Section 38-08-02 - DefinitionsAs used in this chapter, unless the context otherwise requires:
1. "Abandoned pipeline" means an underground gathering pipeline that is no longer in service, is physically disconnected from in-service facilities, and is not intended to be reactivated for future use.2. "Certificate of clearance" means a permit prescribed by the commission for the transportation or the delivery of oil or gas or product and issued or registered in accordance with the rule, regulation, or order requiring such permit.3. "Commission" means the industrial commission.4. "Field" means the general area underlaid by one or more pools.5. "Gas" means and includes all natural gas and all other fluid hydrocarbons not hereinbelow defined as oil.6. "Illegal gas" means gas which has been produced from any well within this state in excess of the quantity permitted by any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, or any gas produced or removed from the well premises in violation of any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, or any gas produced or removed from the well premises without the knowledge and consent of the operator.7. "Illegal oil" means oil which has been produced from any well within the state in excess of the quantity permitted by any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, or any oil produced or removed from the well premises in violation of any rule, regulation, or order of the commission, or any oil produced or removed from the well premises without the knowledge and consent of the operator.8. "Illegal product" means any product derived in whole or in part from illegal oil or illegal gas.9. "Oil" means and includes crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons regardless of gravity which are produced at the wellhead in liquid form and the liquid hydrocarbons known as distillate or condensate recovered or extracted from gas, other than gas produced in association with oil and commonly known as casinghead gas.10. "Owner" means the person who has the right to drill into and produce from a pool and to appropriate the oil or gas the person produces therefrom either for that person or others or for that person and others.11. "Person" means and includes any natural person, corporation, limited liability company, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind, and includes any department, agency, or instrumentality of the state or of any governmental subdivision thereof; the masculine gender, in referring to a person, includes the feminine and the neuter genders.12. "Pipeline facility" means a pipeline, pump, compressor, storage, and any other facility, structure, and property incidental and necessary or useful in the interconnection of a pipeline or for the transportation, distribution, and delivery of energy-related commodities to points of sale or consumption or to the point of distribution for consumption located within or outside of this state.13. "Pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil or gas or both; each zone of a structure which is completely separated from any other zone in the same structure is a pool, as that term is used in this chapter.14. "Producer" means the owner of a well or wells capable of producing oil or gas or both.15. "Product" means any commodity made from oil or gas and includes refined crude oil, crude tops, topped crude, processed crude, processed crude petroleum, residue from crude petroleum, cracking stock, uncracked fuel oil, fuel oil, treated crude oil, residuum, gas oil, casinghead gasoline, natural-gas gasoline, kerosene, benzine, wash oil, waste oil, blended gasoline, lubricating oil, blends or mixtures of oil with one or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas, and blends or mixtures of two or more liquid products or byproducts derived from oil or gas, whether hereinabove enumerated or not.16. "Reasonable market demand" means the demand for oil or gas for reasonable current requirements for consumption and use within and without the state, together with such quantities as are reasonably necessary for building up or maintaining reasonable working stocks and reasonable reserves of oil or gas or product.17. "Reserve pit" means an excavated area used to contain drill cuttings accumulated during oil and gas drilling operations and mud-laden oil and gas drilling fluids used to confine oil, gas, or water to its native strata during the drilling of an oil and gas well.18. "Underground gathering pipeline" means an underground gas or liquid pipeline with associated above ground equipment which is designed for or capable of transporting crude oil, natural gas, carbon dioxide, or water produced in association with oil and gas which is not subject to chapter 49-22.1. As used in this subsection, "associated above ground equipment" means equipment and property located above ground level, which is incidental to and necessary for or useful for transporting crude oil, natural gas, carbon dioxide, or water produced in association with oil and gas from a production facility. As used in this subsection, "equipment and property" includes a pump, a compressor, storage, leak detection or monitoring equipment, and any other facility or structure.19. "Waste" means and includes:a. Physical waste, as that term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry.b. The inefficient, excessive, or improper use of, or the unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy.c. The locating, spacing, drilling, equipping, operating, or producing of any oil or gas well or wells in a manner which causes, or tends to cause, reduction in the quantity of oil or gas ultimately recoverable from a pool under prudent and proper operations, or which causes or tends to cause unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas.d. The inefficient storing of oil.e. The production of oil or gas in excess of transportation or marketing facilities or in excess of reasonable market demand.20. The word "and" includes the word "or" and the use of the word "or" includes the word "and". The use of the plural includes the singular and the use of the singular includes the plural.Amended by S.L. 2017 , ch. 328( HB 1144 ), § 4, eff. 7/1/2017.Amended by S.L. 2015 , ch. 254( HB 1358 ), § 1, eff. 4/20/2015.Amended by S.L. 2013 , ch. 277( HB 1333 ), § 1, eff. 7/1/2013.See S.L. 2013 , ch. 277( HB 1333 ), § 11.