As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abandonment of a well" or "cessation of well operations" means the timeat which (i) a gas or oil operator has ceased operation of a well and has notproperly plugged the well and reclaimed the site as required by this chapter,(ii) the time at which a gas or oil operator has allowed the well to becomeincapable of production or conversion to another well type, or (iii) the timeat which the Director revokes a permit or forfeits a bond covering a gas oroil operation.
"Associated facilities" means any facility utilized for gas or oiloperations in the Commonwealth, other than a well or a well site.
"Barrel" means forty-two U.S. gallons of liquids, including slurries, at atemperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Board" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board.
"Coalbed methane gas" means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds androck strata associated therewith.
"Coalbed methane gas well" means a well capable of producing coalbedmethane gas.
"Coalbed methane gas well operator" means any person who has beendesignated to operate or does operate a coalbed methane gas well.
"Coal operator" means any person who has the right to operate or doesoperate a coal mine.
"Coal owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or hasthe right to mine and produce, a coal seam.
"Coal seam" means any stratum of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,unless a stratum of less thickness is being commercially worked, or can inthe judgment of the Department foreseeably be commercially worked and willrequire protection if wells are drilled through it.
"Correlative rights" means the right of each gas or oil owner having aninterest in a single pool to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtainand produce his just and equitable share of production of the gas or oil insuch pool or its equivalent without being required to drill unnecessary wellsor incur other unnecessary expenses to recover or receive the gas or oil orits equivalent.
"Cubic foot of gas" means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot ofspace at a standard pressure base of 14.73 pounds per square foot and astandard temperature base of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Disposal well" means any well drilled or converted for the disposal ofdrilling fluids, produced waters, or other wastes associated with gas or oiloperations.
"Drilling unit" means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may bedrilled.
"Enhanced recovery" means (i) any activity involving injection of any air,gas, water or other fluid into the productive strata, (ii) the application ofpressure, heat or other means for the reduction of viscosity of thehydrocarbons, or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other thannormal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well, wellsor pool.
"Exploratory well" means any well drilled (i) to find and produce gas oroil in an unproven area, (ii) to find a new reservoir in a field previouslyfound to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) to extendthe limits of a known gas or oil reservoir.
"Field rules" means rules established by order of the Virginia Gas and OilBoard that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or otherrequirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area.
"First point of sale" means, for oil, the point at which the oil is sold,exchanged or transferred for value from one person to another person, or whenthe original owner of the oil uses the oil, the point at which the oil istransported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for useby the original owner; and for gas, the point at which the gas is sold,exchanged or transferred for value to any interstate or intrastate pipeline,any local distribution company, any person for use by such person, or whenthe gas is used by the owner of the gas for a purpose other than theproduction or transportation of the gas, the point at which the gas isdelivered to a facility for use.
"Fund" means the Gas and Oil Plugging and Restoration Fund.
"Gas" or "natural gas" means all natural gas whether hydrocarbon ornonhydrocarbon or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons,hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing headgas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section.
"Gas or oil operations" means any activity relating to drilling,redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, convertingfrom one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allowthe migration of fluid from one formation to another, plugging or repluggingany well; ground disturbing activity relating to the development,construction, operation and abandonment of a gathering pipeline; thedevelopment, operation, maintenance, and restoration of any site involvedwith gas or oil operations; or any work undertaken at a facility used for gasor oil operations. The term embraces all of the land or property that isused for or which contributes directly or indirectly to a gas or oiloperation, including all roads.
"Gas or oil operator" means any person who has been designated to operateor does operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline.
"Gas or oil owner" means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in,or who has the right to explore for, drill or operate a gas or oil well asprincipal or as lessee. In the event that the gas is owned separately fromthe oil, the definitions contained herein shall apply separately to the gasowner or oil owner.
"Gathering pipeline" means (i) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to a transmission pipelineregulated by the United States Department of Transportation or the StateCorporation Commission or (ii) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to an off-site storage,marketing, or other facility where the gas or oil is sold.
"Geophysical operator" means a person who has the right to explore for gasor oil using ground disturbing geophysical exploration.
"Gob" means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extractionof coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam.
"Ground disturbing" means any changing of land which may result in soilerosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters,including, but not limited to, clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, andtransporting and filling of land.
"Ground disturbing geophysical exploration" or "geophysical operation"means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs thesurface of the earth, including but not limited to road construction or coredrilling. The term shall not include the conduct of gravity, magnetic,radiometric and similar geophysical surveys, and vibroseis or other similarseismic surveys.
"Injection well" means any well used to inject or otherwise place anysubstance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or undergroundstrata for disposal, storage or enhanced recovery.
"Inspector" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector, appointed by theDirector pursuant to § 45.1-361.4, or such other public officer, employee orother authority as may in emergencies be acting in the stead, or by law beassigned the duties of, the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector.
"Log" means the written record progressively describing all strata, water,oil or gas encountered in drilling, depth and thickness of each bed or seamof coal drilled through, quantity of oil, volume of gas, pressures, rate offill-up, fresh and salt water-bearing horizons and depths, cavings strata,casing records and such other information as is usually recorded in thenormal procedure of drilling. The term shall also include electrical surveyrecords or electrical survey logs.
"Mine" means an underground or surface excavation or development with orwithout shafts, slopes, drifts or tunnels for the extraction of coal,minerals or nonmetallic materials, commonly designated as mineral resources,and the hoisting or haulage equipment or appliances, if any, for theextraction of the mineral resources. The term embraces all of the land orproperty of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, thatis used or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration orhandling of the mineral resources, including all roads.
"Mineral" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to it in § 45.1-180.
"Mineral operator" means any person who has the right to or does operate amineral mine.
"Mineral owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, orwho has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate suchminerals that he produces therefrom, either for himself or for himself andothers.
"Nonparticipating operator" means a gas or oil owner of a tract included ina drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carriedbasis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable tohis interest charged against his share of production from the well.
"Offsite disturbance" means any soil erosion, water pollution, or escape ofgas, oil, or waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations off a permittedsite which results from activity conducted on a permitted site.
"Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons,regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form byordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation ofgas after it leaves the underground reservoir.
"Orphaned well" means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or forwhich no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging or abandonment.
"Participating operator" means a gas or oil owner who elects to bear ashare of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating,plugging and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and to receive a share ofproduction from the well equal to the proportion which the acreage in thedrilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of thedrilling unit.
"Permittee" means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permitfor gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of thischapter.
"Person under a disability" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to itin § 8.01-2.
"Pipeline" means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used totransport gas or oil.
"Plat" or "map" means a map, drawing or print showing the location of awell or wells, mine, quarry, or other information required under this chapter.
"Pool" means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single andseparate natural reservoir. It is characterized by a single natural pressuresystem so that production of gas or oil from one part of the pool tends to ordoes affect the reservoir pressure throughout its extent. A pool is boundedby geologic barriers in all directions, such as geologic structuralconditions, impermeable strata, or water in the formation, so that it iseffectively separated from any other pool which may be present in the samegeologic structure. A coalbed methane pool means an area which is underlainor appears to be underlain by at least one coalbed capable of producingcoalbed methane gas.
"Project area" means the well, gathering pipeline, associated facilities,roads, and any other disturbed area, all of which are permitted as part of agas, oil, or geophysical operation.
"Restoration" means all activity required to return a permitted site toother use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approvedin the operations plan for the permitted site.
"Royalty owner" means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas oroil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gasor oil.
"State waters" means all water, on the surface and under the ground, whollyor partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdictionand which affect the public welfare.
"Stimulate" means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase theinherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including, but not limited to,fracturing, shooting or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing orworkover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents,emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, and other agents which affect the gasor oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation.
"Storage well" means any well used for the underground storage of gas.
"Surface owner" means any person who is the owner of record of the surfaceof the land.
"Waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations" means any substance otherthan gas or oil which is (i) produced or generated during or results from thedevelopment, drilling and completion of wells and associated facilities orthe development and construction of gathering pipelines or (ii) produced orgenerated during or results from well, pipeline and associated facilities'operations, including, but not limited to, brines and produced fluids otherthan gas or oil. In addition, this term shall include all rubbish and debris,including all material generated during or resulting from well plugging, siterestoration, or the removal and abandonment of gathering pipelines andassociated facilities.
"Waste" or "escape of resources" means (i) physical waste, as that termis generally understood in the gas and oil industry; (ii) the inefficient,excessive, improper use, or unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;(iii) the inefficient storing of gas or oil; (iv) the locating, drilling,equipping, operating, or producing of any gas or oil well in a manner thatcauses, or tends to cause, a reduction in the quantity of gas or oilultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations, orthat causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss ordestruction of gas or oil; (v) the production of gas or oil in excess oftransportation or marketing facilities; (vi) the amount reasonably requiredto be produced in the proper drilling, completing, or testing of the wellfrom which it is produced, except gas produced from an oil well or condensatewell pending the time when with reasonable diligence the gas can be sold orotherwise usefully utilized on terms and conditions that are just andreasonable; or (vii) underground or above ground waste in the production orstorage of gas, oil, or condensate, however caused. The term "waste" doesnot include gas vented from methane drainage boreholes or coalbed methane gaswells, where necessary for safety reasons or for the efficient testing andoperation of coalbed methane gas wells; nor does it include the plugging ofcoalbed methane gas wells for the recovery of the coal estate.
"Water well" means any well drilled, bored or dug into the earth for thesole purpose of extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public use.
"Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earthor into underground strata for the extraction, injection or placement of anygaseous or liquid substance, or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunctionwith such extraction, injection or placement. The term shall not include anyshaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purposeof pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use and shall notinclude water boreholes, methane drainage boreholes where the methane isvented or flared rather than produced and saved, subsurface boreholes drilledfrom the mine face of an underground coal mine, any other boreholes necessaryor convenient for the extraction of coal or drilled pursuant to a uraniumexploratory program carried out pursuant to the laws of this Commonwealth, orany coal or non-fuel mineral core hole or borehole for the purpose ofexploration.
(1982, c. 347, § 45.1-288; 1984, c. 590; 1987, c. 452; 1988, c. 160; 1990, c.92; 1992, c. 812; 1993, c. 254.)
As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abandonment of a well" or "cessation of well operations" means the timeat which (i) a gas or oil operator has ceased operation of a well and has notproperly plugged the well and reclaimed the site as required by this chapter,(ii) the time at which a gas or oil operator has allowed the well to becomeincapable of production or conversion to another well type, or (iii) the timeat which the Director revokes a permit or forfeits a bond covering a gas oroil operation.
"Associated facilities" means any facility utilized for gas or oiloperations in the Commonwealth, other than a well or a well site.
"Barrel" means forty-two U.S. gallons of liquids, including slurries, at atemperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Board" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board.
"Coalbed methane gas" means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds androck strata associated therewith.
"Coalbed methane gas well" means a well capable of producing coalbedmethane gas.
"Coalbed methane gas well operator" means any person who has beendesignated to operate or does operate a coalbed methane gas well.
"Coal operator" means any person who has the right to operate or doesoperate a coal mine.
"Coal owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or hasthe right to mine and produce, a coal seam.
"Coal seam" means any stratum of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,unless a stratum of less thickness is being commercially worked, or can inthe judgment of the Department foreseeably be commercially worked and willrequire protection if wells are drilled through it.
"Correlative rights" means the right of each gas or oil owner having aninterest in a single pool to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtainand produce his just and equitable share of production of the gas or oil insuch pool or its equivalent without being required to drill unnecessary wellsor incur other unnecessary expenses to recover or receive the gas or oil orits equivalent.
"Cubic foot of gas" means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot ofspace at a standard pressure base of 14.73 pounds per square foot and astandard temperature base of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Disposal well" means any well drilled or converted for the disposal ofdrilling fluids, produced waters, or other wastes associated with gas or oiloperations.
"Drilling unit" means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may bedrilled.
"Enhanced recovery" means (i) any activity involving injection of any air,gas, water or other fluid into the productive strata, (ii) the application ofpressure, heat or other means for the reduction of viscosity of thehydrocarbons, or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other thannormal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well, wellsor pool.
"Exploratory well" means any well drilled (i) to find and produce gas oroil in an unproven area, (ii) to find a new reservoir in a field previouslyfound to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) to extendthe limits of a known gas or oil reservoir.
"Field rules" means rules established by order of the Virginia Gas and OilBoard that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or otherrequirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area.
"First point of sale" means, for oil, the point at which the oil is sold,exchanged or transferred for value from one person to another person, or whenthe original owner of the oil uses the oil, the point at which the oil istransported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for useby the original owner; and for gas, the point at which the gas is sold,exchanged or transferred for value to any interstate or intrastate pipeline,any local distribution company, any person for use by such person, or whenthe gas is used by the owner of the gas for a purpose other than theproduction or transportation of the gas, the point at which the gas isdelivered to a facility for use.
"Fund" means the Gas and Oil Plugging and Restoration Fund.
"Gas" or "natural gas" means all natural gas whether hydrocarbon ornonhydrocarbon or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons,hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing headgas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section.
"Gas or oil operations" means any activity relating to drilling,redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, convertingfrom one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allowthe migration of fluid from one formation to another, plugging or repluggingany well; ground disturbing activity relating to the development,construction, operation and abandonment of a gathering pipeline; thedevelopment, operation, maintenance, and restoration of any site involvedwith gas or oil operations; or any work undertaken at a facility used for gasor oil operations. The term embraces all of the land or property that isused for or which contributes directly or indirectly to a gas or oiloperation, including all roads.
"Gas or oil operator" means any person who has been designated to operateor does operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline.
"Gas or oil owner" means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in,or who has the right to explore for, drill or operate a gas or oil well asprincipal or as lessee. In the event that the gas is owned separately fromthe oil, the definitions contained herein shall apply separately to the gasowner or oil owner.
"Gathering pipeline" means (i) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to a transmission pipelineregulated by the United States Department of Transportation or the StateCorporation Commission or (ii) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to an off-site storage,marketing, or other facility where the gas or oil is sold.
"Geophysical operator" means a person who has the right to explore for gasor oil using ground disturbing geophysical exploration.
"Gob" means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extractionof coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam.
"Ground disturbing" means any changing of land which may result in soilerosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters,including, but not limited to, clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, andtransporting and filling of land.
"Ground disturbing geophysical exploration" or "geophysical operation"means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs thesurface of the earth, including but not limited to road construction or coredrilling. The term shall not include the conduct of gravity, magnetic,radiometric and similar geophysical surveys, and vibroseis or other similarseismic surveys.
"Injection well" means any well used to inject or otherwise place anysubstance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or undergroundstrata for disposal, storage or enhanced recovery.
"Inspector" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector, appointed by theDirector pursuant to § 45.1-361.4, or such other public officer, employee orother authority as may in emergencies be acting in the stead, or by law beassigned the duties of, the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector.
"Log" means the written record progressively describing all strata, water,oil or gas encountered in drilling, depth and thickness of each bed or seamof coal drilled through, quantity of oil, volume of gas, pressures, rate offill-up, fresh and salt water-bearing horizons and depths, cavings strata,casing records and such other information as is usually recorded in thenormal procedure of drilling. The term shall also include electrical surveyrecords or electrical survey logs.
"Mine" means an underground or surface excavation or development with orwithout shafts, slopes, drifts or tunnels for the extraction of coal,minerals or nonmetallic materials, commonly designated as mineral resources,and the hoisting or haulage equipment or appliances, if any, for theextraction of the mineral resources. The term embraces all of the land orproperty of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, thatis used or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration orhandling of the mineral resources, including all roads.
"Mineral" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to it in § 45.1-180.
"Mineral operator" means any person who has the right to or does operate amineral mine.
"Mineral owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, orwho has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate suchminerals that he produces therefrom, either for himself or for himself andothers.
"Nonparticipating operator" means a gas or oil owner of a tract included ina drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carriedbasis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable tohis interest charged against his share of production from the well.
"Offsite disturbance" means any soil erosion, water pollution, or escape ofgas, oil, or waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations off a permittedsite which results from activity conducted on a permitted site.
"Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons,regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form byordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation ofgas after it leaves the underground reservoir.
"Orphaned well" means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or forwhich no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging or abandonment.
"Participating operator" means a gas or oil owner who elects to bear ashare of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating,plugging and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and to receive a share ofproduction from the well equal to the proportion which the acreage in thedrilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of thedrilling unit.
"Permittee" means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permitfor gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of thischapter.
"Person under a disability" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to itin § 8.01-2.
"Pipeline" means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used totransport gas or oil.
"Plat" or "map" means a map, drawing or print showing the location of awell or wells, mine, quarry, or other information required under this chapter.
"Pool" means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single andseparate natural reservoir. It is characterized by a single natural pressuresystem so that production of gas or oil from one part of the pool tends to ordoes affect the reservoir pressure throughout its extent. A pool is boundedby geologic barriers in all directions, such as geologic structuralconditions, impermeable strata, or water in the formation, so that it iseffectively separated from any other pool which may be present in the samegeologic structure. A coalbed methane pool means an area which is underlainor appears to be underlain by at least one coalbed capable of producingcoalbed methane gas.
"Project area" means the well, gathering pipeline, associated facilities,roads, and any other disturbed area, all of which are permitted as part of agas, oil, or geophysical operation.
"Restoration" means all activity required to return a permitted site toother use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approvedin the operations plan for the permitted site.
"Royalty owner" means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas oroil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gasor oil.
"State waters" means all water, on the surface and under the ground, whollyor partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdictionand which affect the public welfare.
"Stimulate" means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase theinherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including, but not limited to,fracturing, shooting or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing orworkover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents,emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, and other agents which affect the gasor oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation.
"Storage well" means any well used for the underground storage of gas.
"Surface owner" means any person who is the owner of record of the surfaceof the land.
"Waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations" means any substance otherthan gas or oil which is (i) produced or generated during or results from thedevelopment, drilling and completion of wells and associated facilities orthe development and construction of gathering pipelines or (ii) produced orgenerated during or results from well, pipeline and associated facilities'operations, including, but not limited to, brines and produced fluids otherthan gas or oil. In addition, this term shall include all rubbish and debris,including all material generated during or resulting from well plugging, siterestoration, or the removal and abandonment of gathering pipelines andassociated facilities.
"Waste" or "escape of resources" means (i) physical waste, as that termis generally understood in the gas and oil industry; (ii) the inefficient,excessive, improper use, or unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;(iii) the inefficient storing of gas or oil; (iv) the locating, drilling,equipping, operating, or producing of any gas or oil well in a manner thatcauses, or tends to cause, a reduction in the quantity of gas or oilultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations, orthat causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss ordestruction of gas or oil; (v) the production of gas or oil in excess oftransportation or marketing facilities; (vi) the amount reasonably requiredto be produced in the proper drilling, completing, or testing of the wellfrom which it is produced, except gas produced from an oil well or condensatewell pending the time when with reasonable diligence the gas can be sold orotherwise usefully utilized on terms and conditions that are just andreasonable; or (vii) underground or above ground waste in the production orstorage of gas, oil, or condensate, however caused. The term "waste" doesnot include gas vented from methane drainage boreholes or coalbed methane gaswells, where necessary for safety reasons or for the efficient testing andoperation of coalbed methane gas wells; nor does it include the plugging ofcoalbed methane gas wells for the recovery of the coal estate.
"Water well" means any well drilled, bored or dug into the earth for thesole purpose of extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public use.
"Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earthor into underground strata for the extraction, injection or placement of anygaseous or liquid substance, or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunctionwith such extraction, injection or placement. The term shall not include anyshaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purposeof pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use and shall notinclude water boreholes, methane drainage boreholes where the methane isvented or flared rather than produced and saved, subsurface boreholes drilledfrom the mine face of an underground coal mine, any other boreholes necessaryor convenient for the extraction of coal or drilled pursuant to a uraniumexploratory program carried out pursuant to the laws of this Commonwealth, orany coal or non-fuel mineral core hole or borehole for the purpose ofexploration.
(1982, c. 347, § 45.1-288; 1984, c. 590; 1987, c. 452; 1988, c. 160; 1990, c.92; 1992, c. 812; 1993, c. 254.)
As used in this chapter, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:
"Abandonment of a well" or "cessation of well operations" means the timeat which (i) a gas or oil operator has ceased operation of a well and has notproperly plugged the well and reclaimed the site as required by this chapter,(ii) the time at which a gas or oil operator has allowed the well to becomeincapable of production or conversion to another well type, or (iii) the timeat which the Director revokes a permit or forfeits a bond covering a gas oroil operation.
"Associated facilities" means any facility utilized for gas or oiloperations in the Commonwealth, other than a well or a well site.
"Barrel" means forty-two U.S. gallons of liquids, including slurries, at atemperature of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Board" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board.
"Coalbed methane gas" means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds androck strata associated therewith.
"Coalbed methane gas well" means a well capable of producing coalbedmethane gas.
"Coalbed methane gas well operator" means any person who has beendesignated to operate or does operate a coalbed methane gas well.
"Coal operator" means any person who has the right to operate or doesoperate a coal mine.
"Coal owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or hasthe right to mine and produce, a coal seam.
"Coal seam" means any stratum of coal twenty inches or more in thickness,unless a stratum of less thickness is being commercially worked, or can inthe judgment of the Department foreseeably be commercially worked and willrequire protection if wells are drilled through it.
"Correlative rights" means the right of each gas or oil owner having aninterest in a single pool to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtainand produce his just and equitable share of production of the gas or oil insuch pool or its equivalent without being required to drill unnecessary wellsor incur other unnecessary expenses to recover or receive the gas or oil orits equivalent.
"Cubic foot of gas" means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot ofspace at a standard pressure base of 14.73 pounds per square foot and astandard temperature base of sixty degrees Fahrenheit.
"Disposal well" means any well drilled or converted for the disposal ofdrilling fluids, produced waters, or other wastes associated with gas or oiloperations.
"Drilling unit" means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may bedrilled.
"Enhanced recovery" means (i) any activity involving injection of any air,gas, water or other fluid into the productive strata, (ii) the application ofpressure, heat or other means for the reduction of viscosity of thehydrocarbons, or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other thannormal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well, wellsor pool.
"Exploratory well" means any well drilled (i) to find and produce gas oroil in an unproven area, (ii) to find a new reservoir in a field previouslyfound to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) to extendthe limits of a known gas or oil reservoir.
"Field rules" means rules established by order of the Virginia Gas and OilBoard that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or otherrequirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area.
"First point of sale" means, for oil, the point at which the oil is sold,exchanged or transferred for value from one person to another person, or whenthe original owner of the oil uses the oil, the point at which the oil istransported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for useby the original owner; and for gas, the point at which the gas is sold,exchanged or transferred for value to any interstate or intrastate pipeline,any local distribution company, any person for use by such person, or whenthe gas is used by the owner of the gas for a purpose other than theproduction or transportation of the gas, the point at which the gas isdelivered to a facility for use.
"Fund" means the Gas and Oil Plugging and Restoration Fund.
"Gas" or "natural gas" means all natural gas whether hydrocarbon ornonhydrocarbon or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons,hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing headgas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section.
"Gas or oil operations" means any activity relating to drilling,redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, convertingfrom one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allowthe migration of fluid from one formation to another, plugging or repluggingany well; ground disturbing activity relating to the development,construction, operation and abandonment of a gathering pipeline; thedevelopment, operation, maintenance, and restoration of any site involvedwith gas or oil operations; or any work undertaken at a facility used for gasor oil operations. The term embraces all of the land or property that isused for or which contributes directly or indirectly to a gas or oiloperation, including all roads.
"Gas or oil operator" means any person who has been designated to operateor does operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline.
"Gas or oil owner" means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in,or who has the right to explore for, drill or operate a gas or oil well asprincipal or as lessee. In the event that the gas is owned separately fromthe oil, the definitions contained herein shall apply separately to the gasowner or oil owner.
"Gathering pipeline" means (i) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to a transmission pipelineregulated by the United States Department of Transportation or the StateCorporation Commission or (ii) a pipeline which is used or intended for usein the transportation of gas or oil from the well to an off-site storage,marketing, or other facility where the gas or oil is sold.
"Geophysical operator" means a person who has the right to explore for gasor oil using ground disturbing geophysical exploration.
"Gob" means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extractionof coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam.
"Ground disturbing" means any changing of land which may result in soilerosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters,including, but not limited to, clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, andtransporting and filling of land.
"Ground disturbing geophysical exploration" or "geophysical operation"means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs thesurface of the earth, including but not limited to road construction or coredrilling. The term shall not include the conduct of gravity, magnetic,radiometric and similar geophysical surveys, and vibroseis or other similarseismic surveys.
"Injection well" means any well used to inject or otherwise place anysubstance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or undergroundstrata for disposal, storage or enhanced recovery.
"Inspector" means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector, appointed by theDirector pursuant to § 45.1-361.4, or such other public officer, employee orother authority as may in emergencies be acting in the stead, or by law beassigned the duties of, the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector.
"Log" means the written record progressively describing all strata, water,oil or gas encountered in drilling, depth and thickness of each bed or seamof coal drilled through, quantity of oil, volume of gas, pressures, rate offill-up, fresh and salt water-bearing horizons and depths, cavings strata,casing records and such other information as is usually recorded in thenormal procedure of drilling. The term shall also include electrical surveyrecords or electrical survey logs.
"Mine" means an underground or surface excavation or development with orwithout shafts, slopes, drifts or tunnels for the extraction of coal,minerals or nonmetallic materials, commonly designated as mineral resources,and the hoisting or haulage equipment or appliances, if any, for theextraction of the mineral resources. The term embraces all of the land orproperty of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, thatis used or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration orhandling of the mineral resources, including all roads.
"Mineral" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to it in § 45.1-180.
"Mineral operator" means any person who has the right to or does operate amineral mine.
"Mineral owner" means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, orwho has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate suchminerals that he produces therefrom, either for himself or for himself andothers.
"Nonparticipating operator" means a gas or oil owner of a tract included ina drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carriedbasis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable tohis interest charged against his share of production from the well.
"Offsite disturbance" means any soil erosion, water pollution, or escape ofgas, oil, or waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations off a permittedsite which results from activity conducted on a permitted site.
"Oil" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons,regardless of gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form byordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation ofgas after it leaves the underground reservoir.
"Orphaned well" means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or forwhich no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging or abandonment.
"Participating operator" means a gas or oil owner who elects to bear ashare of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating,plugging and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and to receive a share ofproduction from the well equal to the proportion which the acreage in thedrilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of thedrilling unit.
"Permittee" means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permitfor gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of thischapter.
"Person under a disability" shall have the same meaning as ascribed to itin § 8.01-2.
"Pipeline" means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used totransport gas or oil.
"Plat" or "map" means a map, drawing or print showing the location of awell or wells, mine, quarry, or other information required under this chapter.
"Pool" means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single andseparate natural reservoir. It is characterized by a single natural pressuresystem so that production of gas or oil from one part of the pool tends to ordoes affect the reservoir pressure throughout its extent. A pool is boundedby geologic barriers in all directions, such as geologic structuralconditions, impermeable strata, or water in the formation, so that it iseffectively separated from any other pool which may be present in the samegeologic structure. A coalbed methane pool means an area which is underlainor appears to be underlain by at least one coalbed capable of producingcoalbed methane gas.
"Project area" means the well, gathering pipeline, associated facilities,roads, and any other disturbed area, all of which are permitted as part of agas, oil, or geophysical operation.
"Restoration" means all activity required to return a permitted site toother use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approvedin the operations plan for the permitted site.
"Royalty owner" means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas oroil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gasor oil.
"State waters" means all water, on the surface and under the ground, whollyor partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdictionand which affect the public welfare.
"Stimulate" means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase theinherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including, but not limited to,fracturing, shooting or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing orworkover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents,emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, and other agents which affect the gasor oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation.
"Storage well" means any well used for the underground storage of gas.
"Surface owner" means any person who is the owner of record of the surfaceof the land.
"Waste from gas, oil, or geophysical operations" means any substance otherthan gas or oil which is (i) produced or generated during or results from thedevelopment, drilling and completion of wells and associated facilities orthe development and construction of gathering pipelines or (ii) produced orgenerated during or results from well, pipeline and associated facilities'operations, including, but not limited to, brines and produced fluids otherthan gas or oil. In addition, this term shall include all rubbish and debris,including all material generated during or resulting from well plugging, siterestoration, or the removal and abandonment of gathering pipelines andassociated facilities.
"Waste" or "escape of resources" means (i) physical waste, as that termis generally understood in the gas and oil industry; (ii) the inefficient,excessive, improper use, or unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;(iii) the inefficient storing of gas or oil; (iv) the locating, drilling,equipping, operating, or producing of any gas or oil well in a manner thatcauses, or tends to cause, a reduction in the quantity of gas or oilultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations, orthat causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss ordestruction of gas or oil; (v) the production of gas or oil in excess oftransportation or marketing facilities; (vi) the amount reasonably requiredto be produced in the proper drilling, completing, or testing of the wellfrom which it is produced, except gas produced from an oil well or condensatewell pending the time when with reasonable diligence the gas can be sold orotherwise usefully utilized on terms and conditions that are just andreasonable; or (vii) underground or above ground waste in the production orstorage of gas, oil, or condensate, however caused. The term "waste" doesnot include gas vented from methane drainage boreholes or coalbed methane gaswells, where necessary for safety reasons or for the efficient testing andoperation of coalbed methane gas wells; nor does it include the plugging ofcoalbed methane gas wells for the recovery of the coal estate.
"Water well" means any well drilled, bored or dug into the earth for thesole purpose of extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural or public use.
"Well" means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earthor into underground strata for the extraction, injection or placement of anygaseous or liquid substance, or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunctionwith such extraction, injection or placement. The term shall not include anyshaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored or dug into the earth for the sole purposeof pumping or extracting therefrom potable, fresh or usable water forhousehold, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use and shall notinclude water boreholes, methane drainage boreholes where the methane isvented or flared rather than produced and saved, subsurface boreholes drilledfrom the mine face of an underground coal mine, any other boreholes necessaryor convenient for the extraction of coal or drilled pursuant to a uraniumexploratory program carried out pursuant to the laws of this Commonwealth, orany coal or non-fuel mineral core hole or borehole for the purpose ofexploration.
(1982, c. 347, § 45.1-288; 1984, c. 590; 1987, c. 452; 1988, c. 160; 1990, c.92; 1992, c. 812; 1993, c. 254.)
