Definitions

The terms used throughout this chapter have the same meaning as in North Dakota Century Code chapter 38-12, except: 1. "Barrel" means forty-two United States gallons [158.99 liters] measured at sixty degrees Fahrenheit [15.56 degrees Celsius] and fourteen and seventy-three hundreths pounds per square-inch absolute [1034.19 grams per square centimeter]. 2. "Bottom hole or subsurface pressure" means the pressure in pounds per square-inch gauge under conditions existing at or near the producing horizon. 3. "Certified or registered mail" means any form of service by the United States postal service, federal express, Pitney Bowes, and any other commercial nationwide delivery service that provides the mailer with a document showing the date of delivery or refusal to accept delivery. 4. "Completion" means when the well is capable of producing subsurface minerals through wellhead equipment from the ultimate producing zone after casing has been run. 5. "Deep well" means any well to explore for, develop, or produce subsurface minerals which is drilled into rocks older than the Greenhorn formation or which encounters brackish or saline formation waters. 6. "Department" means the department of mineral resources of the industrial commission. 7. "Deposit" means an underground concentration containing a common accumulation of subsurface minerals. 8. "Director" means the director of the department of mineral resources of the industrial commission. 9. "Exception location" means a location which does not conform to the general spacing requirements established by the rules or orders of the commission but which has been specifically approved by the commission. 10. "Field" means the general area underlaid by a concentration of subsurface minerals. Field also includes the geological formation containing such subsurface minerals. 11. "Log or well log" means a systematic, detailed, and correct record of formations encountered in the drilling of a well, and includes commercial electrical logs and similar records. 12. "Nonhydrocarbon gas" means all naturally occurring gaseous elements and compounds except hydrocarbons and carbon dioxide as regulated under North Dakota Century Code chapter 38-08. 13. "Occupied dwelling" means a residence which is lived in by a person at least six months throughout a calendar year. 14. "Operator" means any person or persons who, duly authorized, is in charge of the development of a lease or the operation of a producing property. 15. "Product" means any commodity made from any subsurface mineral. 16. "Recomplete" means the subsequent completion of a well in a different pool. 17. "Reservoir" means a pool or common source of supply. 18. "Saltwater handling facility" means and includes any container, such as a pit, tank, or pool, whether covered or uncovered, used for the handling, storage, disposal of deleterious substances obtained, or used, in connection with the drilling or operation of wells. 19. "Shallow well" means any well drilled into rocks younger than the Belle Fourche formation which does not encounter saline or brackish formation waters for the purpose of developing or producing subsurface minerals. 20. "Shut-in pressure" means the pressure noted at the wellhead when the well is completely shut in, not to be confused with bottom hole pressure. 21. "Testhole" means any hole drilled to a total depth of less than one thousand feet [304.8 meters] for the purpose of gathering information on subsurface minerals. 22. "Waste" means: a. Physical waste; b. Operations which cause or tend to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss; or c. Operations that do not recover all of the mineral being mined that is technically and economically possible.