SECTION 3.28. Potential and Deliverability of Gas Wells to be Ascertained and Reported

(a) The information necessary to determine the absolute daily open flow potential of each producing associated or nonassociated gas well shall be ascertained, and a report shall be filed as required with the Commission within 90 days of completion of the well. The test shall be performed in accordance with the Commission's publication, Back Pressure Test for Natural Gas Wells, State of Texas, or other test procedure approved in advance by the Commission and shall be reported on the Commission's prescribed form. An operator may determine absolute open flow potential from a stabilized one-point test. For a one-point test, the well shall be flowed on a single choke setting until a stabilized flow is achieved, but not less than 72 hours. The shut-in and flowing bottom hole pressures shall be calculated in the manner prescribed for a four-point test. The Commission may authorize a one-point test of shorter duration for a well which is not connected to a sales line, but a test which is in compliance with this section must be conducted and reported after the well is connected before an allowable will be assigned to the well. Back-dating of allowables will be performed in accordance with §3.31 of this title (relating to Gas Reservoirs and Gas Well Allowable).

(b) After conducting the test required by subsection (a) of this section each operator of a gas well shall conduct an initial deliverability test and report the test results on the Commission's prescribed form not later than 90 days after completion of the well. If a 72-hour one-point back pressure test on a well connected to a sales line was conducted as provided in subsection (a) of this section, the same test may be used to determine initial deliverability, provided the test was conducted in accordance with subsection (c) of this section.

(1) After the initial deliverability test has been conducted, the following schedule for well testing applies:

(A) Nonassociated gas wells shall be tested semiannually.

(B) Associated gas wells described in §3.49(b) of this title (relating to Gas-Oil Ratio) shall be tested annually.

(C) Wells with current reported deliverability of 100 Mcf a day or less are not required to test as long as deliverability and production remain at or below 100 Mcf a day but are required to file Form G-10 according to the instructions on the form.

(D) Wells with a deliverability greater than 100 Mcf a day and less than or equal to 250 Mcf a day in fields without special field rules are not required to be tested as long as deliverability and production remain equal to or less than 250 Mcf a day.

(2) Notwithstanding any of the provisions in this section on frequency of testing, gas wells commingling liquid hydrocarbons before metering must comply with the testing provisions applicable to such wells.

(3) All deliverability tests shall be conducted in accordance with subsection (c) of this section and the instructions printed on the Form G-10. The results of each test shall be attested to by the operator or its appointed agent. The first purchaser or its representative upon request to the operator shall have the right to witness such tests. Gas meter charts, printouts, or other documents showing the actual measurement of the gas produced or other data required to be recorded during any deliverability test conducted under this subsection shall be preserved as required by §3.1 of this title (relating to Organization Report; Retention of Records; Notice Requirements).

(4) In the event that the first purchaser and the operator cannot agree upon the validity of the test results, then either party may request a retest of the well. The first purchaser upon request to the operator shall have the right to witness the retest. If either party requests a representative from the Commission to witness a retest of the well, the results of a Commission-witnessed test shall be conclusive for the purposes of this section until the next regularly scheduled test of the well. In the event a retest is witnessed by the Commission, the retest shall be signed by the representative of the Commission.

(5) In the event that downhole remedial work or other substantial production enhancement work is performed, or if a pumping unit, compressor, or other equipment is installed to increase deliverability of a well subject to the Commission-witnessed testing procedure described in this subsection, a new test may be requested and shall be performed according to the procedure outlined in this subsection.

(c) Unless applicable special field rules provide otherwise or the director of the oil and gas division or the director's delegate authorizes an alternate procedure due to a well's producing characteristics, deliverability tests shall be performed as follows. Deliverability tests shall be scheduled by the producer within the testing period designated by the Commission, and only the recorded data specified by the Form G-10 is required to be reported. All deliverability tests shall be performed by producing the subject well at stabilized rates for a minimum time period of 72 hours. A deliverability test shall be conducted under normal and usual operating conditions using the normal and usual operating equipment in place on the well being tested, and the well shall be produced against the normal and usual line pressure prevailing in the line into which the well produces. The average daily producing rate for each 24-hour period, the wellhead pressure before the commencement of the 72-hour test, and the flowing wellhead pressure at the beginning of each 24-hour period shall be recorded. In addition, a 24-hour shut-in wellhead pressure shall be determined either within the six-month period prior to the commencement of the 72-hour deliverability test or immediately after the completion of the deliverability test. The shut-in wellhead pressure that was determined and the date on which the 24-hour test was commenced shall be recorded on Form G-10. Exceptions and extensions to the timing requirements for deliverability tests and shut-in wellhead pressure tests may be granted by the Commission for good cause. The flow rate during each day of the first 48 hours of the test must be as close as possible to the flow rate during the final 24 hours of the test, but must equal at least 75% of such flow rate. The deliverability of the well during the last 24 hours of the flow test shall be used for allowable and allocation purposes. If pipeline conditions exist such that a producer believes a representative deliverability test cannot be performed, the producer with pipeline notification may request in writing that the Commission use either of the following as the deliverability of record:

(1) the deliverability test performed during the previous testing period; or

(2) the maximum daily production from any of the 12 months prior to the due date of the test as determined by dividing the highest monthly production by the number of days in that month.

(d) After the initial deliverability test, an operator may elect not to perform and/or file a subsequent deliverability test for a well. In those cases, the Commission shall use the lesser of the following as the deliverability of record for the purpose of this section:

(1) the results of the most recent deliverability test on file with the Commission; or

(2) the maximum daily production from any of the 12 months prior to the due date of the test as determined by dividing the highest monthly production by the number of days in that month.

(e) Notwithstanding subsection (d) of this section, a deliverability test must be performed on a well in accordance with this section:

(1) at initial completion of the well;

(2) at recompletion of the well into a different regulatory field;

(3) at reclassification of the well from oil to gas;

(4) when the well is an inactive well as defined in §3.15 of this title (relating to Surface Equipment Removal Requirements and Inactive Wells) and the operator resumes production from the well;

(5) when the well is completed in a regulatory field where the allocation formula is based in whole or in part on the downhole pressure of the well, and that allocation formula is not suspended;

(6) when necessary to reinstate an allowable; or

(7) when required by Commission order, special field rule, or other Commission rule.

(f) If the deliverability of a well changes after a test is reported to the Commission, the deliverability of record for a well will be decreased upon receipt of a written request from the operator to reduce the deliverability of record to a specified amount. If the deliverability of a well increases, a retest must be conducted in the manner specified in this section and must be reported on Form G-10 before the deliverability of record will be increased.

(g) First purchasers with packages of gas dedicated entirely to a downstream purchaser shall coordinate testing with and provide test results to that downstream purchaser if requested by the downstream purchaser. In these cases, the downstream purchaser upon request to the operator shall have the right to witness all deliverability tests and retests.

(h) Tests of wells connected to a pipeline shall be made in a manner that no gas is flared, vented, or otherwise wastefully used.

Source Note: The provisions of this §3.28 adopted to be effective September 1, 1986, 11 TexReg 3680; amended to be effective October 12, 1998, 23 TexReg 10397; amended to be effective February 28, 2000, 25 TexReg 1592; amended to be effective November 24, 2004, 29 TexReg 10728; amended to be effective January 1, 2017, 41 TexReg 9470