Virginia Code 45.2-1616: Statewide spacing of wells.
A. Unless prior approval has been received from the Board or a provision of the field or pool rules so allows:
Terms Used In Virginia Code 45.2-1616
- Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Coalbed methane gas: means occluded natural gas produced from coalbeds and rock strata associated with it. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Coalbed methane gas well: means a well capable of producing coalbed methane gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
- Drilling unit: means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may be drilled. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Gob: means the de-stressed zone associated with any full-seam extraction of coal that extends above and below the mined-out coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Oil: means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the underground reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Pool: means an underground accumulation of gas or oil in a single and separate natural reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
- Storage well: means any well used for the underground storage of gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
- Well: means any shaft or hole sunk, drilled, bored, or dug into the earth or into underground strata for the extraction, injection, or placement of any gaseous or liquid substance or any shaft or hole sunk or used in conjunction with such extraction, injection, or placement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
1. No well drilled in search of oil shall be located closer than 1,250 feet to any well completed in the same pool; however, this spacing requirement is subject to § 45.2-1612;
2. No well drilled in search of gas shall be located closer than 2,500 feet to any other well completed in the same pool or closer than 2,500 feet to any storage well within the boundary of a gas storage field certificated by the State Corporation Commission prior to January 1, 1997, if the well to be drilled is to be completed within the same horizon as the certificated gas storage field; and
3. No well shall be drilled closer to the boundary of the acreage supporting the well, whether such acreage is a single leasehold or other tract or a contractual or statutory drilling unit, than one-half of the applicable minimum well spacing distance prescribed in this section.
B. Unless prior approval has been received from the Board or a provision of the field or pool rules so allows:
1. No well drilled in search of coalbed methane gas shall be located closer than 1,000 feet to any other coalbed methane gas well, or in the case of a coalbed methane gas well located in the gob, closer than 500 feet to any other coalbed methane gas well located in the gob.
2. No coalbed methane gas well shall be drilled closer than 500 feet, or in the case of a well located in the gob, closer than 250 feet, from the boundary of the acreage supporting the well, whether such acreage is a single leasehold or other tract or a contractual or statutory drilling unit.
3. The spacing limitations set forth in this subsection are subject to the provisions of §§ 45.2-1611 and 45.2-1612.
1990, c. 92, § 45.1-361.17; 1996, c. 854; 1997, c. 759; 2021, Sp. Sess. I, c. 387.