Direction 13: Plan Requirements for Additions to Well Site Areas

Direction to Land Surveyors No. 13 (October 17, 2013)

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidance in preparing Well Site Plans (also sometimes referred to as a Construction Plan or a Final Plan) and Statutory Right of Way (SRW) Plans when additional area and/or wells are required adjacent to an already permitted well and to provide well site plan preparation guidance on multi-well packages.

Specifically, with regard to Well Site Plans:

1. When an additional hole is to be drilled on the same pad as an already permitted well hole;
2. When an additional hole is to be drilled within the same spacing unit as an already permitted well hole; and
3. When additional area is required for a well site pad but no new hole to be drilled.

Specifically, with regard to multi well packages:

4. Guidance on how to show each well hole on each Well Site Plan required.

With regard to SRW Plans:

5. After a Well Site Plan for the additional area has been filed in the Crown land registry, and an SRW Plan of the original well site area has been prepared, but not registered in the land title office; and
6. After a Well Site Plan for the additional area has been filed in the Crown land registry, and an SRW Plan of the original well site area has been prepared and has been registered in the land title office; but where the Commission has not issued the SRW document.

The following is an extract from the WELL PERMIT APPLICATION MANUAL, (in May 2013, Version 1.23–see page 11 of the manual).

Subsequent Drills

Applicants can apply for subsequent drills after the primary well has been applied for or as part of a multi-well package.

Subsequent well applications must be submitted in continuous alphabetical order (e.g. c-56-D, c-A56-D, c-B56-D, c-C56-D, etc.); however, subsequent wells can be drilled in any order. For more on well naming, see Applicant Information.

Subsequent Drills with New Area

The Commission requires that all additional area required for a subsequent well be applied for with the original well application where the Land Act tenure is held, in order to manage all land for a multi-well pad under one file. The original well application may require an amendment or revision to include the new area. However, where the Land Act tenure on the original file cannot be amended because a Statutory Right of Way document has been issued by the Commission, a new application for a subsequent well may include new area for the well site and/or ancillary sites.

Subsequent drills with new area must be applied for using the Well Permit Application Form. To indicate that the application is for a subsequent drill, choose the “Subsequent Well Application with New Area” box in Block C.

Subsequent Drills without New Area

Subsequent drills without new area must be applied for using the Subsequent Well Application Form. To indicate that the application is for a subsequent drill under the primary well, or a multi-well package, choose the applicable box in Block C.

Well applications for subsequent drills with no new area will not require the Archaeology requirements of the application process.

Well applications for subsequent drills with no new area do not require an ePASS submission.

Amendments to subsequent well permits to add new area and/or ancillary sites are only accepted if the subsequent well permit included a new land authorization. If no new land was authorized with the subsequent well permit, amendments to add new area and/or ancillary sites must be made with the original well on the well pad where the Land Act tenure is held.

Multi-Well Packages

Applicants may choose to apply for all proposed wells on a multi-well pad on one application; however, the Commission will assign each well site its own file number. Application fees are required for each well and can be submitted on the same cheque.

Background

For clarity in nomenclature, click below for an image of what the Surveyor General Division (SGD) calls a Well Site Plan. I understand that the Oil and Gas Commission (OGC) might refer to these types of plans as Construction Plans or Final Plans. This is the plan that must be submitted to the Surveyor General within 90 days for filing in the Crown land registry in accordance with section 25 of the Oil and Gas Activities Act General Regulation.

PLAN 1

Click below for an example of an SRW Plan of a well site. This is the type of plan that is registered in the land title office. Once it is registered, the OGC can register SRW tenure for the land included in the plan (or can give the owner of the well site an SRW document that the owner then submits to the land title office for registration).

PLAN 2

Once the SGD receives a Well Site Plan, it is reviewed, entries are made in government’s Tantalis/GATOR system and the plan is signed by a Deputy Surveyor General thereby confirming it. The plan image is then uploaded (filed) into the Crown land registry (specifically the Tantalis image repository called ATLAS), the location of the well hole is plotted onto the Tantalis SDE data base.

Once a Well Site Plan is filed into the Crown Land Registry it cannot be removed or altered.

All SRW plans over Crown land must be submitted to the SGD. Upon receipt, it is reviewed, entries are made in government’s Tantalis/GATOR system and the plan is signed by a Deputy Surveyor General thereby confirming it. Once confirmed, the SRW plan is registered in the land title office.

Once registered in the land title office, an SRW Plan cannot be altered (it can be corrected by a statutory declaration but this is only appropriate if the plan contains an error – for example, an erroneous distance or bearing).

Discussion

For the first three scenarios, the status of the Well Site Plan and SRW Plan are: The Well Site Plan is filed in the Crown Land Registry, and the SRW tenure for the well site has not been registered in the land title office.

1. When an additional hole is to be drilled on the same pad as an already permitted well hole.If an additional well hole is to be drilled on the same pad area as shown on PLAN 1, the name of that new well would be DECL ET AL N BUICK a-A93-K (“A” being the exception code). A new Well Site Plan bearing this name in the plan heading and showing the location of the new hole would be required as part of the OGC application process. If this new application was approved, then the new Well Site Plan will have to be submitted to the SGD for filing in the Crown Land Registry.The first well would hold a Land Act tenure; the second well is submitted with no new area providing it is the same applicant. If there are two different applicants, each Well Site Plan must express an area and each would get their own Land Act tenure.
2. When an additional hole is to be drilled within the same spacing unit as an already permitted well hole (i.e. different physical locations).This situation is very similar in nature to (1) above. If a new well hole is to be drilled in the same well spacing area as was the well depicted on PLAN 1, the name of that new well would also be DECL ET AL N BUICK a-A93-K. A new Well Site Plan bearing this name in the plan heading and showing the location of the new pad, ground works and hole would be required as part of the OGC application process. If this new application was approved, then the new Well Site Plan will have to be submitted for filing in the Crown Land Registry.Just to clarify this one for land agents, this would be another well site in the same well spacing area but a different “physical” location. Both well site plans will express an area and the applicable Land Act tenure will be issued.
3. When additional area is required for a well pad but no new hole to be drilled.Example of Well Site Plan when additional area is requiredThe land surveyor will need to draft a new Well Site Plan that includes both the new area required and the original (and approved) well site area. See: Example of new Well Site Plan that includes both the new area required and the original [and approved] well site area. The plan heading will be: “Survey Plan of Well Location DECL ET AL N BUICK a-92-K, Quarter Unit a, Unit 92, Block K, Group 94-A-14”. The new plan contains a book of reference that expresses the original (approved) well site area, the newly required area and a total area.If any of the surrounding scenery, has changed from the time the first Well Site Plan was prepared, the new plan needs to show the updated scenery in case the OGC has to refer the additional area requirements to other agencies.Please note that even if a statutory right of way plan has been prepared for the original pad area, as long as the OGC has not yet issued the SRW tenure document, a new Well Site Plan needs to be prepared that includes both the original area and the new required area.
4. Multi-well Packages. Guidance on how to show each well hole on each Well Site Plan required.An application to drill multiple wells on the same well pad is submitted as one application package. For discussion purposes, let’s assume the application package is to drill 15 holes.The application package needs to contain 15 Well Site Plans. Each plan will be similar – the most significant difference will be that the plan heading on each will be unique as each proposed hole has a unique well name using the “exception code” well naming convention.All 15 holes are to be shown on every plan, and the well that is applicable to the well name on a particular plan is to be bolded. See: Example for Multi-well Package.The OGC will assign each of the proposed 15 wells their own unique file number.

   If the application is approved by the OGC, the OGC will issue a well authorization for each proposed well hole.

   In the next two scenarios, the conditions are that a Well Site Plan is filed in the Crown Land Registry, and an SRW Plan of the well site has been prepared.

   In both scenarios, the original well site application was approved over the area now defined by Plan EPP10393.

   Further, it is assumed that an application for the additional area was submitted to the OGC and was approved. With regard to new SRW Plan requirements:

5. If the SRW Plan of the original well site area has been prepared, but not registered in the land title office.Land surveyors obtain the plan number for their plans prior to conducting their survey. (In other words, EPP plan numbers are not assigned to a plan by the land title office at the time the plan is registered). This means that, even though a plan bears an EPP number, it might not yet be registered in the land title office. If an SRW Plan has not been registered in the land title office then it is a simple matter for the land surveyor to amend it to include the additional area required.
6. If a Statutory Right of Way Plan of the original well site area has been prepared and has been registered in the land title office.In this situation there are two options:
   • The land surveyor prepares a second SRW plan for the additional area. See: Example of second SRW plan for additional area. The OGC then issues a SRW tenure document that refers to both SRW plan numbers in the legal description of the lands subject to the SRW tenure, or
   • The land surveyor prepares a new SRW plan that encompasses both the original and new area. See: Example of new SRW plan that encompasses both the original and new area. The first SRW plan is ignored and the OGC issues a SRW tenure document that refers only to the second SRW plan.

Jeff Beddoes, BCLS
Senior Deputy Surveyor General