New Mexico Register / Volume XXXVII, Issue 18 / September 22, 2026

This is a short-form amendment to 19.15.2.7 NMAC, Subsections A, B, E, I, L and T, effective 9/22/2026.

Short form amendment explanatory statement. Subsections C, D, F-H, J-K, M-S, and U- through W were not shown as no changes were made to those subsections.

19.15.2.7 DEFINITIONS: These definitions apply to 19.15.2 NMAC through 19.15.39 NMAC.

A. Definitions beginning with the letter “A”.

(1) “Abate” means to investigate, contain, remove or mitigate water pollution.

(2) “Abatement” means the investigation, containment, removal or other mitigation of water pollution.

(3) “Abatement plan” means a description of operational, monitoring, contingency and closure requirements and conditions for water pollution’s prevention, investigation and abatement.

(4) “Act” or “Oil and Gas Act” means Chapter 70, Article 2 NMSA 1978, as it may be modified or amended.

(5) “Adjoining spacing units” mean those existing or prospective spacing units in the same pool that are touching at a point or line on the subject spacing unit.

(6) “Adjusted allowable” means the allowable production a well or proration unit receives after all adjustments are made.

(7) “AFE” means authorization for expenditure.

(8) “Affected persons” means the following persons owning interests in a spacing unit or other identified tract:

(a) the operator, as shown in division records, of a well on the tract, or, if the tract is included in a division-approved or federal unit, the designated unit operator;

(b) in the absence of an operator, or with respect to an application wherein the operator of the spacing unit or identified tract is the applicant, each working interest owner whose interest is evidenced by a written conveyance document either of record or known to the applicant as of the date the applicant files the application;

(c) as to any tract or interest therein that is not subject to an existing oil and gas lease, each mineral interest owner whose interest is evidenced by a written conveyance document either of record or known to the applicant as of the date the applicant filed the application; and

(d) if the United States or state of New Mexico owns the mineral estate in the spacing unit or identified tract or any part thereof, the BLM or state land office, as applicable; or

(e) if the mineral estate in the spacing unit or identified tract or any part thereof is tribal land, the BLM, the United States department of the interior, bureau of Indian affairs, and the relevant tribe.

(9) “Allocated pool” means a pool in which the total oil or gas production is restricted and is allocated to various wells in the pool in accordance with proration schedules.

(10) “Allowable production” means that number of barrels of oil or cubic feet of gas the division authorizes to be produced from an allocated pool.

(11) “APD” means application for permit to drill.

(12) “API” means the American petroleum institute.

(13) “Approved temporary abandonment,” “temporary abandonment,” or “temporarily abandoned status” means the status of a well that is inactive, has been approved in accordance with 19.15.25.13 NMAC and complies with 19.15.25.12 NMAC through 19.15.25.14 NMAC.

(14) “Aquifer” means a geological formation, group of formations or a part of a formation that can yield a significant amount of water to a well or spring.

(15) “ASTM” means ASTM International - an international standards developing organization that develops and publishes voluntary technical standards for a wide range of materials, products, systems and services.

B. Definitions beginning with the letter “B”.

(1) “Back allowable” means the authorization for production of an underproduction resulting from pipeline proration.

(2) “Background” means, for purposes of ground water abatement plans only, the amount of ground water contaminants naturally occurring from undisturbed geologic sources or water contaminants occurring from a source other than the responsible person’s facility. This definition does not prevent the director from requiring abatement of commingled plumes of pollution, does not prevent responsible persons from seeking contribution or other legal or equitable relief from other persons and does not preclude the director from exercising enforcement authority under any applicable statute, rule or common law.

(3) “Barrel” means 42 United States gallons measured at 60 degrees fahrenheit and atmospheric pressure at the sea level.

(4) “Barrel of oil” means 42 United States gallons of oil, after deductions for the full amount of basic sediment, water and other impurities present, ascertained by centrifugal or other recognized and customary test.

(5) “Barrel of oil equivalent” is determined by converting the volume of gas the well produced to barrels of oil by using a ratio of 6,000 cubic feet to one barrel of oil.

[(5)] (6) “Below-grade tank” means a vessel, excluding sumps and pressurized pipeline drip traps, where a portion of the tank's sidewalls is below the surrounding ground surface’s elevation. Below-grade tank does not include an above ground storage tank that is located above or at the surrounding ground surface’s elevation and is surrounded by berms.

(7) “Beneficial purposes” or “beneficial use” means an oil or gas well that is being used in a productive or beneficial manner including production, injection or monitoring.

[(6)] (8) “Berm” means an embankment or ridge constructed to prevent the movement of liquids, sludge, solids or other materials.

[(7)] (9) “Biopile”, also known as biocell, bioheap, biomound or compost pile, means a pile of contaminated soils used to reduce concentrations of petroleum constituents in excavated soils through biodegradation. This technology involves heaping contaminated soils into piles or “cells” and stimulating aerobic microbial activity within the soils through the aeration or addition of minerals, nutrients and moisture.

[(8)](10) “BLM” means the United States department of the interior, bureau of land management.

[(9)](11) “Bottom hole pressure” means the gauge pressure in psi under conditions existing at or near the producing horizon.

[(10)](12) “Bradenhead gas well” means a well producing gas through wellhead connections from a gas reservoir that has been successfully cased off from an underlying oil or gas reservoir.

[(11)](13) “BS&W” means basic sediments and water.

[(12)](14) “BTEX” means benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylene.

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E. Definitions beginning with the letter “E”.

(1) “EC” means electrical conductivity.

(2) “Enhanced oil recovery project” means the use or the expanded use of a process for the displacement of oil from an oil well or division-designated pool other than a primary recovery process, including but not limited to the use of a pressure maintenance process; a water flooding process; an immiscible, miscible, chemical, thermal or biological process; or any other related process.

(3) “EOR project” means an enhanced oil recovery project.

(4) “EPA” means the United States environmental protection agency.

(5) “Exempted aquifer” means an aquifer that does not currently serve as a source of drinking water, and that cannot now and will not in the foreseeable future serve as a source of drinking water because:

(a) it is hydrocarbon producing;

(b) it is situated at a depth or location that makes the recovery of water for drinking water purposes economically or technologically impractical; or

(c) it is so contaminated that it would be economically or technologically impractical to render that water fit for human consumption.

(6) “Exempt waste” means oil field waste exempted from regulation as hazardous waste pursuant to Subtitle C of RCRA and applicable regulations.

(7) “Existing spacing unit” means a spacing unit containing a producing well.

(8) “Expired temporary abandonment” or “expired temporary abandonment status” means the status of a well that is inactive and has been approved for temporary abandoned status in accordance with 19.15.25.13 NMAC, but that no longer complies with 19.15.25.12 NMAC through 19.15.25.14 NMAC.

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I. Definitions beginning with the letter “I”.

(1) “Illegal gas” means gas produced from a gas well exceeding the division-determined allowable.

(2) “Illegal oil” means oil produced exceeding the allowable the division fixes.

(3) “Illegal product” means a product of illegal gas or illegal oil.

(4) “Inactive well” means a well that has had no production or injection for 12 consecutive months or is not being used for beneficial purposes [such as] including production, injection or monitoring and that is not being drilled, completed, repaired or worked over.

(5) “Injection well” means a well used for the injection of air, gas, water or other fluids into an underground stratum.

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L. Definitions beginning with the letter “L”.

(1) “Limiting gas-oil ratio” means the gas-oil ratio the division assigns to a particular oil pool to limit the volumes of casinghead gas that may be produced from the various oil producing units within that particular pool.

(2) “Liner” means a continuous, low-permeability layer constructed of natural or human-made materials that restricts the migration of liquid oil field wastes, gases or leachate.

(3) “LLDPE” means linear low-density polyethylene.

(4) “Load oil” means oil or liquid hydrocarbon that has been used in remedial operation in an oil or gas well.

(5) “Log” means a systematic detailed and correct record of formations encountered in drilling a well.

(6) “Low producing well” means an oil or gas well that produced less than 180 days and less than 1,000 barrels of oil equivalent within a consecutive 12 month period.

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T. Definitions beginning with the letter “T”.

(1) “Tank bottoms” means that accumulation of hydrocarbon material and other substances that settles naturally below oil in tanks and receptacles that are used in oil’s handling and storing, and which accumulation contains more than two percent of BS&W; provided, however, that with respect to lease production and for lease storage tanks, a tank bottom shall be limited to that volume of the tank in which it is contained that lies below the bottom of the pipeline outlet to the tank.

(2) “TDS” means total dissolved solids.

[(3) “Temporary abandonment” or “temporarily abandoned status” means the status of a well that is inactive.]

[(4)] (3) “Top proration unit allowable for gas” means the maximum number of cubic feet of gas, for the proration period, the division allocates to a gas producing unit in an allocated gas pool.

[(5)] (4) “Top proration unit allowable for oil” means the maximum number of barrels for oil daily for each calendar month the division allocates on a proration unit basis in a pool to non-marginal units. The division shall determine the top proration unit allowable for a pool by multiplying the applicable depth bracket allowable by the market demand percentage factor in effect.

[(6)] (5) “TPH” means total petroleum hydrocarbons.

[(7)] (6) “Treating plant” means a plant constructed for wholly or partially or being used wholly or partially for reclaiming, treating, processing or in any manner making tank bottoms or other waste oil marketable.

[(8)] (7) “Tribal lands” means those lands for which the United States government has a trust responsibility to a native American tribe or a member of a native American tribe. This includes reservations, pueblo land grants, tribal trust lands and individual trust allotments.

[(9)] (8) “Tribal leases” means those leases of minerals or interests in or rights to minerals for which the United States government has a trust responsibility to a native American tribe or a member of a native American tribe.

[(10)] (9) “Tribal minerals” means those minerals for which the United States government has a trust responsibility to a native American tribe or a member of a native American tribe.

[(11)] (10) “True vertical depth” means the difference in elevation between the ground level at the surface location of the well and the deepest point in the well bore.

[(12)] (11) “Tubingless completion” means a well completion in which the production string of casing has an outside diameter of 2.875 inches or less.

[(13)] (12) “Tubingless multiple completion” means completion in which two or more common sources of supply are produced through an equal number of casing strings cemented in a common well bore, each such string of casing having an outside diameter of 2.875 inches or less, with the production from each common source of supply completely segregated by cement.

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[19.15.2.7 NMAC - Rp, 19.15.1.7 NMAC, 12/1/2008; A, 3/31/2015; A, 6/30/2016; A, 6/26/2018; A, 1/15/2019; A, 10/13/2020; A, 8/23/2022; A, 7/29/2025; A, 9/22/2026]