Canada Oil and Gas Drilling and Production Regulations (C.R.C., c. 1517)

Orifice Meter Charts

• 36 (1) Orifice meter charts shall be clearly marked in such manner as to indicate the well or wells being metered and the time and the date of start and finish of records.

• (2) Charts shall be computed and shall be preserved for a period of one year.

• (3) In computing the quantity of gas passing the meter during the period covered by a chart, all metered gas shall be recorded together with a fair estimate of all gas passed during all periods in which the meter for any reason fails to record.

• (4) Coefficients for calculating meter charts shall be computed in accordance with the regulations made under the Gas Inspection Act.

When Meters Not Required

• 37 (1) The Oil Conservation Engineer may permit group meter measurements.

• (2) The Oil Conservation Engineer, after examination, may exempt any well or wells from metering the volume of gas produced therefrom if satisfactory estimates of the volume of gas produced are supplied to the Oil Conservation Engineer in lieu of meter measurements.

• (3) Where, in the opinion of the Oil Conservation Engineer, adequate measurements are not being made of the gas produced from any well, the Oil Conservation Engineer may require that such well be closed in until such time as adequate measurements or other satisfactory arrangements for determining quantities have been made.

Testing Gas Wells

• 38 (1) Before production is taken initially from any gas well it shall be tested by the back-pressure method.

• (2) Each producing gas well shall be tested at least every 12 months.

• (3) At the request of the lessee or lessees of a majority of the gas wells in any pool not subject to special pool regulation, the Oil Conservation Engineer may direct that such gas wells in the pool be tested by any standard method recognized as being practicable, except that all gas wells in any one pool shall be tested by the same method.

• (4) Tests shall be made in accordance with detailed instructions obtainable from the Oil Conservation Engineer and shall be forwarded promptly to the Oil Conservation Engineer on a form approved by the Chief.

• (5) Shut-in pressures shall be taken on all producing gas wells semi-annually unless the taking of such pressures is covered by special pool order.

• (6) Surface shut-in pressure shall be taken with a dead-weight gauge after a minimum shut-in period of 24 hours.

• (7) All shut-in pressures and the duration of the shut-in period thereof shall be reported to the Oil Conservation Engineer on the regular monthly gas well report.

• (8) Open-flow and back-pressure tests on gas wells may be witnessed or observed by the Oil Conservation Engineer and he shall be given reasonable notice by the permittee or lessee of the well on which the tests are to be taken, setting the time that such tests will commence.

Well Treatment

• 39 (1) The licensee, permittee or lessee shall not allow a well to be shot with nitroglycerine or similar type of explosive until the Oil Conservation Engineer has been notified of the contemplated action.

• (2) All reasonable precautions shall be taken when shooting, perforating, hydraulically fracturing or chemically treating a well, to ensure that no irreparable injury is done to the well, and to prevent ingress of water or other foreign substance into productive zone.

• (3) The licensee, permittee or lessee shall submit to the Oil Conservation Engineer a report on all wells shot, perforated, hydraulically fractured or chemically treated on a form approved by the Chief and shall include particulars of the results obtained.

• (4) In case any injury is done to the well by shooting, perforating, hydraulically fracturing or chemically treating, the licensee, permittee or lessee may repair or abandon the well and it shall be repaired or abandoned promptly to the satisfaction of the Oil Conservation Engineer if such repair or abandonment is reasonably necessary to prevent waste of oil or gas or damage to persons or property.

Gas-Oil Ratio

• 40 (1) The maximum gas-oil ratio for a well or a pool shall be determined by the Minister.

• (2) No oil well shall be permitted to produce gas in excess of the maximum ratio unless all gas produced in excess thereof, except gas used in gas-lift operations, is returned to the pool from which it was produced under conditions authorized by the Minister.

Gas-Oil Ratio Surveys

41 Gas-oil ratio surveys shall be taken in the manner approved or prescribed by the Oil Conservation Engineer.

Commingling of Production

• 42 (1) A person shall not allow a well to produce from more than one pool unless such action is authorized by the Minister in writing.

• (2) The method of multiple completion shall be approved by the Oil Conservation Engineer.

43 The production from one pool shall not be commingled with that from another pool in the same field before measurement without permission from the Oil Conservation Engineer.

44 No permittee or lessee shall permit a well to produce either oil or gas from different pools through the same production string without first receiving written permission from the Oil Conservation Engineer.

Affixing of Seals

• 45 (1) The Oil Conservation Engineer, wherever he considers it necessary to do so, may seal or cause to be sealed with a metallic seal or seals any or all valves or meters installed at a well or wells or on pipelines, tanks or other receptacles used for the storage or transportation of oil or other fluid produced or withdrawn from the well or wells.

• (2) The person in charge of operations at the well, and the permittee or lessee shall be notified in writing by the Oil Conservation Engineer of the affixing of the seal or seals and the reasons therefor.

• (3) Any seals so affixed shall not be removed, except in case of an emergency, without authority in writing from the Oil Conservation Engineer.

Designating Pool or Field

46 The Minister may designate an area as a pool, field or both and shall name all oil and gas pools and fields in Canada lands.

Well-name Register

• 47 (1) The licensee, permittee or lessee shall mark each of his wells in a conspicuous place with a sign on which is printed, in reasonably large and legible letters, the name of the licensee, permittee or lessee, the name of the well and the legal description of the location and he shall keep the sign posted and the lettering clear.

• (2) There shall be maintained in the Department a record of official names, to be known as the well-name register, in which shall be entered

  • (a) the location of each well and the name thereof, which shall be approved by the Oil Conservation Engineer;

  • (b) the name of the licensee, permittee or lessee and his agent or operator of the well;

  • (c) the name of the drilling contractor; and

  • (d) any subsequent name or names assigned and approved by the Oil Conservation Engineer.

• (3) The last name of the well shown in the well-name register shall be the official name and the one by which the well shall be known.

• (4) The Oil Conservation Engineer may grant or refuse an application to change the official name, and if the application is granted, the new name shall be entered in the well-name register.

Proration

48 The Minister may in his discretion fix and regulate the production and allowables from all wells or pools in order to effect economic production and the conservation of oil and gas.

Injection

• 49 (1) Where an application is made to inject fluids into an underground reservoir, the Minister may authorize or refuse to authorize such action.

• (2) The application shall set forth

  • (a) the location of each intake well;

  • (b) the location of all oil and gas wells, including abandoned and drilling wells and dry holes and the names of permittees or lessees within two miles of each intake well;

  • (c) the formations from which wells are producing or have produced;

  • (d) the name, description and depth of each formation in which fluid is to be injected;

  • (e) the well completion program and the depth of the casing shoe or liner below which it is to be injected;

  • (f) the elevations of the top of the formation into which the fluid is to be injected in the intake well and the wells producing from the same formation within a two-mile radius of each intake well;

  • (g) a log of each intake well or such information as is available;

  • (h) a description of the fluid, stating the kind, where obtained and the estimated amounts to be injected daily;

  • (i) the name and address of the applicant or person to be in charge of the injection operation; and

  • (j) such other information as the Oil Conservation Engineer may require to ascertain whether the injection may be safely and legally made.

• (3) Application may be made to include the use of more than one intake well.

• (4) Each application shall be executed by the lessees who are willing to participate in the proposed operations.

• (5) Upon approval of the Minister, the applicant or the person in charge of injection operations shall notify the Oil Conservation Engineer

  • (a) of the date of commencement of such operations; and

  • (b) within the 10 days next following the discontinuance of such operations, together with reasons in writing in respect of such discontinuance.

• (6) Each well used for the injection of gas or water into a producing formation shall be cased with sound casing so as not to permit leakage, and the casing shall be cemented so that damage will not be caused to oil, gas or fresh water reservoirs.

• (7) The lessee of an intake well shall keep an accurate record of

  • (a) the amount of fluid injected into the intake well;

  • (b) the source of fluid injected; and

  • (c) the pressure used in injection of the fluid.

50 Before fixing and regulating production under section 48 or authorizing the injection of fluids into a reservoir under section 49, the Minister shall have regard to all the circumstances that appear to be relevant and shall consider the interests of other permittees or lessees in the area.

51 The Minister may direct that injection wells may be used by others than the applicant.

Records — Scrubbing Plant, Absorption Plant

• 52 (1) Each person who is the owner or who has the control or management of a scrubbing plant or absorption plant in the Northwest Territories and Yukon Territory shall keep, at his office or other place of business, records of

  • (a) all gas received into a scrubbing plant or absorption plant;

  • (b) the name and address of each person from whom the gas was received;

  • (c) the quantity and quality of the gas received from each person;

  • (d) the price payable in respect thereof; and

  • (e) each disposition and price received by him of any product obtained from treating or processing gas.

• (2) Each person operating a plant for processing gas shall keep a daily record of such gas and file in duplicate with the Chief, not later than the 25th day of each month, a full report, on a form approved by the Chief, of the gas processed during the preceding month.

Records — Oil and Gas Production and Repressuring, Cycling

• 53 (1) Where a well is producing or is capable of producing oil and gas, there shall be kept, at the field office or other place of business acceptable to the Oil Conservation Engineer, a daily record, on a form approved by the Chief, of

  • (a) the oil, gas, water and sediment produced from the well;

  • (b) the average separator pressure if a separator is in use; and

  • (c) the full particulars of the disposition of all products of the well.

• (2) Where fluid is being injected into a well, there shall be kept, at the field office or other place of business acceptable to the Oil Conservation Engineer, a daily record, on a form approved by the Chief, of

  • (a) the gas or liquid injected into the well;

  • (b) the source from which the gas or liquid was obtained; and

  • (c) the particulars of any treatment to which the gas or liquid has been subjected.

• (3) Each permittee or lessee of a well that, during the preceding month, produced or was capable of producing oil or gas, or into which fluid was injected during the preceding month, shall file a statement in duplicate with the Chief, on forms approved by him, not later than the 25th day of the month, showing

  • (a) the oil, gas, water and sediment produced from the well during the preceding month and the disposition thereof;

  • (b) the liquid and gas injected into the well during the preceding month; and

  • (c) the average separator pressure during the preceding month if a separator is in use.

• (4) If a well is shut in, a record so stating shall be filed in duplicate with the Chief each month until production is resumed or the well is abandoned.

• (5) The Oil Conservation Engineer, upon application, may permit the keeping of records or the filing of reports in accordance with this section for a battery or group of wells, but in such cases

  • (a) the figures shall be apportioned in a manner satisfactory to the Oil Conservation Engineer to indicate as nearly as possible the actual production of the individual wells; and

  • (b) the apportioned figures shall represent the production of each well for all purposes.

• (6) The permittee or lessee shall keep such other records and furnish such other reports as the Minister may require.