New Mexico Administrative Code

To require an operator to obtain a permit prior to commencing drilling, deepening or re-entry operations or before plugging a well back to a different pool or completing or re-completing a well in an additional pool and to establish procedures for application for and approval or …

[RESERVED]

A. Permit required. An operator is required to obtain a permit approved by the division prior to commencing drilling, deepening or re-entry operations, commencing an additional lateral, plugging a well back to a different pool, or completing or re-completing a well in an addition…

An operator shall file a complete form C-101 and complete form C-102 with the division and meet the following requirements, if applicable: A. an applicant for a permit to drill a well within the corporate limits of a city, town or village shall give notice to the duly constituted…

Oil Conservation Commission.

A wildcat well that the operator projects to drill as a gas well to a formation and in an area that in the division's opinion may reasonably be presumed to produce gas rather than oil and each development well for a defined gas pool, unless otherwise provided in special pool orde…

A. Well tests and classification. The operator of a wildcat or development gas well to which more than 40 acres has been dedicated shall conduct a potential test within 30 days following the well's completion and file the test with the division within 45 days following the test's…

A. Allowable production. If an operator completes a well in an oil pool or prorated gas pool, located within a proration unit containing an existing well or wells producing from that pool and operated by a different operator, unless all operators of wells producing from that pror…

A. Well locations within a secondary recovery, tertiary recovery or pressure maintenance project for producing wells or injection wells that are unorthodox based on 19.15.15.9 NMAC's requirements and are necessary for an efficient production and injection pattern are authorized, …

A. If the drilling tract is within a prorated/allocated oil pool or is subsequently placed within the pool and the drilling tract consists of less than 391/2 acres or more than 401/2 acres, the top proration unit allowable for the well shall be increased or decreased in the propo…

To prevent waste, the division may, after hearing, set different spacing requirements and require different acreage for drilling tracts in a defined oil or gas pool.

A. The division may approve the pooling or communitization of fractional oil lots of 20.49 acres or less with a contiguous oil spacing unit when the ownership is common and the tracts are part of the same lease with the same royalty interests if the following requirements are sat…

19.15.15 NMAC applies to persons engaged in drilling oil and gas wells within New Mexico.

19.15.15 NMAC is adopted pursuant to the Oil and Gas Act, Section 70-2-6, Section 70-2-11 and Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978, which authorizes the division to establish well spacing.

Permanent.

December 1, 2008, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

To classify wells and establish well location and well acreage requirements and procedures for multiple operators within a spacing unit, obtaining approval of unorthodox well locations and for pooling or communitizing small acreage oil lots.

[RESERVED] [See 19.15.2.7 NMAC for definitions.]

A. Wildcat well. (1) In San Juan, Rio Arriba, Sandoval and McKinley counties, a wildcat well is a well to be drilled the spacing unit of which is a distance of two miles or more from: (a) the outer boundary of a defined pool that has produced oil or gas from the formation to whic…

A. A wildcat well that the operator projects to drill as an oil well to a formation and in an area that in the division's opinion may reasonably be presumed to produce oil rather than gas, and each development well for a defined oil pool unless otherwise provided in special pool …

Oil Conservation Commission.

A. The operator shall equip a well drilled for oil or gas with surface and intermediate casing strings and cement as may be necessary to effectively seal off and isolate all water-, oil- and gas-bearing strata and other strata encountered in the well down to the casing point. In …

If a well appears to have a defective casing program or faultily cemented or corroded casing that will permit or may create underground waste or contamination of fresh waters, the operator shall give written notice to the division within five working days and proceed with diligen…

(See Subsection B of 19.15.10 NMAC also) A. The operator shall install and maintain blowout preventers in good working order on drilling rigs operating in areas of known high pressures at or above the projected depth of the well and in areas where pressures that will be encounter…

In pulling outside strings of casing from an oil or gas well, the operator shall keep and leave the space outside the casing left in the hole full of mud-laden fluid or cement of adequate specific gravity to seal off fresh and salt water strata and strata bearing oil or gas not p…

A. Vertical and deviated well bores. (1) Deviation tests required. An operator shall test a vertical or deviated well that is drilled or deepened at reasonably frequent intervals to determine the deviation from the vertical. The operator shall make the tests at least once each 50…

A. General provisions. (1) An operator shall not file an application for permit to drill nor commence the drilling of a horizontal oil or gas well until the operator has either: (a) received the consent of at least one working interest owner or unleased mineral interest owner of …

A. Multiple completions. (1) Filing. An operator intending to multiple complete shall file form C-101 or C-103 with the division for approval before completing and C-104 after completing along with information required by the form instructions. (2) Operation and testing. (a) The …

If shooting, fracturing or treating a well injures the producing formation, injection interval, casing or casing seat and may create underground waste or contaminate fresh water, the operator shall within five working days notify in writing the division and proceed with diligence…

A. The operator shall install and maintain christmas tree fittings or wellhead connections in first class condition so that necessary pressure tests may easily be made on flowing wells. On oil wells the christmas tree fittings shall have a test pressure rating at least equivalent…

A. Completion report. Within 45 days after the completion of a well drilled for oil or gas, or the recompletion of a well into a different common source of supply, the operator shall file a completion report with the division on form C-105. For the purpose of 19.15.16.19 NMAC, a …

19.15.16 NMAC applies to persons engaged in the drilling and production of oil and gas wells within New Mexico.

A. The division may assign an allowable to a newly completed or re-completed well or a well completed in an additional pool or issue an operator authorization to transport oil or gas from the well if the operator: (1) has filed a complete form C-104; (2) has provided a sworn and …

A. For a hydraulically fractured well, an operator shall report, on form C-103 or C-105, the amount of water reported on the disclosure required by Subsection B of 19.15.16.19 NMAC and the breakdown of that amount by:(1) produced water; (2) water other than produced water that ha…

19.15.16 NMAC is adopted pursuant to the Oil and Gas Act, Section 70-2-6, Section 70-2-11 and Section 70-2-12 NMSA 1978.

Permanent.

December 1, 2008, unless a later date is cited at the end of a section.

To regulate the drilling and production of oil and gas wells within the state.

These definitions apply specifically to 19.15.16 NMAC. For additional definitions that may apply see 19.15.2 NMAC. A. "Azimuth" means the deviation in the horizontal plane of a well bore expressed in terms of compass degrees. B. "Completed interval" means that portion of a well b…

A. An operator shall identify wells and related facilities the division regulates by a sign, which shall remain in place until the operator plugs and abandons the well and closes the related facilities. B. For drilling wells, the operator shall post the sign on the derrick or not…

A. During the drilling of an oil well, injection well or other service well, the operator shall seal and separate the oil, gas and water strata above the producing or injection horizon to prevent their contents from passing into other strata. B. The operator shall ensure that fre…

Energy, Minerals and Natural Resources Department, Oil Conservation Division.

A. Except as otherwise provided in 19.15.17 NMAC. (1) An operator shall not locate a temporary pit containing low chloride fluid: (a) where ground water is less than 25 feet below the bottom of the pit; a variance may be granted for a pit used solely to cavitate a coal bed methan…

A. General specifications. An operator shall design and construct a pit, closed-loop system, below-grade tank or sump to contain liquids and solids; prevent contamination of fresh water; and protect public health and the environment. B. Stockpiling of topsoil. Prior to constructi…

A. General specifications. An operator shall maintain and operate a pit or closed-loop system, below-grade tank or sump in accordance with the following requirements. (1) The operator shall operate and maintain a pit or closed-loop system, below-grade tank or sump to contain liqu…

A. Closure plans. A closure plan that an operator submits in an application or registration pursuant to Subsection B of 19.15.17.9 NMAC, or any other closure plan required pursuant to 19.15.17 NMAC, shall describe the proposed closure method and the proposed procedures and protoc…

A. Permit not required. In an emergency an operator may construct a pit without a permit to contain fluids, solids or wastes, if an immediate danger to fresh water, public health or the environment exists. B. Construction standards. The operator shall construct an emergency pit, …