Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 45.2 > Subtitle IV - Gas and Oil

• Advisory agency: means any board, commission, committee or post which does not exercise any sovereign power or duty, but is appointed by a governmental agency or officer or is created by law for the purpose of making studies or recommendations, or advising or consulting with a governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• 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.
• Affiliated business entity relationship: means a relationship, other than a parent-subsidiary relationship, that exists when (i) one business entity has a controlling ownership interest in the other business entity, (ii) a controlling owner in one entity is also a controlling owner in the other entity, or (iii) there is shared management or control between the business entities. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Appeal: A request made after a trial, asking another court (usually the court of appeals) to decide whether the trial was conducted properly. To make such a request is "to appeal" or "to take an appeal." One who appeals is called the appellant.
• Appraisal: A determination of property value.
• Assets: (1) The property comprising the estate of a deceased person, or (2) the property in a trust account.
• Associated facility: means any facility utilized for gas or oil operations in the Commonwealth, other than a well or a well site. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Attorney-in-fact: A person who, acting as an agent, is given written authorization by another person to transact business for him (her) out of court.
• Beneficial use: means both instream and offstream uses. See Virginia Code 62.1-10
• Board: means the Virginia Soil and Water Conservation Board. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Board: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Board. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Bond with surety: includes the payment in cash of the full amount of the required bond and, in such case, no surety shall be required. See Virginia Code 1-205
• Business: means a corporation, partnership, sole proprietorship, firm, enterprise, franchise, association, trust or foundation, or any other individual or entity carrying on a business or profession, whether or not for profit. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Candidate: means a person who seeks or campaigns for an office of the Commonwealth or one of its governmental units in a general, primary, or special election and who is qualified to have his name placed on the ballot for the office. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Career and technical education: means the training or retraining under public supervision and control that is (i) given in school classes, including field or laboratory work incidental to such training or retraining, exclusive of those career and technical education programs provided and administered by or through the public school system and (ii) conducted as part of a program designed to fit individuals for gainful employment as semiskilled or skilled workers or technicians in recognized occupations. See Virginia Code 23.1-2900
• Case law: The law as laid down in cases that have been decided in the decisions of the courts.
• Chancellor: means the Chancellor of the Virginia Community College System. See Virginia Code 23.1-2900
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• City: includes all cities chartered under the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• City: means an independent incorporated community which became a city as provided by law before noon on July 1, 1971, or which has within defined boundaries a population of 5,000 or more and which has become a city as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-208
• Coal claimant: means a person identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is force-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the coal estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal operator: means any person who operates or has the right to operate a coal mine. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal owner: means any person who owns, leases, mines and produces, or has the right to mine and produce a coal seam. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Coal seam: includes a stratum of less than 20 inches in thickness if it (i) is being commercially worked or (ii) in the judgment of the Department could foreseeably be commercially worked and will require protection if a well is drilled through it. 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
• Coalbed methane gas well operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate a coalbed methane gas well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Commercial feed: means any materials or combination of materials that are distributed or intended for distribution for use as feed for animals, or for mixing in feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Agriculture and Consumer Services. See Virginia Code 3.2-100
• Common law: The legal system that originated in England and is now in use in the United States. It is based on judicial decisions rather than legislative action.
• Complaint: A written statement by the plaintiff stating the wrongs allegedly committed by the defendant.
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Contract: includes a subcontract only when the contract of which it is a part is with the officer's or employee's own governmental agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
• 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.
• Council: means the Virginia Conflict of Interest and Ethics Advisory Council established in § 30-355. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• County: includes towns. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Damages: Money paid by defendants to successful plaintiffs in civil cases to compensate the plaintiffs for their injuries.
• Deed: The legal instrument used to transfer title in real property from one person to another.
• Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
• DEQ: means the Department of Environmental Quality. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Devise: To gift property by will.
• Director: means the Director of the Department of Conservation and Recreation. See Virginia Code 10.1-100
• Discovery: Lawyers' examination, before trial, of facts and documents in possession of the opponents to help the lawyers prepare for trial.
• Distribute: means to: (i) offer or expose for sale, sell, warehouse, exchange, or barter commercial feed; or (ii) supply, furnish, or otherwise provide commercial feed to a contract feeder. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• District director: means a member of the governing body of a district authorized to serve as a director. See Virginia Code 10.1-500
• Docket: A log containing brief entries of court proceedings.
• Donee: The recipient of a gift.
• Drilling unit: means the acreage on which one gas or oil well may be drilled. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Elementary: includes kindergarten. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Employee: means all persons employed by a governmental or advisory agency, unless otherwise limited by the context of its use. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Enhanced recovery: means (i) any activity involving injection of any air, gas, water, or other fluid into the productive strata; (ii) the application of pressure, heat, or other means for the reduction of viscosity of the hydrocarbons; or (iii) the supplying of additional motive force other than normal pumping to increase the production of gas or oil from any well or pool. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Entitlement: A Federal program or provision of law that requires payments to any person or unit of government that meets the eligibility criteria established by law. Entitlements constitute a binding obligation on the part of the Federal Government, and eligible recipients have legal recourse if the obligation is not fulfilled. Social Security and veterans' compensation and pensions are examples of entitlement programs.
• 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}
• Escrow: Money given to a third party to be held for payment until certain conditions are met.
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Evidence of a proceeding or agreement: means written evidence that the coal claimant has (i) filed and has pending a judicial or arbitration proceeding against the gas claimant to determine the ownership of the coalbed methane gas and the right to the funds held in escrow or suspense or (ii) reached an agreement with the gas claimant to apportion the funds between them. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Ex officio: Literally, by virtue of one's office.
• Ex officio: means service by virtue of one's office and includes voting privileges for ex officio members unless otherwise provided. See Virginia Code 1-215
• Exploratory well: means any well drilled to (i) find and produce gas or oil in an unproven area, (ii) find a new reservoir in a field previously found to be productive of gas or oil in another reservoir, or (iii) extend the limits of a known gas or oil reservoir. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Fiduciary: A trustee, executor, or administrator.
• Field rules: means rules established by order of the Board that define a pool, drilling units, production allowables, or other requirements for gas or oil operations within an identifiable area. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• First point of sale: means , for oil, the point at which the oil is (i) sold, exchanged, or transferred for value from one person to another person or (ii) when used by the original owner of the oil, transported off the permitted site and delivered to another facility for use by the original owner. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Fiscal year: The fiscal year is the accounting period for the government. For the federal government, this begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The fiscal year is designated by the calendar year in which it ends; for example, fiscal year 2006 begins on October 1, 2005 and ends on September 30, 2006.
• Forbearance: A means of handling a delinquent loan. A
• Gas claimant: means a person who is identified as possessing an interest in production royalties when a drilling unit is forced-pooled or who asserts or possesses a claim to funds that are held in escrow, for a force-pooled coalbed methane gas well, or in suspense, for a voluntarily pooled coalbed methane gas well, by virtue of owning an interest in the gas estate contained within the drilling unit subject to the pooling order or agreement. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operations: means any (i) activity relating to drilling, redrilling, deepening, stimulating, production, enhanced recovery, converting from one type of a well to another, combining or physically changing to allow the migration of fluid from one formation to another, or plugging or replugging any well; (ii) ground-disturbing activity relating to the development, construction, operation, or abandonment of a gathering pipeline; (iii) development, operation, maintenance, or restoration of any site involved with gas or oil operations; or (iv) work undertaken at a facility used for gas or oil operations. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil operator: means any person who operates or has been designated to operate any gas or oil well or gathering pipeline. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gas or oil owner: means any person who owns, leases, has an interest in, or has the right to explore for, drill, or operate a gas or oil well as principal or lessee. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Gathering pipeline: means a pipeline that is used or intended for use in the transportation of gas or oil from the well to (i) a transmission pipeline regulated by the U. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• geophysical operation: means any activity in search of gas or oil that breaks or disturbs the surface of the earth, including road construction or core drilling. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Geophysical operator: means a person who has the right to explore for gas or oil using ground-disturbing geophysical exploration. 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
• Governing board: includes the State Board and the board of visitors of each baccalaureate public institution of higher education. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Governmental agency: means each component part of the legislative, executive or judicial branches of state and local government, including each office, department, authority, post, commission, committee, and each institution or board created by law to exercise some regulatory or sovereign power or duty as distinguished from purely advisory powers or duties. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Grace period: The number of days you'll have to pay your bill for purchases in full without triggering a finance charge. ^{Source: Federal Reserve}
• Grantor: The person who establishes a trust and places property into it.
• Ground-disturbing: means any changing of land that could result in soil erosion from water or wind and the movement of sediments into state waters, including clearing, grading, excavating, drilling, and transporting and filling of land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Guarantor: A party who agrees to be responsible for the payment of another party's debts should that party default. ^{Source: OCC}
• Guarantor: means any person whose name appears on the label of a commercial feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Guardian: A person legally empowered and charged with the duty of taking care of and managing the property of another person who because of age, intellect, or health, is incapable of managing his (her) own affairs.
• Immediate family: means (i) a spouse and (ii) any other person who resides in the same household as the officer or employee and who is a dependent of the officer or employee. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• in writing: include any representation of words, letters, symbols, numbers, or figures, whether (i) printed or inscribed on a tangible medium or (ii) stored in an electronic or other medium and retrievable in a perceivable form and whether an electronic signature authorized by Virginia Code 1-257
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Injection well: means any well used to inject or otherwise place any substance associated with gas or oil operations into the earth or underground strata for disposal, storage, or enhanced recovery. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Inspector: means the Virginia Gas and Oil Inspector appointed by the Director pursuant to § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
• Label: means a display of written, printed, or graphic matter upon, or affixed to, the container in which a commercial feed is distributed, or on the invoice or delivery slip with which a bulk commercial feed, or customer-formula feed, is distributed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Labeling: means all labels and other written, printed, or graphic matter: (i) upon a commercial feed or any of its containers or wrapper; or (ii) accompanying such commercial feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). ^{Source: OCC}
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Log: includes electrical survey records or electrical survey logs. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Manufacturer: means any person who manufactures commercial feed. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• map: means a map, drawing, or print showing the location of a well, mine, or quarry, or other information required under this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Medicated feed: means a commercial feed obtained by mixing a commercial feed and a drug. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Mine: includes all of the land or property of the mining plant, including both the surface and subsurface, that is used in or contributes directly or indirectly to the mining, concentration, or handling of the mineral resources, including all roads. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mineral owner: means any person who owns minerals, leases minerals, mines and produces minerals, or has the right to mine and produce minerals and to appropriate such minerals that he produces from it, either for himself or for himself and others. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Mortgage: The written agreement pledging property to a creditor as collateral for a loan.
• Mortgagor: The person who pledges property to a creditor as collateral for a loan and who receives the money.
• natural gas: means all natural gas, whether hydrocarbon, nonhydrocarbon, or any combination or mixture thereof, including hydrocarbons, hydrogen sulfide, helium, carbon dioxide, nitrogen, hydrogen, casing head gas, and all other fluids not defined as oil pursuant to this section. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Nonlegislative citizen member: means any natural person who is not a member of the General Assembly of Virginia. See Virginia Code 1-225
• Nonparticipating operator: means a gas or oil owner of a tract that is included in a drilling unit who elects to share in the operation of the well on a carried basis by agreeing to have his proportionate share of the costs allocable to his interest charged against his share of production from the well. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• officer: includes members of the judiciary. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• 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
• Orphaned well: means any well abandoned prior to July 1, 1950, or for which no records exist concerning its drilling, plugging, or abandonment. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Parent-subsidiary relationship: means a relationship that exists when one corporation directly or indirectly owns shares possessing more than 50 percent of the voting power of another corporation. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Participating operator: means a gas or oil owner who elects to (i) bear a share of the risks and costs of drilling, completing, equipping, operating, plugging, and abandoning a well on a drilling unit and (ii) receive a share of production from the well equal to the proportion that the acreage in the drilling unit he owns or holds under lease bears to the total acreage of the drilling unit. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Partnership: A voluntary contract between two or more persons to pool some or all of their assets into a business, with the agreement that there will be a proportional sharing of profits and losses.
• Permittee: means any gas, oil, or geophysical operator holding a permit for gas, oil, or geophysical operations issued under authority of this chapter. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Person: means any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or other legal or commercial entity. See Virginia Code 6.2-100
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Person under a disability: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Personal interest: means a financial benefit or liability accruing to an officer or employee or to a member of his immediate family. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Personal interest in a transaction: means a personal interest of an officer or employee in any matter considered by his agency. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• Personal property: All property that is not real property.
• Pet food: means any commercial feed prepared and distributed for consumption by cats and dogs. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Pipeline: means any pipe above or below the ground used or to be used to transport gas or oil. 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
• President pro tempore: A constitutionally recognized officer of the Senate who presides over the chamber in the absence of the Vice President. The President Pro Tempore (or, "president for a time") is elected by the Senate and is, by custom, the Senator of the majority party with the longest record of continuous service.
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• Public institution of higher education: includes the System as a whole and each associate-degree-granting and baccalaureate public institution of higher education in the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Quorum: The number of legislators that must be present to do business.
• real estate: includes lands, tenements and hereditaments, and all rights and appurtenances thereto and interests therein, other than a chattel interest. See Virginia Code 1-219
• Real property: Land, and all immovable fixtures erected on, growing on, or affixed to the land.
• Remainder: An interest in property that takes effect in the future at a specified time or after the occurrence of some event, such as the death of a life tenant.
• Restoration: means all activity required to return a permitted site to other use after gas, oil, or geophysical operations have ended, as approved in the operations plan for the permitted site. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Royalty owner: means any owner of gas or oil in place, or owner of gas or oil rights, who is eligible to receive payment based on the production of gas or oil. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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.
• Small package commercial feed: means commercial feed distributed in individual packages of 10 pounds or less. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Specialty pet: means any domesticated animal usually maintained in a cage or tank, including gerbils, hamsters, canaries, psittacine birds, mynahs, finches, tropical fish, goldfish, snakes and turtles. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• Specialty pet food: means any commercial feed prepared and distributed for consumption by specialty pets. See Virginia Code 3.2-4800
• 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
• state agency: means the same as that term is defined in § Virginia Code 1-206
• State Board: means the State Board for Community Colleges. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• State waters: means all water, on the surface and under the ground, that is wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and that affects the public welfare. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Stimulation: means any action taken by a gas or oil operator to increase the inherent productivity of a gas or oil well, including fracturing, shooting, or acidizing, but excluding (i) cleaning out, bailing, or workover operations and (ii) the use of surface-tension reducing agents, emulsion breakers, paraffin solvents, or other agents that affect the gas or oil being produced, as distinguished from the producing formation. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Storage well: means any well used for the underground storage of gas. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• Superintendent: means the Superintendent of Public Instruction. See Virginia Code 22.1-1
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• System: means the Virginia Community College System. See Virginia Code 23.1-100
• Town: means any existing town or an incorporated community within one or more counties which became a town before noon, July 1, 1971, as provided by law or which has within defined boundaries a population of 1,000 or more and which has become a town as provided by law. See Virginia Code 1-254
• Transaction: means any matter considered by any governmental or advisory agency, whether in a committee, subcommittee, or other entity of that agency or before the agency itself, on which official action is taken or contemplated. See Virginia Code 2.2-3101
• United States: includes 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 1-255
• Venue: The geographical location in which a case is tried.
• warehouseman: as used in this chapter means any person, firm or corporation engaged in the business of selling leaf tobacco at auction, for a commission or for any other consideration. See Virginia Code 61.1-53
• Water: includes all waters, on the surface and under the ground, wholly or partially within or bordering the Commonwealth or within its jurisdiction and which affect the public welfare. See Virginia Code 62.1-10
• Water well: means any well drilled, bored, or dug into the earth for the sole purpose of extracting from it potable, fresh, or usable water for household, domestic, industrial, agricultural, or public use. 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