15A NCAC 05H .1619      NOTIFICATION AND REPORTING REQUIREMENTS FOR PERMANENT CLOSURE OF OIL or GAS WELLS

(a) The permittee shall complete and submit the intent to plug and abandon portion of Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment, at least 30 calendar days prior to the commencement of plugging and abandonment operations.  The permittee shall submit a fee in accordance with G.S. 113-395(c) for plugging and abandonment of any oil or gas well.  The Department shall approve or deny Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment in accordance with this Rule.  Approved Plugging and Abandonment forms shall remain valid for a period of 12 months.  The permittee shall include the following in the completed Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment:

(1)           the permittee's name, address, telephone number, fax number, and email address;

(2)           the county and nearest city or town where the oil or gas well is located;

(3)           the property street address, or nearest address to the ingress and egress point leading from a public road to the well pad;

(4)           the API number, the lease name, and the oil or gas well name and number;

(5)           the reason for abandonment;

(6)           identification of casing that will be removed from wellbore and depth below ground surface at which it will be cut;

(7)           the diameter of each wellbore segment;

(8)           the casing grade, weight, outside diameter, and setting depth for each casing string;

(9)           elevation of cement top and cement bottom for each casing string;

(10)         identification of the cement type, additives, density, yield, and estimated volume to be used for each plug;

(11)         the type of plug if other than cement;

(12)         identification of non-cemented sections of casing that may be perforated;

(13)         the wellbore diagrams depicting the current oil or gas well configuration; 

(14)         the wellbore diagrams depicting the proposed oil or gas well configuration with cement plugs;

(15)         the anticipated beginning and ending date for plugging and abandonment activities; and

(16)         identification of wireline and cementing contractors.

(b)  The Department shall deny a request to plug and abandon an oil or gas well if the request is in violation of any rule of this Subchapter or any of the following requirements have not been met:

(1)           the Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment was not complete in accordance with Paragraph (a) of this Rule; or

(2)           the well abandonment fee has not been paid.

(c)  The permittee shall notify the Department 72 hours via telephone or email prior to commencement of plugging and abandonment operations for all existing wells and eight hours for lost and dry holes by submitting Form 11 – Required Notifications to the Department.  The contact information is set forth in Rule .0201 of this Subchapter. This notification shall be submitted to the Department by mail, email, or fax within five days of the telephone or email notice and shall include the following information: 

(1)           the permittee's name, address, telephone number, fax number, and email address;

(2)           the county and nearest city or town where the oil or gas well is located;

(3)           the property street address, or nearest address to the ingress and egress point leading from a public road to the well pad;

(4)           the API number, the lease name, and the oil or gas well name and number; and

(5)           the scheduled date and approximate time of day for which the plugging and abandonment will be performed.

(d)  No later than 90 days after plugging and abandoning an oil or gas well, the permittee shall complete and submit Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment, to the Department.  The permittee shall include the following in the completed Form 14 – Plugging and Abandonment, confirming that the plugging and abandonment operations were conducted in accordance with the approved plan:

(1)           the permittee's name, address, telephone number, fax number, and email address;

(2)           the county and nearest city or town where the oil or gas well is located;

(3)           the property street address, or nearest address to the ingress and egress point leading from a public road to the well pad;

(4)           the API number, the lease name, and the oil or gas well name and number;

(5)           the reason for abandonment;

(6)           the length and type of casing that was removed from the wellbore and the top of each casing string remaining in the wellbore;

(7)           the diameter of each wellbore segment;

(8)           the casing grade, weight, outside diameter, and setting depth for each casing string;

(9)           the elevation of cement top and cement bottom for each casing string;

(10)         the cement type, additives, density, yield, and volume used for each plug;

(11)         the type of plug if other than cement;

(12)         identification of the non-cemented sections of casing that were perforated;

(13)         the wellbore diagrams depicting the pre-plugging oil or gas well configuration;

(14)         the wellbore diagrams depicting the final plugged oil or gas well configuration with cement plugs;

(15)         the date plugging and abandonment activities commenced and were completed;

(16)         identification of wireline and cementing contractors that were used; and

(17)         a copy of wireline logs, cementing tickets, and job summary reports as supplied by the wireline and cementing contractors.

History Note:        Authority G.S. 113-391(a)(2); 113-395;

Eff. March 17, 2015.