Glossary
Browse the IADC Lexicon alphabetically or by category. Get comprehensive definitions of drilling industry terms.
WQCC
Definition(s)
WQCC
“WQCC” means the New Mexico water quality control commission. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWorking Interest Owner
Definition(s)
Working Interest Owner
“Working interest owner” means a person who owns a working interest; détenteur. Source: Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Resources Accord Implementation Act, S.C. 1988, c. 28, Canada, current to May 26, 2013. Legislation Source: Canada Oil and Gas Operations Act, R.S.C., 1985, c. O-7, Canada, current to April 29, 2013. LegislationWorking Interest Owner
“Working interest owner” means the owner of an operating interest under an oil and gas lease who has the exclusive right to exploit the oil and gas minerals. Working interests are cost bearing. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWetlands
Definition(s)
Wetlands
“Wetlands” means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and under normal circumstances do support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions in New Mexico. This definition does not include constructed wetlands used for wastewater treatment purposes. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWellhead Protection Area
Definition(s)
Wellhead Protection Area
“Wellhead protection area” means the area within 200 horizontal feet of a private, domestic fresh water well or spring used by less than five households for domestic or stock watering purposes or within 1000 horizontal feet of any other fresh water well or spring. Wellhead protection areas does not include areas around water wells drilled after an existing oil or gas waste storage, treatment or disposal site was established. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWell-Bore
Definition(s)
Well-Bore
“Well-bore” means the hole drilled by a bit in order to make a well (trou de sonde). Source: Canada Oil and Gas Drilling and Production Regulations, SOR/2009-315, February 2013. Regulations Source: Drilling and Production Guidelines, The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, Canada, March 31, 2011. Regulatory Guidance Source: Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Drilling and Production Regulations, SOR/2009-317, Canada, current to May 31, 2012. RegulationsWell-Bore
“Well-bore” means the interior surface of a cased or open hole through which drilling, production or injection operations are conducted. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWell-Bore
“Wellbore” means the hole made by drilling or boring. [Mich. Admin. Code R 408 (2013)]. Source: Oil and Gas Drilling and Servicing Operations, Michigan Administrative Code R 408, February 8, 2013. RegulationsWell Blowout
Definition(s)
Well Blowout
“Well blowout” means a loss of control over and subsequent eruption of a drilling or workover well or the rupture of the casing, casinghead or wellhead of an oil or gas well or injection or disposal well, whether active or inactive, accompanied by the sudden emission of fluids, gaseous or liquid, from the well. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWater Pollution
Definition(s)
Water Pollution
“Water pollution” means introducing or permitting the introduction into water, either directly or indirectly, of one or more water contaminants in such quantity and of such duration as may with reasonable probability injure human health, animal or plant life or property, or to unreasonably interfere with the public welfare or property use. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWatercourse
Definition(s)
Watercourse
“Watercourse” means a river, creek, arroyo, canyon, draw or wash or other channel having definite banks and bed with visible evidence of the occasional flow of water. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWater Containment
Definition(s)
Water Containment
“Water contaminant” means a substance that could alter if released or spilled water’s physical, chemical, biological or radiological qualities. Water contaminant does not mean source, special nuclear or by-product material as defined by the Atomic Energy Act of 1954. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsWater
Definition(s)
Water
“Water” means all water including water situated wholly or partly within or bordering upon the state, whether surface or subsurface, public or private, except private waters that do not combine with other surface or subsurface water. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsVadose Zone
Definition(s)
Upstream Facility
“Vadose zone” means unsaturated earth material below the land surface and above ground water, or in between bodies of ground water. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsUpstream Facility
Definition(s)
Upstream Facility
“Upstream facility” means a facility or operation associated with the exploration, development, production or storage of oil or gas that is not a downstream facility. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsUnstable Area
Definition(s)
Unstable Area
“Unstable area” means a location that is susceptible to natural or human-induced events or forces capable of impairing the integrity of some or all of a division-approved facility’s structural components. Examples of unstable areas are areas of poor foundation conditions, areas susceptible to mass earth movements and karst terrain areas where karst topography is developed as a result of dissolution of limestone, dolomite or other soluble rock. Characteristic physiographic features of karst terrain include sinkholes, sinking streams, caves, large springs and blind valleys. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsUnorthodox Well Location
Definition(s)
Unorthodox Well Location
“Unorthodox well location” means a location that does not conform to the spacing requirements division rules establish. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsFlow Calculation Procedure
Definition(s)
Flow Calculation Procedure
“Flow calculation procedure” means the procedure to be used to convert raw meter output to a measured quantity of oil, gas or water (méthode de calcul du débit). Source: Canada Oil and Gas Drilling and Production Regulations, SOR/2009-315, February 2013. Regulations Source: Drilling and Production Guidelines, The Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board and Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, Canada, March 31, 2011. Regulatory GuidanceFlow Calculation Procedure
“Flow calculation procedure” means the procedure to be used to convert raw meter output to a measured quantity of petroleum or water; méthode de calcul du débit. Source: Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Drilling and Production Regulations, SOR/2009-317, Canada, current to May 31, 2012. RegulationsUnit Of Proration For Oil
Definition(s)
Unit Of Proration For Oil
“Unit of proration for oil” consists of one 40-acre tract or such multiples of 40-acre tracts as may be prescribed by division-issued special pool orders. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsUnit Of Proration For Gas
Definition(s)
Unit Of Proration For Gas
“Unit of proration for gas” consists of such multiples of 40 acres as may be prescribed by division-issued special pool orders. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsUnderproduction
Definition(s)
Underproduction
“Underproduction” means the amount of oil or the amount of gas during a proration period by which a given proration unit failed to produce an amount equal to that the division authorizes in the proration schedule. Source: Oil and Gas, New Mexico Administrative Code Title 19, Chapter 15, January 2013. RegulationsFlow Allocation Procedure
Definition(s)
Flow Allocation Procedure
“Flow allocation procedure” means the procedure to- allocate total measured quantities of oil, gas and water produced from or injected into a pool or zone back to individual wells in a pool or zone where individual well production or injection is not measured separately; and
- allocate production to fields that are using a common storage or processing facility (méthode de répartition du débit).