HomeMy WebLinkAboutHEARTHFIRE PUD, 1ST FILING - FINAL - 31-95D - CORRESPONDENCE - PRIVATE ENTITIES319. ABANDONMENT
The requirements for abandoning a well shall be as follows:
a. Plugging
11) A dry or abandoned well, seismic, core, or other exploratory hole, must be plugged in such a manner
that oil, gas, water, or other substance shall be confined to the reservoir in which it originally occurred.
Any cement plug shall be a minimum of fifty (50) feet in length and shall extend a minimum of fifty (50)
feet above each zone to be protected. The material used in plugging, whether cement, mechanical plug,
or some other equivalent method approved in writing by the Director, must be placed in the well in a
manner to permanently prevent migration of oil, gas, water, or other substance from the formation or
horizon in which it originally occurred. The preferred plugging cement slurry is that recommended by the
American Petroleum Institute (API) Environmental. Guidance Document: Well Abandonment and Inactive
Well Practices for U.S. Exploration and Production Operations, i.e., a neat cement slurry mixed to API
standards. However, pozzolan, gel and other approved extenders may be used if the operator can
document, to the Director's satisfaction, that the slurry design will achieve a minimum compressive
strength of three hundred (300) psi after twenty-four (24) hours and eight hundred (800) psi after seventy-
two (72) hours measured at ninety-five (95) degrees fahrenheit and at eight hundred (800) psi.
(2) The operator shall have the option as to the method of placing cement in the hole by (a) dump bailer,
(b) pumping a balanced cement plug through tubing or drill pipe, (c) pump and plug, or (d) equivalent
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method approved by the Director prior to plugging. Unless prior approval is given, all wellbores will have
water, mud or other approved fluid between all plugs.
(3) No substance of any nature or description other than normally used in plugging operations shall be
placed in any well at any time during plugging operations. All final reports of plugging and abandonments
shall be submitted on a Sundry Notice, Form 4, and accompanied by a job log or cement verification report
from the plugging contractor specifying the type of fluid used to fill the wellbore, type and slurry volume
of API Class cement used, date of work, and depth the plugs were placed.
(4) In order to protect the fresh water strata, no surface casing shall be pulled from any well unless
authorized by the Director.
(5) All abandoned wells shall have a plug or seal placed at the surface of the ground or the bottom of
the cellar in the hole in such manner as not to interfere with soil cultivation or other surface use. The top
of the pipe must be sealed with either a cement plug and a screw cap, or cement plug and a steel plate
welded in place or by other approved method, or in the alternative be marked with a permanent monument
which shall consist of a piece of pipe not less than four (4) inches in diameter and not less than ten (10)
feet in length, of which four (4) feet shall be above the general ground level, the remainder to be embedded
in cement or to be welded to the surface casing.
(6) The operator must obtain approval from the Director of the plugging method prior to plugging, and
shall notify the Director of the estimated time and date the plugging operation of any well is to commence,
and identify the depth and thickness of all known sources of ground water. For good cause shown, the
Director may require that a cement plug be tagged if a cement retainer or bridge plug is not used. If
requested by the operator, the Director shall furnish written follow-up documentation for a requirement to
tag cement plugs.
(7) Wells Used for Fresh Water. When the well, seismic, core, or other exploratory hole to be plugged
may safely be used as a fresh water well, and such utilization is desired by the landowner, the well need
not be filled above the required sealing plug set below fresh water; provided that written authority for such
use is secured from the landowner and, in such written authority, the landowner assumes the responsibility
to plug the well upon its abandonment as a water well in accordance with these rules. Such written
authority and assumption of responsibility shall be filed with the Commission, provided further that the
landowner furnish a copy of the permit for a water well approved by the Division of Water Resources.
Please keep me informed about any governmental meetings on either of these PUD's.
Very truly yours,
Richard E. Fromm
Operations Mgr.- West
ref.RICLAK2. WPD
attachment
cc: Mr. Steve Olt
City of Fort Collins Planning Department
281 N. College Avenue
Fort Collins, Colorado 80524
Fax:(970)224-6111
Mr. Morris Bell
Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission
1120 Lincoln Street, Suite #801
Denver, Colorado 80203
Phone: (303)894-2100 ext 9105
Fax:(303)894-2109
Dale Walters
January 15, 1997
Mr. Tom Dugan
Jim Sell Design Inc.
117 East Mountain Avenue, Suite 200A
Fort Collins, Colorado 80524
Re: Richards Lake and Hearthfre PUD's
Comments on January 8, 1997 Richards Lake Maps
and our December 30th Meeting
Dear Mr.,,Dugari; .
Dale Walters and I have reviewed the subject maps and our meeting notes; we think you've done a
good job of addressing our concerns and that the remaining items are as follows:
1. Per our meeting, I looked through the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission regulations
and contacted Morris Bell, their Supervising Petroleum Engineer, concerning building homes on or
near abandoned wells. The Commission has no specific set -back distance for homes from an
abandoned well, however, they require an operator to install a permanent pipe monument at least
four foot tall above ground level attached to each abandoned well. (Enclosed is a copy of their
regulation 319.a.(5).) Morris Bell told me that the local governments were very insistent upon
maintaining this requirement when the new regulations were drafted as a means of protecting
landowners who otherwise would not be aware of the location of abandoned wells.
2. Dale and I need to make some detailed drawings of the two multi -well surface sites in Richards
Lake PUD to make sure that the locations provide adequate room for trucks and rigs. We also want
to make sure that these locations are safe. We intend to get back with you within several weeks.
3. The easements for utilities to the WB #1, Meyer #3, #30-13, and #19-7 wells that we discussed
are'oui`of tlie'Richards Lake PUD area. I understand that you and Dale are planning to get together
in the field to walk these out before you include them in an updated Hearthfire map.
WHITING PETROLEUM CORPORATION
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