Section 240.10  Definitions

 

"Act" – means the Illinois Oil and Gas Act [225 ILCS 725].

 

"Annular or Casing Injection/Disposal Well" – means a well into which fluids are injected between the surface casing and the well bore, the surface casing and the production casing, and/or the production casing and the tubing, or a well into which fluids are injected which does not have production casing, tubing and packer.

 

"Cement" – means all petroleum industry cements meeting the requirements set forth in "Specifications for Oil Well Cements and Cement Additives", API Standard 10A, January 1974, published by the American Petroleum Institute, 1220 L Street, Northwest, Washington DC 20005 (this incorporation does not include any later publications or editions), except as provided in Subpart K.

 

"Class II Fluids" means:

 

Produced water and/or other fluids brought to the surface in connection with drilling, completion, workover and plugging of oil and natural gas wells; enhanced recovery operations; or natural gas storage operations;

 

Produced water and/or other fluids from above, that prior to re-injection have been:

 

used on site for purposes integrally associated to oil and natural gas well drilling, completion, workover and plugging, oil and gas production, enhanced recovery operations or natural gas storage;

 

chemically treated or altered to the extent necessary to make them usable for purposes integrally related to oil and natural gas well drilling, completion, workover and plugging, oil and gas production, enhanced recovery operations, or natural gas storage operations;

 

commingled with fluid wastes resulting from fluid treatments outlined above, provided the commingled fluid wastes do not constitute a hazardous waste under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (42 USC 6901 et seq. (RCRA));

 

Fresh water from groundwater or surface water sources that is used for purposes integrally related or associated with oil and natural gas well drilling, completion, workover and plugging, oil and gas production, enhanced recovery operations or natural gas storage;

 

Waste fluids from gas plants (including filter backwash, precipitated sludge, iron sponge, hydrogen sulfide and scrubber liquid) that are an integral part of oil and gas production operations; and waste fluids from gas dehydration plants (including glycol-based compounds and filter backwash) that are an integral part of natural gas storage operations, unless the gas plant or gas dehydration plant wastes are classified as hazardous under RCRA.

 

"Class II UIC Well" – means an injection, disposal or commercial disposal well into which fluids are injected:

 

That are brought to the surface in connection with natural gas storage operations, or conventional oil or natural gas production, and may be commingled with wastewaters from gas plants that are an integral part of production operations, unless those waters are classified as a hazardous waste at the time of injection;

 

For enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas; and

 

For storage of hydrocarbons that are liquid at standard temperature and pressure.

 

"Commercial Disposal Well" – means a permitted Class II well for which the permittee receives deliveries of Class II fluids by tank truck and charges a fee for the specific purpose of disposal of Class II fluids.

 

"Commercial Production" − means oil and/or gas has been produced and sold from a well.

 

"Convert" – means to change an oil, gas, Class II UIC, water supply, observation or gas storage well to another of those types of wells, requiring the issuance of a new permit.

 

"Department" – means the Department of Natural Resources (Section 1 of the Act), with main offices located at One Natural Resources Way, Springfield IL 62702.

 

"Directional Drilling" – means the controlled directional drilling when the bottom of the well bore is directed away from the vertical position.

 

"Director" – means the Director of the Department of Natural Resources or his or her designee.

 

"Disposal Well" – means a Class II UIC well into which fluids brought to the surface in connection with oil or natural gas production are injected into a non-productive oil or gas zone for purposes other than enhanced oil recovery.

 

"District Office" – means the Department's office for the district in which the well is located.

 

"Enhanced Oil Recovery" – means any secondary or tertiary recovery method used in an effort to recover hydrocarbons from a pool by injection of fluids, gases or other substances to maintain, restore or augment natural reservoir energy, or by introducing gases, chemicals, other substances or heat or by in-situ combustion, or by any combination thereof. (Section 1 of the Act)

 

"Enhanced Oil Recovery Injection Well" – means a Class II UIC well used for enhanced oil recovery.

 

"Flowline" – means all injection, produced water, oil or gas flowlines located within the boundaries of a lease or unit, or gathering lines between leases to a centralized storage area, or to the point where the lines connect with a primary transportation pipeline.

 

"Fresh water" – means surface and subsurface water in its natural state useful for drinking water for human consumption, domestic livestock, irrigation, industrial, municipal and recreational purposes, and that will support aquatic life and contains less than 10,000 ppm total dissolved solids.

 

"General Oilfield Waste" – means oily rags, chemical containers including any unused chemicals, oil filters and gaskets, used motor oil, lubricating oils, hydraulic fluids, diesel fuels, paint and solvent wastes and other similar wastes generated during drilling, completion, production and plugging activities and that are not exempt from the provisions of Subtitle C of RCRA.

 

"Injection Well" – means an enhanced oil recovery injection well or disposal well.

 

"Liquid Oilfield Waste" – means oilfield brines, produced waters, Class II fluids, tank and pit crude oil bottom sediments, and drilling and completion fluids, to the extent those wastes are now or hereafter exempt from the provisions of Subtitle C of the Federal Resource Conservation Recovery Act of 1976. (Section 8c of the Act)

 

"Liquid Oilfield Waste Hauler" – means a person holding a permit to operate a liquid oilfield waste transportation system.

 

"Material Misrepresentation" – means knowingly submitting any untrue, misstated, misleading or deceptive information, or a document containing that information, or with knowledge of the concealment, suppression or omission of any information, in or from an application, permit, required record, or any other document required by the Act or this Part, that causes the Department to act differently than it would have if it had known the undisclosed or true information.

 

"Office" – means the Office of Oil and Gas Resource Management within the Department of Natural Resources.

 

"Orphan Well" – means a well for which:

 

no fee assessment under Section 19.7 of the Act has been paid or no other bond coverage has been provided for 2 consecutive years;

 

no oil or gas has been produced from the well or from the lease or unit on which the well is located for 2 consecutive years; and

 

no permittee or owner can be identified or located by the Department.  Orphaned wells include wells that may have been drilled for purposes other than those for which a permit is required under the Act if the well is a conduit for oil or saltwater intrusions into freshwater zones or onto the surface which may be caused by oil and gas operations. (Section 1 of the Act)

 

"Owner" – means the person who has the right to drill into and produce from any pool, and to appropriate the production either for the person or for the person and another, or others, or solely for others, excluding the mineral owner's royalty if the right to drill and produce has been granted under an oil and gas lease.  An owner may also be a person granted the right to drill and operate an injection (Class II UIC) well independent of the right to drill for and produce oil or gas.  When the right to drill, produce, and appropriate production is held by more than one person, then all persons holding these rights may designate the owner by a written operating agreement or similar written agreement.  In the absence of such an agreement, and subject to the provisions of Sections 22.2 and 23.1 through 23.16 of the Act, the owner shall be the person designated in writing by a majority in interest of the persons holding these rights. (Section 1 of the Act)

 

"Permit" – means the Department's written authorization allowing:

 

a well or test hole to be drilled, deepened, converted and/or operated by an owner (Section 1 of the Act); or

 

a tank battery or concrete storage structure to be constructed and operated; or

 

operation of a liquid oilfield waste transportation system or engage in lease road oiling.

 

"Permittee" – means the owner holding or required to hold the permit, and who is also responsible for paying assessments in accordance with Section 19.7 of the Act and, where applicable, executing and filing the bond associated with the well as principal and who is responsible for compliance with all statutory and regulatory requirements pertaining to the well.  When the right and responsibility for operating a well is vested in a receiver or trustee appointed by a court of competent jurisdiction, the permit shall be issued to the receiver or trustee.  (Section 1 of the Act) Permittee also means the owner or person required to hold the permit for a tank battery, pit, or concrete storage structure or a permit to engage in liquid oilfield waste hauling, lease road oiling, or test well and test hole drilling.

 

"Person" – means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, governmental agency or other legal entity, receiver, trustee, guardian, executor, administrator, fiduciary or representative of any kind. (Section 1 of the Act)

 

"PRF" − means the Department's Plugging and Restoration Fund, established under Section 6 of the Act.

 

"Pool" – means a natural underground reservoir containing, in whole or in part, a natural accumulation of oil or gas, or both.  Each productive zone or stratum of a general structure, which is completely separated from any other zone or stratum in the structure, is deemed a separate "pool". (Section 1 of the Act)

 

"Primary Oil Recovery" – means the initial drilling of a well in the effort to recover hydrocarbons for a pool that is not currently, nor was previously, subject to enhanced oil recovery.

 

"Post-Primary Oil Recovery" – means the drilling of a well in an effort to recover hydrocarbons from a pool that was previously subject to primary oil recovery or to enhanced oil recovery.

 

"Produced Water" – means water regardless of chloride and total dissolved solids (TDS) content that is produced in conjunction with oil and/or natural gas production and natural gas storage operations.

 

"Production Casing" – means the string of casing placed in a well and used for the purpose of isolating the production or injection formation.

 

"Repressure" – means to increase the reservoir pressure by the introduction of gas, air or water or other fluid into the reservoir.

 

"Reservoir" – for the purpose of this Part, is interchangeable with the term "pool".

 

"Rotary Drilling" – means the hydraulic process of drilling a well for oil or gas as that method is commonly used in the industry.

 

"Shooting" – means the exploding of nitroglycerin or other high explosives in a well for the purpose of increasing the production of oil or gas.

 

"Surface Waters" – means any river, stream, lake, pond or intermittent stream.

 

"Tank" – means a vessel into which oil or water is gathered, produced or stored.

 

"Tank Battery" – means one or more open or closed top tanks, of any capacity, that are located on a lease, unit or adjacent property, for the purpose of collecting, separating and/or storing crude oil and/or other liquid oilfield wastes that are generated as a result of oil and gas production operations.

 

"Undeveloped Limits of a Mine" – means that portion of a mine where the entries have not been driven to the boundaries of the mine property.

 

"Vacuum" – means pressure that is reduced below the pressure of the atmosphere.

 

"Water Drainage Way" – means any drainage ditch, roadside ditch, grassy waterway or any other natural or manmade surface or underground water drainage system.

 

"Well" – means any drill hole required to be permitted under Section 6(2) of the Act, including coal or mineral groundwater monitoring wells, structure test holes, coal test holes, and mineral test holes, and any other well required to be permitted under Sections 6 and 12 of the Act, including oil and gas production wells, water supply wells, Class II UIC injection wells, gas storage and gas storage monitoring wells, orphan wells, unpermitted leaking drill holes and plugged wells.

 

(Source:  Amended at 40 Ill. Reg. 7051, effective April 22, 2016)