| (3) Upon request by the Commission, an operator shall
provide non-confidential information verifying that the well was completed
in the interval indicated on its drilling permit application.
(f) Upon an operator's written request and for good
cause shown, the director or the director's delegate may resolve an
existing instance of multiple assignment of acreage. If such a request
is administratively denied, the operator shall have a right to request
a hearing to review the denial.
(g) If an operator does not qualify for multiple assignment
of acreage under subsection (e) of this section, acreage cannot be
assigned to more than one well unless the operator is granted an exception
after a public hearing held after notice to all persons described
in paragraph (2) of this subsection.
(1) An operator applying for an exception must show:
(A) an exception is necessary to prevent waste, prevent
confiscation, or protect correlative rights; and
(B) the wells are not completed in the same ownership
interval.
(2) If an exception is sought for a well in a UFT field,
the operator shall file with its application for an exception the
names and mailing addresses of persons described in §3.86(k)(2),
relating to Horizontal Drainhole Wells. If an exception is sought
for any other well, the operator shall file with its application for
an exception the names and mailing addresses of all the operators
and unleased mineral interest owners of all adjacent offset tracts,
and the operators and unleased mineral interest owners of all tracts
nearer to the proposed well than the prescribed minimum lease-line
spacing distance. In the event the applicant is unable after due diligence
to locate the whereabouts of any person to whom notice is required
by this subsection, the applicant shall publish notice of this application
pursuant to §1.43 of this title (relating to Notice by Publication).
(3) To mitigate the potential for wellbore collisions,
the applicant shall provide copies of any directional surveys to the
persons entitled to notice under this subsection, upon request, within
15 days of the applicant's receipt of a request.
(h) If an offset, overlying, or underlying operator,
or a lessee or unleased mineral interest owner determines that any
operator has assigned identical acreage to two or more concurrently
producing wells in violation of this section, the operator or owner
may file a complaint with the Hearings Division to request that a
hearing be set to consider the issues raised in the complaint. If
the Commission determines after a hearing on the complaint that acreage
has been assigned in violation of this section, the Commission may
curtail or cancel the allowable production rate for any affected wells
and/or may cancel the Certificate of Compliance (Form P-4) for any
affected wells for failure to comply with this section.
(i) An operator shall file Form P-16, Acreage Designation,
with each drilling permit application and with each completion report
for horizontal wells in any field and for all wells in designated
UFT fields as defined in §3.86 of this title. An operator assigning
surface acreage to more than one well pursuant to subsection (g) of
this section shall file Form P-16, Acreage Designation, with each
drilling permit application and with each completion report. The operator
may file Form P-16 with each drilling permit application and with
each completion report for all other wells. The operator may also
file proration unit plats for individual wells in a field.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §3.40 adopted to be effective January 1, 1976; amended to be effective January 9, 2002, 27 TexReg 150; amended to be effective February 1, 2016, 41 TexReg 785; amended to be effective March 3, 2020, 45 TexReg 1387 |
