82-11-204. (Temporary) Hearing on operation of pool as unit. (1) The board, upon the application of persons owning leasehold interests underlying 60% of the surface within the delineated area, shall hold a hearing to consider the need for the operation as a unit of one or more pools or parts thereof in a field for enhanced recovery purposes as to oil or oil and gas, to increase ultimate recovery, or to prevent waste of gas from pools or portions of pools where gas only is produced.

Terms Used In Montana Code 82-11-204

  • Board: means the board of oil and gas conservation provided for in 2-15-3303. See Montana Code 82-11-101
  • Enhanced recovery: means the increased recovery from a pool achieved by artificial means or by the application of energy extrinsic to the pool; such artificial means or application includes pressuring, cycling, pressure maintenance, or injection into the pool of any substance or form of energy as is contemplated in secondary recovery and tertiary programs but does not include the injection in a well of a substance or form of energy for the sole purpose of aiding in the lifting of fluids in the well or stimulating of the reservoir at or near the well by mechanical, chemical, thermal, or explosive means. See Montana Code 82-11-101
  • Field: means the general area underlaid by one or more pools. See Montana Code 82-11-101
  • Gas: means all natural gases and all other fluid hydrocarbons, including methane gas or any other natural gas found in any coal formation, as produced at the wellhead and not defined as oil in subsection (3). See Montana Code 82-1-111
  • 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
  • Oil: means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, that are produced at the wellhead in liquid form by ordinary production methods and that are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir. See Montana Code 82-1-111
  • Pool: means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil or gas or both; each zone of a structure which is completely separated from any other zone in the same structure is a pool, as that term is used in this chapter. See Montana Code 82-11-101
  • Waste: means :

    (i)physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry;

    (ii)the inefficient, excessive, or improper use of or the unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy;

    (iii)the location, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner which causes or tends to cause reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations or which causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas; and

    (iv)the inefficient storing of oil or gas. See Montana Code 82-11-101

(2)At least 60 days prior to application, the applicant shall, by registered or certified mail, notify all known persons owning an interest in the oil and gas within the proposed unit area as disclosed by the records of the county or counties in which the proposed unit area is situated, at those persons’ last-known addresses, of the applicant’s intention to make the application. At the same time producers shall be furnished with a plan of unit operations. Upon written request of an operator of a lease which is in whole or in part within the confines of the proposed delineated area, the applicant shall furnish the operator with copies of any exhibits to be submitted to the board at the time of hearing.