Unless the context otherwise requires, the words defined shall have the following meaning when found in this part, to wit:

1. (1) “Atmospheric pressure” means the pressure of air at the sea level, equivalent to about fourteen and seven-tenths pounds per square inch (14.7 psi);
2. (2) “Balance (gas)” means an instrument used for determining the specific gravity of gases by weighing methods;
3. (3) “Barometric pressure” means the pressure or weight of air determined by the use of a barometer at a given point;
4. (4) “Barrel” or “barrel of oil” means forty-two (42) United States gallons of oil at a test of sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60° F), with deductions for the full percent of basic sediment, water, and other impurities present, ascertained by centrifugal or other recognized and customary test;
5. (5) “Blowout” means a sudden or violent escape of crude oil or natural gas, as from a drilling well, when high formation pressure is encountered;

6. (6) “Blowout preventer” means a heavy casing head control filled with special gates or discs which:

   1. (A) May be closed around the drill pipe; or
   2. (B) Completely closes the top of the casing if the pipe is withdrawn;

7. (7)

   1. (A) “Bottom hole pressure” means the pressure in pounds per square inch at or near the bottom of an oil or gas well determined at the face of the producing horizon by means of a pressure recovery instrument, adopted and recognized by the oil and gas industry, which can be lowered into the bore of the well.
   2. (B) In the case of gas wells or wells having no fluid in the well bore, it shall mean the pressure as calculated by adding the pressure at the surface of the ground to the calculated weight of the column of gas from the surface to the bottom of the hole;
8. (8) “Casing pressure” means the pressure built up between the casing and tubing when the casing and tubing are packed off at the top of the well;
9. (9) “Casinghead gas” means any gas or vapor, or both gas and vapor, indigenous to an oil stratum and produced from such stratum with oil;
10. (10) “Christmas tree” means an assembly of valves and fittings at the head of the casing of a well to control the flow; also spoken of as “well head connections”;
11. (11) “Circulation” means the passing of an approved fluid down through the drill stem and up to the surface in the process of rotary drilling in setting casing;

12. (12) “Combination well” means a well productive of both oil and gas:

    1. (A) In commercial quantities from the same common source of supply; and
    2. (B) Which has sufficient natural gas pressure to cause the gas to enter a pipeline carrying more than atmospheric pressure;
13. (13) “Commission” means the Oil and Gas Commission;

14. (14)

    1. (A) “Common source of supply” means the geographical area or horizon definitely separated from any other such area or horizon and which contains, or from competent evidence appears to contain, a common accumulation of oil or gas or both.

    2. (B) Any oil or gas field or part thereof which comprises and includes any area which:

       1. (i) Is underlaid; or
       2. (ii) From geological or other scientific data or experiments or from drilling operations or other evidence appears to be underlaid by a common pool or accumulation of oil or gas or both oil and gas;

15. (15)

    1. (A) “Condensate” means the liquid produced by the condensation of a vapor or gas either:

       1. (i) After it leaves the reservoir; or
       2. (ii) While still in the reservoir.
    2. (B) Condensate is often called distillate, drips, white oil., etc.;

16. (16) “Connate water” means water which:

    1. (A) Was deposited with the deposition of solid sediments in an oil or gas reservoir; and
    2. (B) Has not, since its deposition, existed as surface water at atmospheric pressure;
17. (17) “Conservation” means the conserving, preserving, guarding, or protecting the oil and gas resources of the state by obtaining the maximum efficiency with minimum waste in the production, transportation, processing, refining, treating, and marketing of the unrenewable oil and gas resources of the state;
18. (18) “Controlled gas field” means any common source of supply of natural gas discovered after January 1, 1937, or any field discovered prior to January 1, 1937, provided any pool therein has been discovered after January 1, 1937;
19. (19) “Controlled oil field” means any common source of supply of crude oil discovered after January 1, 1937, or any field discovered prior to January 1, 1937, provided any pool therein has been discovered after January 1, 1937;
20. (20) “Controlled production” means the production of oil or gas or both oil and gas from a controlled oil or gas field;
21. (21) “Core hole” means a hole drilled below the fresh water level for obtaining geological and structural information without penetrating a known producing formation in the area;

22. (22) “Crude oil” means petroleum oil, and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which:

    1. (A) Are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production methods; and
    2. (B) Are not the result of condensation of gas before or after it leaves the reservoir;

23. (23)

    1. (A) “Cubic foot of gas” means the volume of gas contained in one cubic foot (1 ft³) of space at the standard pressure base and the standard temperature base.
    2. (B) The standard pressure base shall be fourteen and sixty-five hundredths pounds per square inch (14.65 psi) absolute and the standard temperature base shall be sixty degrees Fahrenheit (60° F);
24. (24) “Day” means a period of twenty-four (24) consecutive hours from 7:00 a.m. of one day to 7:00 a.m. of the following day;
25. (25) “Development” means any work which actively looks toward bringing in production, such as erecting rigs, building tankage, drilling wells, etc.;

26. (26) “Differential pressure” means the difference between:

    1. (A) The tubing pressure and the flow-line pressure;
    2. (B) The drop flow-line pressure;
    3. (C) The drop in pressure of the fluid in passing through the flow-nipple or choke;
    4. (D) In the case of an orifice meter, the difference of the pressures on the upstream and the downstream sides of the orifice;
    5. (E) A pressure measured with a differential gauge or with a manometer (U-tube);
    6. (F) Any difference in pressure;

27. (27)

    1. (A) “Distillate” means a product of distillation of the fluid condensed from the vapor driven off in the still, such as gasoline, naphtha, kerosene, and light lubrication oils, the result of distillation of crude oil.
    2. (B) Condensate is commonly referred to as distillate;

28. (28) “Division order” means a written statement, dated, duly signed by the owners, and delivered to the purchaser:

    1. (A) Certifying and guaranteeing the interests of ownership of the production; and
    2. (B) Directing payments according to those interests;
29. (29) “Dry gas” means natural gas obtained from sands that produce gas only, or natural gas obtained which does not contain the heavier fractions which may easily condense under normal atmospheric conditions, not casinghead gas;
30. (30) “Edge water” means water that holds the oil or gas, or both oil and gas, in higher structural position, usually encroaching on a pool as the oil or gas is removed;

31. (31)

    1. (A) “Field” means the general area which is underlaid or appears to be underlaid by at least one (1) pool.
    2. (B) “Field” shall include the underground reservoir or reservoirs containing crude petroleum oil or natural gas, or both.
    3. (C) The words “field” and “pool” mean the same thing when only one (1) underground reservoir is involved; however, “field”, unlike “pool”, may relate to two (2) or more pools;
32. (32) “Flowing well” means a well from which oil or gas flows naturally without pumping or other means of artificial lift;
33. (33) “Gas” means the natural gas obtained from gas or combination wells regardless of its chemical analysis;
34. (34) “Gas allowable” means the amount of natural gas authorized to be produced by order of the Oil and Gas Commission;
35. (35) “Gas assessment” means the assessment on each thousand cubic feet (1,000 ft³) of gas produced from a gas well to pay the costs incident to the administration of the rules of the Oil and Gas Commission;
36. (36) “Gas repressuring” means the introduction of gas or air into a common source of supply by artificial means in order to replenish, replace, or increase the gas energy causing the oil to flow out of the reservoir;
37. (37) “Gas sour” means gas which contains hydrogen sulfide in sufficient quantities to render it unfit for domestic or commercial use;

38. (38) “Gas well” means:

    1. (A) A well which produces natural gas only;
    2. (B) Any well capable of producing gas in commercial quantities and also producing oil from the same common source of supply but not in commercial quantities;
    3. (C) Any well classed as a gas well by the Oil and Gas Commission for any reason; or
    4. (D) A well that contains no liquid hydrocarbons in the reservoir;
39. (39) “Gas lift” means a method of injecting gas for lifting a liquid from the well to the surface;
40. (40) “Gas-oil ratio” means the number of cubic feet of gas at atmospheric pressure, as produced from an oil well or combination well, divided by the number of barrels (forty-two gallons (42 gals.)) of oil, the unit of time being a day of twenty-four (24) hours;
41. (41) “Illegal oil” means oil which has been produced within the State of Arkansas from any well during any time that well has produced in excess of the amount allowed by any rule or order of the Oil and Gas Commission, as distinguished from oil produced within the State of Arkansas from a well not producing in excess of the amount so allowed, which is “legal oil”;
42. (42) “Illegal gas” means gas which has been produced within the State of Arkansas from any well during any time that well has produced in excess of the amount allowed by any rule or order of the Oil and Gas Commission, as distinguished from gas produced within the State of Arkansas from a well not producing in excess of the amount so allowed, which is “legal gas”;
43. (43) “Illegal product” means any product of oil or gas, any part of which was processed or derived, in whole or in part, from illegal oil or illegal gas or from any product thereof as distinguished from “legal product”, which is a product possessed or derived to no extent from illegal oil or illegal gas;

44. (44)

    1. (A) “Indices of productive value” means the factors to be considered in ascertaining the productivity of all property in a common source of supply for the purpose of fixing the allowable production.

    2. (B) These indices can mean, at the discretion of the Oil and Gas Commission:

       1. (i) Acreage;
       2. (ii) Gas-oil ratios;
       3. (iii) Static reservoir pressures;
       4. (iv) Flowing pressures;
       5. (v) Fluid level drawdowns;
       6. (vi) The well or wells; or
       7. (vii) Any other pertinent factors;

45. (45) “Lease tank” means the tank or other receptacle into which oil is produced either directly from a well or from a well through:

    1. (A) Gas separator;
    2. (B) Gun barrel; or
    3. (C) Similar equipment;
46. (46) “Meter” means an instrument for measuring and recording the volume of gases or liquids;
47. (47) “Month” and “calendar month” means the period or interval of time from 7:00 a.m. on the first day of any month of the calendar to 7:00 a.m. of the first day of the next succeeding month of the calendar;
48. (48) “Mud-laden fluid” means any approved mixture of water and clay or other material as the term is commonly used in the industry;
49. (49) “Natural gasoline” means gasoline manufactured from casinghead gas or from any natural gas;
50. (50) “Oil” means crude oil or petroleum;
51. (51) “Oil allowable” means the amount of oil authorized to be produced by the order of the Oil and Gas Commission;
52. (52) “Oil assessment” means the assessment on each barrel of oil produced, from any field or reservoir, to pay the costs incident to the administration of the rules of the Oil and Gas Commission;
53. (53) “Oil pipeline” means oil free from water and basic sediment to the degree that it is acceptable for pipeline transportation and refinery use;
54. (54) “Oil well” means any well capable of producing oil in paying quantities that is not a gas well;
55. (55) “Operator” means any person who, duly authorized, is in charge of the development of a lease or the operation of a producing well;
56. (56) “Overage”, “over production” means the oil or gas produced in excess of the allowable as set by the Oil and Gas Commission;

57. (57) “Owner” means the person who has the right to:

    1. (A) Drill into and produce from any field or reservoir; and

    2. (B) Appropriate the production either for:

       1. (i) Himself or herself; or
       2. (ii) Himself or herself and another;
58. (58) “Period, allowable” means the month or day, as designated, in which allowable may be produced;
59. (59) “Permeability” means a measure, determined by scientific means, of the ability of fluid or gas to traverse the producing horizon in an oil or gas reservoir;

60. (60) “Person” means any:

    1. (A) Natural person;
    2. (B) Corporation;
    3. (C) Association;
    4. (D) Partnership;
    5. (E) Receiver;
    6. (F) Trustee;
    7. (G) Guardian;
    8. (H) Executor;
    9. (I) Administrator;
    10. (J) Federal agency; or
    11. (K) Representative of any kind;
61. (61) “Petroleum” means the natural untreated oil obtained from an oil well;
62. (62) “Pipeline” means any pipes above or below the ground used or to be used for the transportation of oil or gas;
63. (63) “Pipeline oil” means the same as “oil pipeline”;

64. (64) “Plug” means the:

    1. (A) Abandoning of a producing or nonproductive well; and
    2. (B) Stopping of the flow of water, gas, or oil in a well;

65. (65)

    1. (A) “Pool” means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of crude petroleum oil or natural gas or both.
    2. (B) Each zone of a general structure which is completely separated from any other zone in the structure is covered by the term pool as used herein;

66. (66) “Porosity” means the:

    1. (A) State or quality of being porous;
    2. (B) Volume of pore space expressed as a percentage of the total volume of the rock mass; or
    3. (C) Percentage or pores of interspaces forming the total bulk of the material;
67. (67) “Potential” means the actual or properly computed daily ability of a well to produce oil or gas, either or both, as determined by the rules of the Oil and Gas Commission;

68. (68)

    1. (A) “Pressure base” means an absolute pressure agreed upon or set as a base for converting the volume of gas metered to correct volume.
    2. (B) The standard pressure base shall be fourteen and sixty-five hundredths pounds per square inch (14.65 psi) absolute;

69. (69) “Pressure maintenance” means the:

    1. (A) Reintroduction (in the early stages of field development) of gas or fluid produced from an oil, gas, or combination well to maintain the pressure of the reservoir; or
    2. (B) Introduction of gas or fluid for the same purpose but obtained from an outside source;
70. (70) “Producer” means any person who owns, in whole or in part, a well capable of producing oil or gas or both in paying quantities;

71. (71) “Product” means any commodity made from oil or gas, and shall include:

    1. (A) Refined crude oil;
    2. (B) Crude tops;
    3. (C) Topped crude;
    4. (D) Processed crude petroleum;
    5. (E) Residue from crude petroleum;
    6. (F) Cracking stock;
    7. (G) Uncracked fuel oil;
    8. (H) Fuel oil;
    9. (I) Treated crude oil;
    10. (J) Residuum;
    11. (K) Gas oil;
    12. (L) Casinghead gasoline;
    13. (M) Natural gas;
    14. (N) Gasoline;
    15. (O) Naphtha;
    16. (P) Distillate;
    17. (Q) Gasoline;
    18. (R) Kerosene;
    19. (S) Benzine;
    20. (T) Wash oil;
    21. (U) Waste oil;
    22. (V) Blended gasoline;
    23. (W) Lubricating oil; or
    24. (X) Blends or mixture of oil with one (1) or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas, whether herein above enumerated or not;
72. (72) “Production, illegal” means the same as “illegal gas” and “illegal oil”;
73. (73) “Production interests” means the right to a specified part of production;
74. (74) “Proven oil or gas land” means that area which has been shown by development and geological information to be such that additional wells drilled thereon are reasonably certain to be commercially productive of oil or gas or both;

75. (75)

    1. (A) “Purchaser” means any person who directly or indirectly purchases, transports, takes, or otherwise removes production to his or her account from a well or lease.
    2. (B) “Purchaser” is usually considered to be the person holding the division order;
76. (76) “Ratable take” means the same as “controlled production”;
77. (77) “Recompletion” means completion operations performed in a source of supply that is separate and distinct from the source of supply in which the well was successfully completed prior to the commencement of the current completion operations;

78. (78) “Refiner” means every person who has any part in the control or management of any operation by which the physical or chemical characteristics of oil or products are changed, but exclusive of the operations of:

    1. (A) Passing oil through separators to remove gas;
    2. (B) Placing oil in settling tanks to remove basic sediment and water;
    3. (C) Dehydrating oil; and
    4. (D) Generally cleaning and purifying oil;
79. (79) “Repressure” means to increase the reservoir pressure by the introduction of gas or fluid into the reservoir;
80. (80) “Reservoir pressure” means the same as “bottom hole pressure”;
81. (81) “Rock pressure” means the well head pressure on a gas well that has been closed long enough to attain a maximum;
82. (82) “Rotary drilling” means the hydraulic process of drilling, consisting of rotating a column of drill pipe to the bottom of which is attached a rotary drilling bit;
83. (83) “Run” means oil or gas removed from the lease;
84. (84) “Separator” means an apparatus for separating gas from oil with relative efficiency, as it is produced;

85. (85)

    1. (A) “Shut-in pressure” means the pressure noted at the wellhead when the well is completely shut in.
    2. (B) “Shut-in pressure” is not to be confused with bottom hole pressure;
86. (86) “Spudding” means the initial step in drilling;
87. (87) “Storer” means every person as herein defined who stores, terminals, retains in custody under warehouse or storage agreements or contracts, oil which comes to rest in his or her tank or other receptacle under control of said storer, but excluding the ordinary lease stock of producers;
88. (88) “Taker” means the same as “purchaser”;
89. (89) “Tender” means a permit or certificate of clearance for the transportation of oil, gas, or products approved and issued or registered under the authority of the Oil and Gas Commission;
90. (90) “Tendership” means the production delivered from one person to another;
91. (91) “Topping plant” means a refinery designed to remove only the gasoline and kerosene fractions from oil;
92. (92) “Trap pressure” means pressure held at the oil and gas separator;

93. (93) “Transporter” means and includes any:

    1. (A) Common carrier by:

       1. (i) Pipeline;
       2. (ii) Barge;
       3. (iii) Boat or other water conveyance; or
       4. (iv) Truck or other conveyance except railroads; and

    2. (B) Person transporting oil by:

       1. (i) Pipeline;
       2. (ii) Barge;
       3. (iii) Boat or other water conveyance; or
       4. (iv) Truck and other conveyance;
94. (94) “Tubing” means the conduit through which oil or gas is removed from a well;
95. (95) “Vacuum” means pressure which is reduced below the pressure of the atmosphere;
96. (96) “Volatile” means easily wasting away by evaporation;

97. (97)

    1. (A) “Waste” means, in addition to its ordinary meaning, “physical waste” as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry.

    2. (B) It shall include:

       1. (i) The inefficient, excessive, or improper use or dissipation of reservoir energy, and the locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner which results, or tends to result, in reducing the quantity of oil or gas ultimately to be recovered from any pool in this state;
       2. (ii) The inefficient storing of oil, and the locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner causing, or tending to cause, unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas;
       3. (iii) Abuse of the correlative rights and opportunities of each owner of oil and gas in a common reservoir due to nonuniform, disproportionate, and unratable withdrawals causing undue drainage between tracts of land;
       4. (iv) Producing oil or gas in such manner as to cause unnecessary water channeling or coning;
       5. (v) The operation of any oil well or wells with an inefficient gas-oil ratio;
       6. (vi) The drowning with water of any stratum or part thereof capable of producing oil or gas;
       7. (vii) Underground waste however caused and whether or not defined;
       8. (viii) The creation of unnecessary fire hazards;
       9. (ix) The escape into the open air from a well producing both oil and gas, of gas in excess of the amount which is necessary in the efficient drilling or operation of the well;
       10. (x) The use of gas for the manufacture of carbon black; and
       11. (xi) Permitting gas produced from a gas well to escape into the air;
98. (98) “Water cone” means the creation of irregularly intruding water by allowing a well to produce too rapidly;
99. (99) “Well log” means an electrical, or any other type of survey, made for the purpose of ascertaining the strata through which a well bore has penetrated;
100. (100) “Wildcat well” means a well drilled outside the geological confines of proven production; and
101. (101) “Workover” means work of a remedial nature performed within the vertical confines of the same source of supply.

Codification Notes: This section as promulgated prior to codification into the Code of Arkansas Rules provided as follows: "(Source: 1992 rule book)"