Directive 065: Resources Applications for Oil and Gas Reservoirs ...

3.1.6 SD Unsegregated Production
If a licensee meets the requirements set out in Sections 3.051(2) and (3) of the OGCR and in
this unit, unsegregated gas production may commence using the SD process without an
application being filed or an ERCB approval being issued. Each well commingled using this
process must meet all SD requirements and report unsegregated production using the SD
code.
The SD process is for commingling of production from gas pools only or oil pools only.
Commingled production from gas and oil pools in the same wellbore is not permitted under
this process and requires a commingling application. The SD commingling process has
limited applicability with respect to oil production at present, being available for use with
only very low-rate oil wells. Also, the SD process may not be used if the proposed
commingling involves any H 2 S, or wells in a designated oil sands area or in a pool that
overlaps into a designated oil sands area.
Production from a well completed within a DE may be commingled with production from
intervals above or below the stratigraphic intervals of the DE using the SD process, provided
that all requirements for SD commingling are met.
Data collection requirements associated with commingling under the SD process are set out
in Sections 11.005, 11.070, 11.102, and 11.140 of the OGCR and in Directive 040.
The SD commingling process is the same for all situations, but well testing requirements vary
for gas wells depending on the well flow rate, as set out in Directive 040.
3.1.6.1 Requirements for SD Commingling of Gas Production
The following are the specific requirements set out in Section 3.051(2) of the OGCR that
must be met before nonassociated gas production may be undertaken without segregation in
the wellbore under the SD process:
1) Anticipated or actual water production is less than 5.0 m 3 /month if there are completions
above the base of the groundwater protection.
2) The top of the completions is more than 25 m below the base of any water well within
600 m of the producing well.
3) There is no H 2 S in the production stream.
4) The licensee has resolved any concerns of lessors or lessees of the mineral rights whose
rights may be directly and adversely affected by the unsegregated production.
5) The reservoir pressure of any interval completed for production does not exceed 90 per
cent of the fracture pressure of any other interval completed for production.
6) There is no production of gas associated with an oil accumulation.
7) The well is not in a designated oil sands area or in a pool that overlaps a designated oil
sands area.
8) The pools or intervals are not subject to any existing or proposed enhanced recovery
scheme.
For additional information, refer to the decision tree in Figure 3.3 and the explanatory notes
in Section 3.1.7.
3-10 • ERCB Directive 065: Resources Applications / Commingled Production (October 2011)