Vol. 62, No. 10 – B.C. Reg. 103/2019

Volume 62, No. 10
103/2019

The British Columbia Gazette, Part II
May 21, 2019

B.C. Reg. 103/2019, deposited May 17, 2019, under the OIL AND GAS ACTIVITIES ACT [sections 106 (1) and (3), 111 (1) and 112 (1)]. Regulation of the board of the Oil and Gas Commission, dated May 16, 2019.

The board of the Oil and Gas Commission orders that the Drilling and Production Regulation, B.C. Reg. 282/2010, is amended as set out in the attached Schedule.

— D. NIKOLEJSIN, Chair, Board of Directors.

Schedule

1 Section 1 of the Drilling and Production Regulation, B.C. Reg. 282/2010, is amended

(a) by repealing the definition of "Enform" and substituting the following:

"accepted safety training organization" means either of the following:

(a) the non-profit organization of Canadian petroleum industry trade associations known as Energy Safety Canada that provides certification, training and health and safety services to the oil and gas industry;

(b) an organization equivalent to that referred to in paragraph (a) that provides certification, training and health and safety services to the oil and gas industry that are satisfactory to an official; ,

(b) by repealing the definition of "unused equipment", and

"wellhead"

(a) includes the flow control valves and all equipment installed on a well above the uppermost portion of the surface casing, and

(b) does not include associated flow lines; .

2 Section 4 (1) is amended

(a) by adding the following paragraph:

(c.1) section 15 (3); , and

(b) by repealing paragraph (z.01) and substituting the following:

(z.01) section 78 (2), (3), (4) and (6); .

3 Section 6 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(3.1) Subsections (2) and (3) do not apply to the completed portion of a well producing from an unconventional zone listed in Schedule 2.

4 Section 10 (2) is amended by striking out "the Enform Blowout Prevention Manual" and substituting "well control procedures approved by an accepted safety training organization".

5 Section 13 is amended

(a) in subsections (2) (b), (3) (b) and (4) by striking out "issued by Enform or an equivalent certification acceptable to an official" and substituting "issued by an accepted safety training organization", and

(b) in subsection (4) by striking out "servicing operation" and substituting "servicing operations".

6 Section 15 (3) is amended

(a) by adding "both of the following:" after "must ensure",

(b) in paragraph (a) by striking out "equipment, and" and substituting "equipment;", and

7 Section 16 is amended

(a) in subsection (1) (a) by adding ", production, injection or disposal" after "well operations",

(b) in subsection (1) by striking out "and" at the end of paragraph (a), by adding "and" at the end of paragraph (b) and by adding the following paragraph:

8 Section 17 is amended by striking out "equipment, including valves,".

9 Section 19 is amended by adding the following subsection:

(2.1) The well permit holder of a cased well must ensure that the well is equipped with a wellhead, or a capping assembly, that permits access to the wellbore for pressure measurement.

10 Section 22 is amended by striking out "except for zones in which commingled production is permitted" and substituting "except during production from or disposal into zones in which commingled production or disposal is permitted".

11 Section 23 (1) is repealed and the following substituted:

(1) A well permit holder must not commingle production or disposal from a well unless commingling is permitted under the well permit or authorized under section 75 of the Act.

12 Section 25 (5) is repealed and the following substituted:

(5) The well permit holder of an inactive well, within 60 days of the well becoming inactive, must do both of the following:

(a) suspend the well in a manner that ensures the ongoing integrity of the well;

(b) ensure positive isolation between the well and the flowline by disconnecting the well from the flowline or by other means.

13 Section 26 is amended

(a) by adding the following subsection:

(0.1) The following persons must comply with the requirements set out in subsection (1):

(a) for the purposes of section 40 (e) of the Act, a permit holder, former permit holder, authorization holder or former authorization holder with respect to a well permit under which a well has been drilled;

(b) for the purposes of plugging a well, a well permit holder. , and

(b) in subsection (1) by striking out "The following requirements are prescribed for the purposes of section 40 (e) of the Act with respect to a well permit under which a well has been drilled:" and substituting "The requirements for the purposes of subsection (0.1) are as follows:".

14 Section 27 is repealed.

15 Section 35 is amended

(a) by renumbering the section as section 35 (2), and

(b) by adding the following subsection:

(1) Within 14 days after the date of rig release of the drilling rig, a well permit holder must submit to the commission the final as-drilled survey plan, showing the surface location and bottom hole location of the well and including the following for each:

(a) northing and easting coordinates, determined using the North American Datum of 1983, also known as NAD 83;

(b) north and east offsets to the nearest corner of the spacing unit in which each is located, and identifying the reference corner.

16 Section 39 is amended

(a) in subsection (3) (a) by adding "the boundary of" before "the well or facility",

(b) in subsection (6) by adding the following paragraph:

(i) is at least 30 m below the surface, and

(ii) closes automatically in the event of an uncontrolled flow of oil or gas or a failure in the system that operates the valve. ,

(i) install on the stuffing box a device that will

(A) shut down the pumping unit in the event of a stuffing box failure, and

(B) seal off the well in the event of a polish rod failure, and , and

(d) by repealing subsection (8).

17 Section 41 (2) is amended

(a) by adding ", and submit the results of the check to the commission," after "surface casing vent flow", and

(b) by repealing paragraph (b) and substituting the following:

(b) within one year of rig release, .

18 Section 44 (b) is amended by striking out "intermittent".

19 Section 45 (3) is amended

(a) by striking out "pressure relief valve, rupture disc or burst plate" and substituting "pressure relieving device", and

(b) in paragraphs (a) and (b) by striking out "valve, disc or plate" and substituting "device".

20 Section 46 is repealed.

21 Section 49 is amended by striking out "producing well or facility" in both places and substituting "well that is producing, injecting or disposing of fluids, or at a facility".

22 Section 51 is amended

(a) in subsection (2) by adding ", in a manner satisfactory to an official," after "to prevent", and

(b) by repealing subsection (6) (d) and substituting the following:

(d) before the structure is used, a qualified professional verifies that contained fluids will not migrate beyond the lease boundary in the event of a complete containment failure, .

23 Section 56.1 is amended by striking out "60 days of completion" and substituting "60 days of initial oil production".

24 Section 62 is repealed and the following substituted:

Analysis of oil and hydrocarbon liquid production

62 (1) Subject to subsection (3), a well permit holder must take representative oil and hydrocarbon liquid samples from each producing formation from a well within 30 days of the initial production date.

(2) A well permit holder must submit to the commission a report of the component analyses and physical properties of the oil and hydrocarbon liquids within 60 days of

(a) the sampling referred to in subsection (1), and

(b) any other oil sampling and analysis performed on the well.

(3) This section applies to hydrocarbon liquids only if the hydrocarbon liquids are produced from

(a) a zone listed in Schedule 2 and have a specific gravity greater than 0.8063, or

(b) a zone not listed in Schedule 2 and have a specific gravity greater than 0.7796.

25 Section 67 is repealed and the following substituted:

Analysis of natural gas and hydrocarbon liquid production

67 (1) Subject to subsection (3), a well permit holder must take representative natural gas and hydrocarbon liquid samples from each producing formation from a well within 30 days of the initial production date.

(2) A well permit holder must submit to the commission a report of the component analyses and physical properties of the natural gas and hydrocarbon liquids within 60 days of

(a) the sampling referred to in subsection (1), and

(b) any other natural gas sampling and analysis performed on the well.

(3) This section applies to hydrocarbon liquids only if produced from

(a) a zone listed in Schedule 2 and have a specific gravity of 0.8063 or less, or

(b) a zone not listed in Schedule 2 and have a specific gravity of 0.7796 or less.

26 Section 73 (5) and (6) is amended by striking out "gas well" and substituting "well".

27 Section 75 is repealed and the following substituted:

Reporting of injection and disposal

75 (1) If a well permit holder injects or disposes of water, gas, air or any other fluid into an underground formation, the well permit holder must submit to the commission a monthly injection or disposal statement indicating all of the following:

(a) the quantity of fluid injected or disposed of;

(b) the maximum wellhead injection or disposal pressure;

(2) A well permit holder must submit the statement required under subsection (1) no later than 20 days after the end of the month in which the activity occurred.

(3) In addition to the statement required under subsection (1), a well permit holder of an acid gas disposal well must submit to the commission a composition analysis of all disposed fluids, identifying the well location and disposal formation.

(4) A well permit holder must submit the analysis required under subsection (3) no later than 6 months after the last analysis was submitted.

28 The heading of Division 7 of Part 8 is repealed and the following substituted:

Division 7 – Facilities .

29 Section 78 (6) is amended

(a) by striking out "must ensure that" and substituting "must ensure both of the following:",

(b) in paragraph (a) by striking out "materials, and" and substituting "materials;", and