The Texas Railroad Commission has issued for comment a statewide horizontal drilling rule designed to largely eliminate the need for special field rules.
The proposed rule establishes regulations for minimum spacing requirements, minimum drilling unit size, and maximum proration unit size for wells with horizontal drainholes.
TRC said there will be no fiscal penalties as a result of enforcement or administration for the first 5 years the rule is in effect. Deadline for written comments submitted to TRC's legal examiner is Mar. 23.
WHAT'S INVOLVED
The proposed rule stipulates that no point where the horizontal drainhole penetrates the top of the correlative interval can be drilled nearer than 1,200 ft horizontal displacement to any other horizontal drainhole point in the same field.
The required distance between points is less if the applicable field spacing rule is less than 1,200 ft between wells.
Furthermore, no point on a horizontal drainhole can be drilled nearer than 467 ft, or other lease line spacing requirement under applicable field rules, from any property line, lease line, or subdivision line.
And no horizontal drainhole can be drilled on less acreage than that required for a vertical well in a drilling unit as established in the applicable density rules for the field.
For density purposes, a horizontal well with multiple drainholes will be treated as a single well.
ALLOWABLES ALLOCATION
For allocating allowable production, the acreage assigned to each horizontal drainhole well is the acreage assigned to the drilling unit plus an additional acreage assignment based on the applicable density rule, exclusive of tolerance acreage, for the field and the horizontal drainhole displacement.
No acreage assigned to a horizontal well can be assigned to any other well in the field. All acreage assigned to the horizontal well must be reasonably considered to be productive.
All points on the horizontal drainhole must be within the proration unit.
The maximum daily allowable for a horizontal well is determined by multiplying the applicable allowable for a vertical well in the field with a proration unit containing the maximum acreage authorized by the applicable field rules, exclusive of tolerance acreage, by a fraction.
The numerator is the acreage assigned to the horizontal drainhole for proration purposes. The denominator is the maximum acreage authorized by applicable field rules for proration purposes, exclusive of tolerance acreage.
MAXIMUM DIAGONAL
The maximum diagonal for each proration unit containing a horizontal well is horizontal displacement of the longest drainhole for the well plus either 2,100 ft for fields that are regulated under statewide rules or the maximum diagonal allowed for fields where special rules specify a maximum diagonal.
A single well may be drilled with more than one horizontal drainhole originating from a single vertical well bore. The displacement used for calculating additional acreage assignment is the displacement of the longest horizontal drainhole plus the projection of any other drainhole on a line that extends in an 180 direction from the longest drainhole.
Any intent to develop a new or existing well with horizontal drainholes must be indicated on the application to drill.
A directional survey from the surface to the terminus of the horizontal drainhole is required for all horizontal drainholes.
TRC may grant exceptions to the proposed rule.
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