Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 45.2 > Subtitle IV > Chapter 16 > Article 3 - Regulation of Gas and Oil Development and Production.

• 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.
• 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.
• 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
• Chief: means the Chief of the Division of Mines of the Department of Energy. See Virginia Code 45.2-100
• 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 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
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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.
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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 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
• 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: 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
• 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
• Process: includes subpoenas, the summons and complaint in a civil action, and process in statutory actions. See Virginia Code 1-237
• 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
• 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 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
• Surface owner: means any person who is the owner of record of the surface of the land. See Virginia Code 45.2-1600
• 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
• 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