I would like to find someone else who has had experience with older (1960’s setup) Secondary Recovery Water Flood Units in Oklahoma. Specifically looking for how they are currently governed by the OCC and the various regulations and laws that govern them. I have an older one that is so generic I am not sure what they are required to do and not do either by law or regulation. Thanks.
You can look the requirements up for the Water Flood units on the OCC website. Have you tried that? Use your section, township and range to look up your waterflood or try variations of the name. The rules of each one were governed by the OCC and still are. Some are updated by further OCC actions.
1 Like
I have looked up the requirements online at the OCC. What it contains is a lot of information on the processes to setup and operate. The waterflood unit I am dealing with was setup in the 60’s before any of these requirements were established. There were no specific requirements as to the psi, bbls allowed to be used for injection, etc… ABC Company is using an old water flood order to dispose of produced water from other formations, they were not producing any of the wells while using said waterflood, rather they were using one of their injectors as a SWD. When brought to the OCC attention at MOST they were required to put one producer back online. In the last 8 months that producer has been shut in. Where are and what are the requirements about producing a water flood I had heard they only have to pump the producer at least one day every year to continue using this waterflood… But I do not know for sure since the exact rules are not spelled out between an older waterflood setup and today’s rules and regulations. Also 165:10-5-3 required existing injection wells and disposal wells to be submitted on Form 1070 within one year or their use is prohibited, the OCC UIC department has told me there is not a 1070 on file for this waterflood unit. These are the kinds of issues I want to discuss with someone who has had some experience or knowledge with this.
Are they disposing of water from a different lease, or wells drilled on same property at greater depth? You should explore Oklahoma laws regarding holding / extending the lease in paying quantities. One day of production out of 365 days possible in a year cannot earn enough revenue to pay for a continuous running injection / disposal well in my opinion. If you can prove the lease is null and void due to lack of production in paying quantities it might take care of the disposal issue for you. Also, if they are disposing of water from a different lease, are they allowed to do so under the terms of your oil and gas lease? If the water being disposed is produced from tracts within the waterflood at great depths I’m assuming it is newer horizontal wells. If that is true, what kind of interest do you own, upon which tracts, and is it limited to certain depths?
They are disposing produced water from wells, at different depths on their adjacet leases which all 3 together make up a 300 acre Secondary recovery water-flood. They were NOT producing any of the producers in the water flood while they were still injecting said produced water from other extrinsic wells on the same lease. When the OCC was notified of “unauthorized injection” they were made to bring ONE producer back online. It was shut in back in the winter with freezing temperatures and has not produced since, electric panel is shut off, but they are still using the injector to put water into the waterflood. How often do they have to pump the producers in said waterflood. I am a mineral interest owner in offset leases that is concerned they are abusing the waterflood order. At this time I do not own an interest in their water-flood unit but could possibly acquire an interest in the future.