatic pressure of fresh water extending from the reservoir to the surface.

(3) "Annulus" means the space between two (2) strings of casing or between a string of casing and the bore hole wall.

(4) "Best management practices" or "BMPs" is defined by KRS 353.510(28).

(5) "Blow-out preventer" or "BOP" means a device installed on the first and largest diameter casing cemented in a well or installed on the intermediate casing. The device is used to prevent the uncontrolled flow of a well at the surface during drilling or workover operations.

(6) "Casing or casing string" means steel tubes or pipes installed in a well.

(7) "Cement" is defined by KRS 353.010(4).

(8) "Commission" is defined by KRS 353.510(4).

(9) "Correlative rights" is defined by KRS 353.510(6).

(10) "Deep well" is defined by KRS 353.510(16).

(11) "Deepening" means the drilling deeper of any existing well where new drilling is to proceed past the depth at which the initial drilling of the well ceased.

(12) "Directional survey" is defined by KRS 353.010(8).

(13) "Director" is defined by KRS 353.510(3).

(14) "Division" means the Division of Oil and Gas.

(15) "Drilling unit" is defined by KRS 353.510(19).

(16) "Eligible well" is defined by KRS 353.510(47).

(17)"Environmentally sensitive feature" means a stream, spring, sinkhole, wetland, state or national park, wilderness area, or wildlife refuge.

(18) "Existing gathering line" means any gathering line installed and not abandoned or taken out of service prior to March 18, 2004.

(19) "Field" is defined by KRS 353.510(10).

(20) "Final reclamation" means the date on which the operator has completed drilling operations at the well site, has plugged the well, and has performed all obligations as established in the operations and reclamation plan.

(21) "GPS" means the collection method of acquiring location data using the Global Positioning System that is:

(a)

1. Reported as latitude and longitude in degrees and decimal degrees;

2. Captured in three (3) meter accuracy for stationary location data, such as line markers; and

3. Submitted as waypoints and track logs for the gathering line location;

(b) Recorded in the datum of WGS84; and

(c) Submitted as ArcView shape file or as an ASCII file is submitted electronically.

(22) "Gas" is defined by KRS 353.510(8).

(23) "Gas production flow line" means:

(a) The segment of a gathering line running from a well to the point of interconnection with another gathering line or production compressor; or

(b) If a well produces both oil and gas, the line from a well.

(24) "Gas storage operator" means any corporation, partnership, or individual who is engaged in the work of preparing to inject, or who injects gas into, or who stores gas in, or removes gas from, a gas storage reservoir, and who owns the right to do so (including, for example, those engaged in transporting and delivering gas in public service).

(25) "Gas storage reservoirs" means special geologic and geometric elements of underground strata that are or can be so arranged and situated as to be recognized as useful for the retention, injection, storage and recovery of gas therefrom on a commercial service level.

(26) "Gathering line" means any pipeline that is installed or used for the purpose of transporting produced water, crude oil, or natural gas from a well or production facility; or produced water to a well or production facility to the point of interconnection with another gathering line, an existing storage facility, or a transmission or main line, including all lines between interconnections, except those lines or portions thereof subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the U.S. Department of Transportation under 49 C.F.R. Parts 191, 192, 194, and 195.

(27) "Horizontal well" is defined by KRS 353.510(25).

(28) "Intermediate casing" means one (1) or more strings of pipes installed in a well in addition to the surface casing in which each string is smaller in diameter than the previous.

(29) "Intersection length" means the horizontal distance between the point at which the well penetrates the top of the intended formation and the end point within that formation.

(30) "KYEM" means the state Kentucky Emergency Management office under authority of the Department of Military Affairs in Frankfort, Kentucky, with regional offices throughout the Commonwealth.

(31) "Long casing string" means the last casing installed in a well to be used for production or injection purposes.

(32) "Mcf" means 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas.

(33) "Measured depth" means the total length of the vertical and horizontal leg of the actual wellbore.

(34) "NFPA" means the National Fire Protection Association.

(35) "Net gas sales" means the amount of metered or prorated gas sold into the line of first purchase and could be different from produced gas, due to line loss and compressor usage.

(36) "Oil" is defined by KRS 353.510(7).

(37) "Oil production flow line" means:

(a) A gathering line running from a well or wells to a tank battery for production treatment and storage; or

(b) If an injection well, the line from the tank battery to an injection system and then to a wellhead.

(38) "Operating a well" means to reenter, reopen, deepen, drill, inject into, produce, attempt to produce, or work over, any well.

(39) "Operator" is defined by KRS 353.510(17).

(40) "Overriding royalty interest owner" means a person other than a royalty owner, with a right to a percentage share of production or the value derived from production that is:

(a) Free of all costs of drilling and production; and

(b) Created by the lessee or working interest owner and paid by the lessee or working interest owner.

(41) "Person" is defined by KRS 353.510(5).

(42) "Pit" means an earthen excavation or steel tank used:

(a) For the temporary storage of fluids, muds and cuttings associated with the drilling operations of an oil or gas well;

(b) To temporarily store well completion fluids associated with acidizing, hydraulic fracturing, workover, or plugging of oil and gas and other related wells under the authority of KRS Chapter 353; or

(c) For temporary storage of fluids and solids generated from drilling and completion operations addressed in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection.

(43) "Pool" is defined by KRS 353.510(9).

(44) "Prevailing royalty" is defined by KRS 353.510(27).

(45) "Produced gas" means the amount of produced gas metered or prorated at the well head on a monthly basis.

(46) "Production compressor" means a compressor installed on a gathering line and used to regulate gas pressure to enhance delivery.

(47) "Purchaser number" means the number assigned by the purchasing company to the lease or well for accounting and payment purposes.

(48) "Royalty owner" is defined by KRS 353.510(18).

(49) "Shallow well" is defined by KRS 353.510(15).

(50) "Surface casing" means the first and largest diameter casing installed in a well, and its primary uses are to stabilize the borehole and to protect the fresh water zones.

(51) "TENORM" is defined by KRS 211.862(13), and is subject to the exemption established in KRS 211.863(5).

(52) "Tank battery" means any aboveground storage tank or interconnected grouping of tanks maintained in conjunction with the production and storage of crude oil or produced water.

(53) "Topographic spot" means the act of locating a well on a United States Geological Survey 1:24,000 Topographic Map and scaling that well location on the map to determine its Carter Coordinate location.

(54) "Transmission line" means a pipeline that is subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the United States Department of Transportation under 49 C.F.R. Parts 191, 192, 194, and 195.

(55) "True vertical depth" means the depth of the well from any point in the well being measured to the surface of the ground above the point being measured.

(56) "Underground gas storage" means the utilization of subsurface strata and associated facilities for storing and withdrawing gas held in place for the primary purposes of conservation, fuller utilization of pipeline facilities, and more effective and beneficial service of gas to the public.

(57) "Unit" is defined by KRS 353.010(18).

(58) "Vertical well" is defined by KRS 353.510(26).

(59) "Well" is defined by KRS 353.510(14).

(60) "Well operator" means any person who proposes to or does locate, drill, operate, or abandon any well.

(61) "Wellsite boundary" means the area of disturbance by an operator, excluding access roads, to drill an oil or gas well.

(62) "Wildcat well" means any deep vertical or horizontal well that is drilled:

(a) With the intent of discovering or producing hydrocarbons from a formation or formations not previously productive of oil or gas well within 10,000 feet of its location; or

(b) Under proven geological conditions that, even though located within 10,000 feet from the nearest deep well previously productive of oil or gas, will not, if completed successfully, produce from a previously productive pool.

(63) "Working interest owner" means an operator with the obligation to bear all or a proportionate share of the costs and expenses of unit operation.

(64) "Zone" means a layer of strata capable of producing or receiving fluids.

805 KAR 1:001

46 Ky.R. 819, 1487, 2049; eff. 2-3-2020.

STATUTORY AUTHORITY: KRS 353.500