For the purposes of this chapter:

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1.    “Average daily production” of a well means the qualified maximum total production of oil from the well during a calendar month period divided by the number of calendar days in that period, and “qualified maximum total production” of a well means that the well must have been maintained at the maximum efficient rate of production as defined and determined by rule adopted by the industrial commission in furtherance of its authority under chapter 38-08.

2.    “Horizontal well” means a well with a horizontal displacement of the well bore drilled at an angle of at least eighty degrees within the productive formation of at least three hundred feet [91.44 meters].

3. “Oil” means petroleum, crude oil, mineral oil, casinghead gasoline, and all liquid hydrocarbons that are recovered from gas on the lease incidental to the production of the gas.

4.    “Property” means the right which arises from a lease or fee interest, as a whole or any designated portion thereof, to produce oil. A producer shall treat as a separate property each separate and distinct producing reservoir subject to the same right to produce crude oil; provided, that such reservoir is recognized by the industrial commission as a producing formation that is separate and distinct from, and not in communication with, any other producing formation.

5.    “Qualifying secondary recovery project” means a project employing water flooding. To be eligible for the tax exemption provided under section 57-51.1-03, a secondary recovery project must be certified as qualifying by the industrial commission and the project operator must have obtained incremental production as defined in subsection 3 of section 57-51.1-03.

6.    “Qualifying tertiary recovery project” means a project for enhancing recovery of oil which meets the requirements of section 4993(c), Internal Revenue Code of 1954, as amended through December 31, 1986, and includes the following methods for recovery:

a.    Miscible fluid displacement. b.    Steam drive injection.

c.    Microemulsion.

d.    In situ combustion.

e.    Polymer augmented water flooding. f.    Cyclic steam injection.

g.    Alkaline flooding.

h.    Carbonated water flooding.

i.    Immiscible carbon dioxide displacement.

j.    New tertiary recovery methods certified by the industrial commission.

It does not include water flooding, unless the water flooding is used as an element of one of the qualifying tertiary recovery techniques described in this subsection, or immiscible natural gas injection. To be eligible for the tax exemption provided under section 57-51.1-03, a tertiary recovery project must be certified as qualifying by the industrial commission, the project operator must continue to operate the unit as a qualifying tertiary recovery project, and the project operator must have obtained incremental production as defined in subsection 3 of section 57-51.1-03.

7.    “Restimulation well” means a previously completed oil or gas well that, following completion and production of oil, has been treated with an application of fluid under pressure for the purpose of initiating or propagating fractures in a target geologic formation to enhance production of oil. The term does not include a well that:

a.    Has less than sixty months of production or is producing more than one hundred and twenty-five barrels of oil per day reported to the industrial commission before completion of the restimulation treatment;    b.    Is part of a qualifying secondary recovery project, qualifying tertiary recovery project, or stripper well or stripper well property as defined under this section; or

c.    Is drilled but not completed and does not have a record of oil production reported to the industrial commission.

8.    “Royalty owner” means an owner of what is commonly known as the royalty interest and shall not include the owner of any overriding royalty or other payment carved out of the working interest.

9.    “Stripper well” means a well drilled and completed, or re-entered and recompleted as a horizontal well, after June 30, 2013, whose average daily production of oil during any preceding consecutive twelve-month period, excluding condensate recovered in nonassociated production, per well did not exceed ten barrels per day for wells of a depth of six thousand feet [1828.80 meters] or less, fifteen barrels per day for wells of a depth of more than six thousand feet [1828.80 meters] but not more than ten thousand feet [3048 meters], and thirty barrels per day for wells of a depth of more than ten thousand feet [3048 meters] outside the Bakken and Three Forks formations, and thirty-five barrels per day for wells of a depth of more than ten thousand feet [3048 meters] in the Bakken or Three Forks formation.

10.    “Stripper well property” means wells drilled and completed, or a well re-entered and recompleted as a horizontal well, before July 1, 2013, on a “property” whose average daily production of oil, excluding condensate recovered in nonassociated production, per well did not exceed ten barrels per day for wells of a depth of six thousand feet [1828.80 meters] or less, fifteen barrels per day for wells of a depth of more than six thousand feet [1828.80 meters] but not more than ten thousand feet [3048 meters], and thirty barrels per day for wells of a depth of more than ten thousand feet [3048 meters] during any preceding consecutive twelve-month period. Wells which did not actually yield or produce oil during the qualifying twelve-month period, including disposal wells, dry wells, spent wells, and shut-in wells, are not production wells for the purpose of determining whether the stripper well property exemption applies.