62C-25.002. Definitions

Unless the context otherwise requires, the words defined shall have the following meaning when found in Chapters 62C-25 through 62C-30, F.A.C.:

(1) ADMINISTRATOR (OIL AND GAS ADMINISTRATOR) shall mean the Department’s Oil and Gas Program Administrator.

(2) AGENT shall mean a professional employee of the Department acting on behalf of the Department.

(3) BARREL OF OIL shall mean 42 United States gallons of oil at a temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit, adjusted in accordance with generally accepted industry practices for basic sediment, water and other impurities.

(4) BLOWOUT shall mean a dangerous and uncontrolled eruption of oil, gas or other well bore fluids from a well.

(5) BLOWOUT PREVENTER shall mean the equipment designed for oil field use and installed at the wellhead to prevent a blowout.

(6) BOTTOM-HOLE PRESSURE shall mean the pressure in pounds per square inch at the face of the producing horizon as determined by means of an industry recognized pressure recording instrument.

(7) CASING PRESSURE shall mean the pressure at the surface built up between the casing and the tubing.

(8) CASINGHEAD GAS shall mean any gas produced with oil from an oil reservoir (see DRY GAS).

(9) CIRCULATION shall mean pumping a fluid down the drill stem and up the annulus to the surface in the process of rotary rig operations. REVERSE CIRCULATION shall mean pumping a fluid down the drill stem annulus and up the drill stem to the surface.

(10) CLASS II WELL shall mean any well which injects fluids:

(a) Which are brought to the surface in connection with conventional oil or natural gas production and 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.

(b) For enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas.

(c) For storage of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and pressure.

(11) COMMON CARRIER shall mean a pipeline, railroad, barge, truck or other transportation facility offering service for hire to remove oil, gas, and products derived from any producer to a designated purchaser, as opposed to a transporter who carries exclusively his own production of oil or gas.

(12) COMMON SOURCE OF SUPPLY shall mean a common accumulation of oil or gas or both.

(13) COMPLETION DATE shall mean the day, month, and year that a new well is either plugged and abandoned, or is tested for oil and gas and determined to be productive or nonproductive, or is tested as an injection well and is considered to be completed and suitable for injection use. The Department shall determine the well completion date when the operator fails to determine and report on the prescribed forms its completion, temporary abandonment, or abandonment within 30 days after the well has been drilled to total depth.

(14) CONDENSATE shall mean the liquid hydrocarbons produced by the condensation of a vapor or gas, either after it leaves the reservoir or while still in the reservoir. Condensate is often called DISTILLATE, DRIPS, WHITE OIL, etc.

(15) CONSERVATION shall mean conserving, preserving, guarding, or protecting the oil and gas resources of the State by obtaining the maximum efficiency with minimum waste in the producing, transporting, processing, refining, treating, and marketing of the unrenewable oil and gas resources of the State.

(16) CUBIC FOOT OF GAS shall mean that amount of gaseous hydrocarbons contained in a cubic foot of space at a base temperature of 60 degrees Fahrenheit and an absolute pressure of 14.65 lbs. per square inch, which temperature and pressure are referred to as the base temperature and pressure respectively.

(17) DAY shall mean a period of 24 consecutive hours, from 7:00 a.m. one day to 7:00 a.m. the following day.

(18) DEPARTMENT shall mean the State of Florida, Department of Environmental Protection.

(19) DRILLING MUD shall mean the liquid circulated through the wellbore during rotary drilling and workover operations, primarily to remove cuttings and prevent blowouts.

(20) DRILLING UNIT shall mean the block of land surrounding and assigned to a particular well and into which no other like well may be completed.

(21) DRY GAS shall mean natural gas obtained from formations that produce gas only, or natural gas which does not contain the heavier fractions which may easily condense under normal atmospheric conditions; not casinghead gas.

(22) ENHANCED RECOVERY shall mean the recovery of additional oil from a reservoir above the oil that could be produced using only existing reservoir energy. Enhanced recovery is accomplished by imparting man-made energy to the reservoir, usually by injecting fluids into the producing zone to maintain reservoir pressure and displace hydrocarbons, and includes secondary, tertiary, and exotic forms of recovery.

(23) FLOW LINE shall mean the infield surface pipe through which produced or pressure maintenance fluids travel to or from a well and the field processing equipment or storage.

(24) FRESHWATER shall mean any surface or ground waters of the State whose total dissolved solids content is less than 1,000 milligrams per liter.

(25) GATHERING LINE shall mean the pipe used in transferring produced fluids from field storage to the point of sale to a common carrier or other purchaser.

(26) GEOPHYSICAL SEISMIC INFORMATION shall mean that non-interpreted data defined in subsection 62C-26.007(2), F.A.C.

(27) HORIZONTAL WELL shall mean any well with a horizontal or nearly horizontal borehole within the productive interval.

(28) LEASE TANK shall mean the tank or other receptacle into which the oil is produced, either directly from a well or from a well through gas separator, gun barrel or similar equipment.

(29) LOCATION shall mean the place where a well is drilled and may, depending upon context, refer to either the wellbore or to the pad upon which the drilling rig is assembled.

(30) MONTH and CALENDAR MONTH shall mean the period or interval of time from 7 a.m. on the first day of any month of the calendar to 7 a.m. of the first day of the next succeeding month of the calendar.

(31) MUD PIT shall mean an earthen pit utilized to contain mud-laden fluid. Example: Reserve Pit.

(32) NONROUTINE DRILLING UNIT shall mean any drilling unit composed of unsurveyed land not divided into townships and sections, composed of irregular townships and sections, or composed of odd sized lots other than 40, 160, or 640 acres. See Rule 62C-26.004, F.A.C.

(33) NONROUTINE SPACING shall mean that the required amount of land surrounding an oil or gas well is uncommon in its size, shape, etc., and does not conform to subsections 62C-26.004(1) through (4), F.A.C.

(34) OPERATE shall mean to develop a lease and/or drilling or producing well, produce or transport produced fluids from a lease, dispose of saltwater via a Class II well, or inject fluids for pressure maintenance.

(35) OPERATOR shall mean any duly authorized person who is in charge of the development of a lease and/or a drilling or producing well.

(36) PRESSURE MAINTENANCE (see enhanced recovery) shall mean the injection of fluid(s) into a reservoir to maintain reservoir pressure.

(37) PURCHASER shall mean any person who directly or indirectly purchases, transports, takes, or otherwise removes production to his account from a well, lease, or common source of supply.

(38) RESERVE PIT (Tank) shall mean a pit (tank) utilized for storage of all excess wellbore and pad fluids produced during drilling.

(39) RESERVE CIRCULATION (See CIRCULATION).

(40) ROUTINE DRILLING UNITS are those units based on U.S. Government surveyed township and range lines and, for oil wells, are quarter-quarter or quarter sections (depending on well depth) and for gas wells of any depth, full sections.

(41) ROUTINE LOCATION or WELL shall mean an oil or gas well whose bottom hole position complies with subsection 62C-26.004(4), F.A.C. A routine oil well drilled to a depth of less than 7,000 feet has a bottom hole position no closer than 460 feet to the nearest drilling unit boundary while an oil well drilled to a greater depth has a bhp no closer than 920 feet to the nearest drilling unit boundary. A routine gas well of any depth has a bhp no closer than 1,360 feet to the nearest drilling unit boundary.

(42) ROUTINE SPACING shall mean well spacing based on the U.S. Government Township and Range System as described in Rule 62C-26.004, F.A.C. Routine spacings for oil wells are quarter-quarter sections for wells less than 7,000 feet deep and quarter sections for wells greater than 7,000 feet deep. Gas wells, regardless of depth, are assigned 640 acres.

(43) SECONDARY CONTAINMENT FACILITY shall mean any safety back-up system or structure(s) designed to contain spilled fluids in the event of an accident. Examples include firewalls, dikes, concrete platforms, hard packed clay drilling or producing pads or loading racks, drip pans, curbs, gutters, and drains.

(44) SENSITIVE ENVIRONMENTS shall mean those areas identified by commenting agencies during the Department’s external review process as especially susceptible to disturbances peculiar to the proposed activity. Sensitive environments may be related to species specific habitat or other ecosystems. Some examples are aquatic preserves, live bottom areas, water conservation areas, endangered or threatened species habitat, wetlands, etc.

(45) SEPARATOR shall mean an apparatus for separating oil, gas, water, etc., with relative efficiency as it is produced.

(46) SHUT IN PRESSURE shall mean the pressure noted at the wellhead when the well is completely shut in. Not to be confused with BOTTOM-HOLE PRESSURE.

(47) SPECIFIED MINIMUM YIELD STRENGTH shall mean the minimum yield strength expressed in pounds per square inch, prescribed by the specification under which the material is purchased from the manufacturer.

(48) SUBMERGED LANDS shall mean those lands overlain by the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic Ocean, the bays and estuaries, and all inland rivers, streams, and lakes within the territorial limits of the State.

(49) SURGE PRESSURE shall mean pressure produced by a change in velocity of the moving stream that results from shutting down a pump station or pumping unit, closure of a valve, or any other blockage of the moving stream.

(50) TOXIC GAS (SOUR GAS) shall mean any natural gas containing more than 50 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide.

(51) TYPE I WELL (or LOCATION) shall mean either a well which flows without artificial lift and has a gas-oil ratio greater than 200 cubic feet of gas per barrel of oil or a well whose produced fluids contain more than 50 parts per million of hydrogen sulfide.

(52) TYPE II WELL (or LOCATION) shall mean a well or location not classified as a Type I.

(53) TUBINGLESS COMPLETION shall mean any well equipped with 4.5 inch OD or smaller production casing and which is produced through the production casing without tubing.

(54) UNDERGROUND SOURCE OF DRINKING WATER (USDW) shall mean an aquifer or its portion:

(a) Which supplies any public water system, or

(b) Which contains a sufficient quantity of ground water to supply a public water system and:

1. Currently supplies drinking water for human consumption or

2. Contains fewer than 10,000 milligrams per liter total dissolved solids and is not an exempted aquifer.

(55) WATERS shall include all ground and surface waters of Florida, both freshwater and saltwater, contained in lakes, rivers, streams, swamps, marsh basins, wetlands, bays, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean.

(56) WELL COMPLETION DATE (see COMPLETION DATE).

(57) WELL LOGS shall mean any record obtained by lowering an instrument into a well and recording some physical, chemical, or other property of formation fluids and rock matrix. Examples: electric log, radioactivity log, sonic log, temperature log.

(58) WELL RECORD shall mean Oil & Gas Form No. 8, as defined in Rules 62C-25.008 and 62C-27.002, F.A.C., of these rules.

(59) WELL SITE shall mean the surface location of the well and all attendant facilities necessary to produce, transport, treat, or store production from the well. Well site includes access road, drilling pad, reserve pit, flowline, and production pad, including separating or treating facility and tank battery. See location and routine location.

(60) WETLANDS shall mean those lands of the State of Florida which are overlain by water periodically, seasonally, or permanently.

(61) WORKOVER shall mean an operation involving a deepening, plug back, repair, cement squeeze, perforation, hydraulic fracturing, acidizing, or other chemical treatment which is performed in a production, disposal, or injection well in order to restore, sustain, or increase production, disposal, or injection rates.

Rulemaking Authority 377.22 FS. Law Implemented 377.19, 377.22(2) FS. History–New 11-26-81, Amended 4-12-83, 8-1-83, Formerly 16C-25.02, Amended 6-4-89, 5-12-93, Formerly 16C-25.002, Amended 3-24-96, 4-29-13.