Petroleum Regulations 2021

For the purposes of section 179(c) of the Act, the holder of an authority who plugs and decommissions a well under the authority must give the Minister a well decommissioning report, prepared by a suitably qualified or experienced person.

A well decommissioning report under subregulation (1) must be given to the Minister within 2 months after the day on which the plugging and decommissioning of the well is completed.

A well decommissioning report under subregulation (1) must contain the following information—

the authority number and type of authority;

the name of the well;

the name of the author of the report;

the name of the holder of the authority;

the name of the operator of the well;

the name of the person giving the report;

the date of the report;

a summary and history of the well, including—

spatial information showing its location; and

if a final well completion report in relation to the well has been lodged, the day on which that final well completion report was lodged;

the following details about the well—

its total depth in metres;

the top position and bottom position of any natural underground reservoir or aquifer intersected by the well, identified in accordance with subregulation (4);

the depth in metres of any perforations in the casing of the well;

the type of drilling rig used to drill the well;

the basis for decommissioning the well;

all surveys conducted and measurements made in relation to the well, including any detailed interpretation of the surveys or measurements;

the following information in relation to the decommissioning of the well—

details of any casing and equipment installed in the well, including diagrams showing the major dimensions and features of the casing and equipment;

a description of any equipment that has been retained in the well, including the size and nature of the equipment and any features of the equipment that may cause a hazard;

the surveyed location of any equipment retained in the well;

details of any cementing operations carried out in or on the well, including—

the location and type of plugs; and

the compressive strength of the cement; and

time graphs; and

the intervals covered; and

the volume and type of cement used; and

any losses of cement due to voids or permeable strata and the methods used to overcome those losses of cement;

a description of any other decommissioning procedures used for the well;

details of any other activities undertaken in the course of drilling, completing, plugging and decommissioning the well, and an assessment of the possible impacts of those activities.

For the purposes of subregulation (3)(i)(ii), the top position and bottom position of the natural underground reservoir or aquifer must be identified in relation to—

in the case of a directional well—

the total vertical depth in metres; and

the horizontal plane; or

in any other case, the depth in metres.