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Ex. SEC-23-028 Order Primary source read

Press release, 'North Dakota DMR to Reinstate Well Waivers' (Mar. 24, 2020): Commission direction to reinstate the Not Completed Well, Inactive Well and Suspension of Drilling waiver guidelines

North Dakota DMR to Reinstate Well Waivers

North Dakota Industrial Commission (Governor Doug Burgum, Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring); Department of Mineral Resources · North Dakota (Sector regulator)

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The COVID Project

The record

Jurisdiction
North Dakota
Level
Sector regulator
Authority
N.D.C.C. ch. 38-08 (prevention of waste); N.D. Admin. Code ch. 43-02-03
Issued
2020-03-24 Mar. 24, 2020
Effective
2020-03-24 ('immediately') (read as 2020-03-24)
End
Not stated; the waivers operated through the 2020 curtailment (the Commission's Order 31032 of May 20, 2020 followed) (read as 2020-05-20)
In force
Mar. 24, 2020 to May 20, 2020
Quarters
2020 Q22020 Q32020 Q4
Limitation types
Supply chainOther
Addressees
  • all North Dakota oil and gas operators
Functions reached
  • DR (completions deferred by regulator waiver)
  • EX (inactive-well status)
  • PM (waiver applications)
  • SV (completion crews idled)
Collection
Mining, Oil and Gas, and Energy Services SEC-23

Operative words

The Department of Mineral Resources was directed today by the North Dakota Industrial Commission to immediately reinstate guidelines that promote the prevention of waste of the state's natural resources of oil and gas during the current economic climate. The Not Completed Well Waiver guidelines allow operators to apply for Not Completed Well {NCW} Status: May only be given to wells that have been drilled but [are not producing] because completion operations have not yet been performed. The Inactive Well Waiver guidelines allow operators to apply for Inactive Well Status. Inactive Well {IAW} Status: May only be given to wells that have met certain criteria... The Suspension of Drilling Waiver guidelines allow operators to apply for Temporary Abandoned Surface Casing Status.

Enforcement

N.D. Admin. Code 43-02-03-55 (abandoned and inactive wells) as waived

Notes

Eleven days after the emergency declaration the Commission changed the terms on which Bakken operators had to complete drilled wells; the Director's Cuts (SEC-23-013 to -016) record the result: completion crews from 25 to 1 and 193 wells waiting on completion by July 2020.

Retrieval note

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A record of The COVID Project. The instrument's text is the source's; the summary fields are The COVID Project's reading of it. Not legal advice.