S.C. Code Regs. § § 121-8.2

Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 10, October 25, 2024

Section 121-8.2 - Definitions

Unless the context otherwise requires, the terms below shall be defined as follows:

A. "Act" means Act 179 of 1977, Part 1 (Section 48-43-10, et seq., Code of Laws of South Carolina, 1976, as amended).

B. "Barrel of Oil" means forty-two gallons of 231 cubic inches per gallon at sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60°F).

C. "Blow-out preventer" means a heavy casinghead control that may be closed around the drill string or that completely closes the top of the casing if the pipe is withdrawn.

D. "Casing shoe" means a reinforcing collar of steel screwed onto the bottom joint of casing to prevent abrasion or distortion of the casing as it forces its way past obstructions on the wall of the borehole.

E. "Casinghead gas" means any gas or vapor, or both gas and vapor, indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from such stratum with oil.

F. "Circulation" means the passing of fluid down through the drill stem and up to the surface in the process of rotary drilling, or down the casing and up to the surface in the setting of casing.

G. "Class II Well" means an injection well which is used (1) to inject brine or other fluids which are brought to the surface in connection with oil or natural gas production operations, and which may be commingled with waste waters from gas plants which are an integral part of production operations, unless those waters are classified as a hazardous waste at the time of injection; (2) for enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas; (3) to inject other fluids associated with drilling or production operations as the Commission may deem appropriate; or (4) for storage of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and pressure.

H. "Commission" means the South Carolina Water Resources Commission, or its authorized representatives.

I. "Common Source of Supply" (See pool).

J. "Completion" means that a well has been fully developed and tested for production of oil or gas, or for non-producing wells, that the well has been plugged and abandoned according to provisions of these regulations.

K. "Condensate" means liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in the gaseous phase in the reservoir.

L. "Cubic Foot of Gas" means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot of space at a standard pressure base of 14.73 pounds per square inch absolute (psia) and a standard temperature base of 60°F.

M. "Drilling unit" means the area which can be efficiently and economically drained by one well, which is recognized as such for the purpose of drilling or production as approved by the Commission.

N. "Exploration" means significant physical activities conducted for the purpose of obtaining geological, geophysical, or geochemical information about oil or gas on or under the lands and waters of the State, including seismic activities but not including exploratory well drilling.

O. "Exploratory well", also known as a wildcat well, means any well that is drilled outside of known oil or gas producing areas. A well within known producing areas that is drilled deeper than the deepest producing pool is also an exploratory well.

P. "Field" means the general area which is underlain or appears to be underlain by at least one pool; and field shall include the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing crude oil or natural gas, or both. The words field and pool mean the same thing when only one underground reservoir is involved; however, field, unlike pool, may relate to two or more pools.

Q. "Fluid" means a material or substance which flows or moves whether in a semi-solid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other form or state.

R. "Gas" means all natural gas and all other hydrocarbons not herein defined as oil, and its production can include condensate.

S. "Just and Equitable Share" means, as to each person, that part of the authorized production from the pool that is substantially in the proportion that the amount of recoverable oil or gas or both in the developed area of his tract or tracts in the pool bears to the recoverable oil or gas or both in the total of the developed areas in the pool.

T. "Oil" means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced in liquid form by ordinary production methods, but does not include liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.

U. "Operator" means any person who, duly authorized, is in charge of the development of a lease or the operation of an exploration or producing well, and, in addition, for the purpose of assigning responsibility, may also be the person indicated as operator by the most current records of the Commission.

V. "Owner" means any person who has the right to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas that he produces therefrom, either for himself or for himself and others.

W. "Person" means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representatives of any kind, and includes any government or any political subdivision or any agency thereof.

X. "Pollution" means the act of emitting pollutants into the air or water or onto the land.

Y. "Pool" means a common accumulation of oil, or gas, or both, which is located within the interconnected porous spaces in a rock formation beneath the surface of the earth. Common Source of Supply, and Reservoir, are terms used interchangeably with "Pool."

Z. "Property line" as used herein means the boundary dividing tracts on which mineral rights, royalty, or leases are separately owned, except that where such tracts or leases have been unitized the boundaries of the unit shall be considered the "property line."

AA. "Prorated Pool" means a pool designated by the Commission which has been assessed and for which allowables have been assigned to each well within the pool.

BB. "Protect correlative rights" means that the action or regulation by the Commission should afford a reasonable opportunity to each person entitled thereto to recover or receive the oil or gas in his tract or tracts or the equivalent thereto, without being required to drill unnecessary wells or to incur other unnecessary expense to recover or receive such oil or gas or its equivalent.

CC. "Special field rules" means those rules promulgated for, and which are limited in their application to, individual pools and fields within the State of South Carolina.

DD. "Spudding" means to begin the actual drilling of the well.

EE. "State" means the State of South Carolina.

FF. "Submerged lands" means all lands, whether public or private, overlain by water within the territorial jurisdiction of South Carolina.

GG. "Temporary abandonment" means, for purposes only of compliance with requirements herein, that a well is to be considered temporarily abandoned when it has not been used for six (6) consecutive months and cannot be operated, whether because it was drilled as a dry hole or has ceased to produce, or operations have not been conducted thereon, or for some other reasons; provided, however, such definition shall not be construed to require the plugging of a well that has been approved for future utility by the Commission. The operator of a temporarily abandoned well shall submit a letter to the Commission every six (6) months to describe the future utility of such well.

HH. "Underground Source of Drinking Water (USDW)" means an aquifer or its portion: 1) which supplies any public water system; or, 2) which contains a sufficient quantity of ground water to supply a public water system; and, a) currently supplies drinking water for human consumption; or b) contains water with fewer than ten thousand milligrams per liter total dissolved solids.

II. "Unit" means an area of land, deposit, or deposits of minerals, stratum or strata, or pool or pools, or a part or parts thereof, as to which parties with interests therein are bound to share minerals produced on a specific basis and as to which those having the right to conduct drilling or mining operations therein are bound to share investment and operating costs on a specified basis. A unit may be formed by agreement of the parties involved or by order of the Commission or an agency of the federal government empowered to do so. A unit formed by order of a governmental agency is termed a "compulsory unit."

JJ. "Waste" means and includes: physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry; (2) the inefficient, excessive, or improper use, or the unnecessary dissipation of, reservoir energy; (3) the inefficient storing of oil or gas; (4) the locating, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well in a manner that causes, or tends to cause, reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations, or that causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; (5) the production of oil or gas in excess of: (a) transportation or marketing facilities; (b) reasonable market demand; (c) the amount reasonably required to be produced in the proper drilling, completing or testing of the well from which it is produced; or (d) gas otherwise usefully utilized, except gas produced from an oil well pending the time when with reasonable diligence, the gas can be sold or otherwise usefully utilized on terms and conditions that are just and reasonable, and the production of such gas has been approved by order of the Commission; and (6) underground or above ground waste in the production or storage of oil, gas, or condensate, however caused, and whether or not defined in other subdivisions hereof.

KK. "Well" means any excavation that is cored, bored, drilled, jetted, or dug for the purpose of exploring for or producing oil or gas or for the purpose of enhanced recovery or for the disposal of oil-field wastes or for the storage of hydrocarbons.

LL. "Well spacing" shall mean the pattern of minimum distances from property boundary lines, and from other wells drilling to or producing from the same pool, and which wells may be located on the surface as established by laws, rules, regulations or orders of the Commission.

S.C. Code Regs. § 121-8.2