Arizona Laws 27-516. Rules
A. The commission shall make rules and amend them as deemed necessary for the proper administration and enforcement of this article, including the following rules and orders:
Terms Used In Arizona Laws 27-516
- Action: includes any matter or proceeding in a court, civil or criminal. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Affidavit: A written statement of facts confirmed by the oath of the party making it, before a notary or officer having authority to administer oaths.
- Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
- Certificate of clearance: means a permit approved and issued or registered by the commission for transportation or delivery of oil, gas or oil and gas products. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
- developed unit: means a drainage unit having a completed well capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Equitable: Pertaining to civil suits in "equity" rather than in "law." In English legal history, the courts of "law" could order the payment of damages and could afford no other remedy. See damages. A separate court of "equity" could order someone to do something or to cease to do something. See, e.g., injunction. In American jurisprudence, the federal courts have both legal and equitable power, but the distinction is still an important one. For example, a trial by jury is normally available in "law" cases but not in "equity" cases. Source: U.S. Courts
- Field: means the general area which is or appears to be underlaid by not less than one pool, including underground reservoirs containing oil or gas, or both. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Gas: means natural gas, casinghead gas, all other hydrocarbons not defined as oil, carbon dioxide and helium or other substances of a gaseous nature. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- including: means not limited to and is not a term of exclusion. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Obligation: An order placed, contract awarded, service received, or similar transaction during a given period that will require payments during the same or a future period.
- Oil: means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at a well in liquid form by ordinary production methods and which are not the result of condensation of gas. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Owner: means the person having the right to drill into, produce and appropriate production of oil or gas, or both, from a pool. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Person: includes a corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary or representative or any group acting as a unit and includes any department, agency or instrumentality of the state or any of its governmental subdivisions. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Pool: means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil or gas, or both, and includes each zone of a general structure completely separated from any other zone in the structure. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Process: means a citation, writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Producer: means the owner of a well capable of producing oil or gas. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Product: means oil, gas or any product, by-product, mixture or blend of oil or gas. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Service of process: The service of writs or summonses to the appropriate party.
- Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
- United States: includes the District of Columbia and the territories. See Arizona Laws 1-215
- Waste: includes :
(a) Physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry. See Arizona Laws 27-501
- Well: includes any hole drilled or spudded in for the purpose, with the intention or under the representation of penetrating oil or gas bearing strata or of penetrating any strata in search of stratigraphic data pertinent to the location of oil or gas bearing strata, whether or not in either case oil or gas is actually discovered, any hole used in connection with the underground storage of hydrocarbon substances, whether liquid or gaseous, any hole used in connection with a process to inject any substance for purposes of disposal or to increase recovery, any hole used for the purpose of secondary or tertiary recovery and any hole used for the purpose of pressure maintenance. See Arizona Laws 27-501
1. Requiring the drilling, casing and plugging of wells in a manner to prevent:
(a) Escape of oil and gas from one stratum to another.
(b) Intrusion of water into an oil or gas stratum from a separate stratum.
(c) Pollution of fresh water supplies by oil, gas or salt water.
(d) Waste.
2. Requiring reports showing the location of oil and gas wells and requiring filing of logs and drilling records within thirty days after drilling is completed for a well drilled for oil or gas.
3. Requiring a reasonable bond with good and sufficient surety conditioned on the performance of the duties prescribed in paragraphs 1 and 2 of this subsection including the obligation to plug each dry or abandoned well.
4. Preventing drowning by water of any stratum or part capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities and preventing the premature and irregular encroachment of water which reduces or tends to reduce the total ultimate recovery of oil or gas from any pool.
5. Requiring the operation of wells with efficient gas-oil ratio and fixing the limits of such ratios.
6. Preventing blowouts, caving and seepage.
7. Preventing creation of unnecessary fire hazards.
8. Requiring identification of ownership of oil and gas wells, producing leases, refineries, tanks, plants, structures and storage and transportation equipment and facilities.
9. Regulating shooting, perforating and chemical treatment of wells.
10. Regulating gas cycling operations.
11. Regulating secondary recovery methods, including introduction of gas, air, water or any other substances into producing formations.
12. Regulating spacing of wells and establishing drilling units.
13. Limiting, allocating and apportioning production of oil and gas from a pool or field for prevention of waste, and allocating production between tracts of land under separate ownership in a pool on a fair and equitable basis so that each tract will be permitted to produce not more than its just and equitable share from such pool.
14. Preventing, so far as practicable, reasonably avoidable drainage from each developed unit, not equalized by counterdrainage.
15. Requiring a producer of oil or gas to submit for each oil or gas well operated, on a form prescribed by the commission, a monthly report of actual production from each oil or gas well. Such report shall be submitted on or before the twenty-fifth day of the next succeeding month.
16. Requiring persons making settlement with the owner of oil or gas interests to render statements to the owner showing the quantity and gravity purchased and the price per barrel of oil or the price per one thousand cubic feet of gas.
17. Requiring, either generally or in a particular area, a certificate of clearance for transportation or delivery of oil, gas or any product.
18. Requiring the applicant for a drilling permit, if the surface of the land is owned by another not in a contractual relationship with the applicant, to post bond in a reasonable sum with good and sufficient surety conditioned on payment of just compensation to the landowner for actual damages to the surface of or improvements on the land caused by the drilling permittee’s operations.
19. Requiring all forms and reports requested by the commission to be submitted to the commission on or before the twentieth day of the next succeeding month for monthly reports or within twenty days following the completion of the action requiring the report, except as otherwise provided by the commission.
20. Requiring the permitting of all wells and the approval of all equipment and methods:
(a) To create or use existing storage space for the underground storage of hydrocarbon substances, whether liquid or gaseous.
(b) Used for the injection of any substance into geological strata for the purpose of pressure maintenance or for the purpose of increasing ultimate recovery.
(c) Used for the purpose of secondary and tertiary recovery.
(d) Used for the disposal of any substance.
B. No rule or order, or change, renewal or extension, except as otherwise provided by this article, shall, in the absence of an emergency, be made by the commission under the provisions of this article except after a public hearing of which not less than ten days’ notice has been given. The public hearing shall be held at such time and place as may be prescribed by the commission, and any interested person shall be entitled to be heard. Notice shall be given by personal service, by publication or by United States mail addressed, postage prepaid, to the last known mailing address of the person or persons affected. The date of service shall be the date on which service was made in the case of personal service, the date of first publication in the case of notice by publication and the date of mailing in the case of notice by mailing. The notice shall issue in the name of the state, shall be signed by a member of the commission or its deputy, shall specify the style and number of the proceeding and the time and place of the hearing and shall briefly state the purpose of the proceeding. If the commission gives notice by personal service, such service may be made by an officer authorized to serve process or by the commission in the same manner as is provided by law for the service of process in civil actions in the courts of this state. Proof of service by the commission shall be by the affidavit of the commission or its authorized representative making personal service. If service is made by the sheriff, the proof of service shall be as required by law for service of process in civil actions. If the matter to be heard concerns the adoption, amendment or repeal of a rule of general applicability, notice shall be by publication.
C. If an emergency is found by the commission to exist, which in its judgment requires making, changing, renewing or extending a rule or order without first having a hearing, the emergency rule or order shall have the same validity as if a hearing had been held after due notice. The emergency rule or order shall remain in force for not to exceed thirty days from its effective date but shall expire when a rule or order with respect to the subject matter of the emergency rule or order becomes effective after due notice and hearing.