§ 38-08-02 — Definitions

As 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.