For the purpose of this article all technical or oil and gas industry words and phrases used herein and not specifically defined herein shall have that meaning customarily attributed to them by the oil and gas industry. The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Applicant means any person who applies for a drilling permit hereunder.
Approved, approved type, or approved design means improvements, equipment or facilities of a type or design approved by the chief building inspector.
Building code means the portion of this Code or any ordinance of the city known by that title and all amendments thereto.
Building permit means the permit required by the building code.
Chief building inspector means the chief building inspector of the city or his successor.
Completion of drilling means a well is completed, for the purpose of these regulations, 30 days after the drilling crew has been released. The drilling crew is released, within the meaning of this definition, when work at the wellsite for drilling or completing the well is suspended, either temporarily or permanently.
Derrick means any structure, improvement, equipment or facility, and each and every part thereof, whether completed or not, and which is required or used or useful for or in connection with drilling, operating, or maintaining a well for the production of oil, gas or other hydrocarbons from the earth together with all parts of and appurtenances to such structure, improvement, equipment or facility, including, but not limited to, foundations and sills therefore, pump-houses, engine-houses, or housings, pipe-racks, posting, walkways, mud-ditches and crown block.
Designated agent means the designated agent of applicant or permittee.
Diligence means that the drilling derrick is in its operating position over the well, properly anchored and supported and that an operating crew is on duty at the drill site at all times.
Drill site means the premises used during the drilling and subsequent life of a well, which is necessary for the safe operations thereof.
Drilling means entry into the site with equipment and/or personnel for the specific purpose of actually opening a well hole intended to produce oil or gas.
Erect means to build, construct, install, assemble, put together, improve, alter, move, reconstruct, restore, renovate, renew or repair any building, structure, improvement or facility, or any part or portion thereof or foundations therefor, or appurtenance thereto, whether or not such building, structure, improvement or facility is completed, or to work upon, or in any way assist in such erection.
Flammable liquids means oil and other fluid hydrocarbons, including liquified gases or other flammable liquids, having a flash point below 200 degrees Fahrenheit. The flash point of all commodities shall be determined by the Elliot, Abel, Abel-Pensky, or Tag closed cap testers, but the Tag closed cap tester, standardized by the United States Bureau of Standards, shall be authoritative in case of dispute. All tests shall be in accordance with the methods adopted by the American Society for Testing Materials, and approved by the American Standards Association, or their successors.
Gas means the gaseous components or vapors occurring in or derived from petroleum or natural gas.
Lessee means the possessor of the right to explore and recover minerals from the premises.
Lessor means the owner of the mineral rights.
Maintained means to repair, or otherwise keep or place in working condition, and also to permit, or authorize to exist, regardless of whether any actual maintenance work is done. For the purposes of this chapter, an oil well, well-hole, derrick and production equipment shall be deemed to be maintained upon the premises in and upon which the same were or are being drilled, erected or installed, until the following tasks are accomplished:
(1) Every part of such derrick and production equipment shall be removed from the drill site.
(2) All requirements for abandonment established by the state and any other regulatory authority having jurisdiction must be met.
(3) All sumps, cellars, rotary mud, concrete, oil and rubbish must be removed and the drill site cleaned and all ditches must be leveled.
(4) All property of the city which may have been disturbed or damaged by the operations at the drill site shall be repaired and cleaned as needed and restored to substantially the same condition as existed at the time of the issuance of the permit.
Maintenance means the repair and replacement of parts of a structure when the repair or replacement does not alter or lessen the strength or stability of the structure.
Non-urbanized drilling site means a drill site shall be considered non-urbanized if no occupied commercial, residential or industrial structure exists in use within 1,000 feet of the proposed well-hole.
Occupied structure means only those structures that are regularly occupied by persons at least 20 hours per week.
Oil means petroleum and other fluid hydrocarbons obtained from the earth.
Operate means to work or act upon, or to cause or permit natural or artificial forces to function in connection with any structure, plant, equipment, machinery, or facility with the purpose of utilizing the same for the purpose for which it was or is erected or maintained, or for any other purpose and when used with reference to a well, well-hole, derrick or production equipment, means and includes any acts or functions performed or permitted to occur in connection with such well, well-hole, derrick or production equipment, from and after the completion of the drilling of the well, for the purpose of producing or obtaining oil, gas, or other hydrocarbons from the ground, and for the purpose of collecting and handling the same and making deliveries thereof at the well or from the shipping tanks or lease tanks in the vicinity of the well. The term "operate" includes all functions performed or permitted to occur in connection with such production, collection, handling, and delivery, including the repair, re-conditioning, restoration, perforating, redrilling or deepening of said well or well-hole, and the dehydration or cleaning of said oil prior to making such deliveries as aforesaid.
Operator means the person, whether owner, lessee, or independent contractor, actually in charge and in control of the drilling, maintenance, operation or pumping of a well or lease.
Owner means a person who has legal or equitable title to the surface of the drill site.
Permit or drilling permit means the written, typed or printed permission issued to applicant by the chief building inspector under the authority of this article.
Permittee means any person to whom a permit has been granted and issued under and pursuant to the terms of this chapter by the code enforcement administrator.
Person means an individual, a receiver, a trustee, a partnership, a joint venture, a firm, an unincorporated association, a syndicate, a club, a society, a trust, a private corporation, a public corporation, a municipal corporation, a county, a state, or national government; a commission; a water district; a utility district; a political subdivision; and a drainage, irrigation, levee, reclamation, flood control or water conservation district, whether acting for himself or itself or in any representative capacity.
Production equipment means pumping equipment, tubing, pipes, gauges, meters, valves, oil and gas separators, sumps, flow tanks, production tanks, shipping tanks, lease tanks, shipping pumps, loading racks and all other structures, machinery, equipment and facilities, and each and every part thereof, whether completed or not, required for or used or useful in connection with the operation, repair, reconditioning, redrilling or maintenance of a well or well-hole, and the collection, handling and delivery of oil, gas or other hydrocarbons therefrom, and which structures, machinery, equipment and facilities are not included in the "derrick," "well," or "well-hole," as heretofore defined. The term "production equipment" also includes any wash tanks, dehydration plant or other equipment or facility operated or maintained by or on behalf of the operator of said well for the purpose of separating sand, water and other foreign substances from the oil, gas or other hydrocarbons produced or obtained by said operator prior to shipping or delivering said oil from the shipping tanks or lease tanks at the well, or in the vicinity thereof.
Redrilling means the deepening of an existing oil well or otherwise drilling beyond the extremities (to the side) of the existing well casing. The provisions of this chapter relating to drilling shall be equally applicable to redrilling.
Structure means that which is built or constructed; a tank, edifice, or building of any kind.
Suspended operation means the approved temporary suspension of drilling or redrilling operations pending a resumption of operations or abandonment.
Tank means a container, covered or uncovered, used in conjunction with the drilling or production of an oil well, for holding or storing liquids at or near atmospheric pressure.
Urbanized drilling site means a drill site shall be considered urbanized where an occupied commercial, residential or industrial structure exists within 1,000 feet of the proposed well-hole.
Well head means one which is composed of the bradenhead, Christmas tree and all well connections.
(Prior Code, § 5-151; Ord. of 3-11-1980)