Section 402 - DefinitionsAs used in this act--
(1)"Commission" means the Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.(2)"Correlative rights" means the rights of each owner of oil and gas interests in a common pool or source of supply of oil or gas, to have a fair and reasonable opportunity to obtain and produce his just and equitable share of the oil and gas in such pool or sources of supply, without being required to drill unnecessary wells or incur other unnecessary expense to recover or receive such oil or gas or its equivalent.(3)"Gas" means all natural gas and all other volatile hydrocarbons not herein defined as oil, including condensate because it originally was in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.(4)"Oil" means crude petroleum oil and all other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, produced at a will in liquid form by ordinary production methods, but does not include liquid hydrocarbons that were originally in a gaseous phase in the reservoir.(5)"Division" means the Oil and Gas Division of the Department of Mines and Mineral Industries of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.(6)"Onondaga horizon" means the top of the Onondaga formation, except in those areas in which the Onondaga formation is not present, and in such areas the term shall be understood to mean either the top of the stratigraphic horizon first appearing in the interval of the missing Onondaga formation, or where strata older than the top of the Onondaga are exposed at the surface, then the term "Onondaga horizon" shall mean the surface.(7)"Operator" shall mean any owner of the right to develop, operate, and produce oil and gas from the pool. In the event that there is no oil and gas lease in existence the owner of the oil and gas rights shall be considered as "operator" to the extent of seven-eighths of the oil and gas in that portion of the pool underlying the tract owned by such owner, and a royalty owner as to a one-eighth interest in such oil and gas. In the event that the oil is owned separately from the gas, the owner of the substance being produced or sought to be produced from the pool shall be considered as "operator" as to such pool.(8)"Royalty owner" means any owner of oil or gas in place or oil or gas rights, subject to a lease covering such oil or gas in place or oil or gas rights. "Royalty owner" also means any owner of an interest in an oil or gas lease which entitles him to share in the production of the oil or gas under such lease or the proceeds therefrom without obligating him to pay any costs under such lease. "Royalty owner" also means the owner of any interest in the oil or gas in place, or oil or gas rights, who has not executed an oil and gas lease, to the extent that such owner is not designated an "operator" under the preceding clause.(9)"Person" means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind and includes any department, agency or instrumentality of the Commonwealth, or any governmental subdivision thereof.(10)"Pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil and gas, or both, not in communication laterally or vertically with any other accumulation of oil or gas.(11)"Producer" means the owner of the well or wells capable of producing oil or gas, or both.(12)"Waste" means the following:(i) Physical waste, as the term is generally understood in the oil and gas industry, which includes--A. Permitting the migration of oil, gas or water from the stratum in which it is found to other strata, if such migration would result in the loss of recoverable oil or gas, or both;B. The drowning with water of any stratum or part thereof capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities, except for secondary recovery purposes, or in hydraulic fracturing or other completion practices;C. The unnecessary or excessive surface loss or destruction of oil or gas, andD. The inefficient or improper use, or unnecessary dissipation of reservoir energy.(ii) The drilling of more wells than are reasonably required to recover, efficiently and economically, the maximum amount of oil and gas from a pool.(13)"Well" means a bore hole or excavation for the purpose of producing oil or gas, or both.1961, July 25, P.L. 825, § 2.