[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2004]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR3162.3-4]

[Page 421-422]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 3160_ONSHORE OIL AND GAS OPERATIONS--Table of Contents
 
   Subpart 3162_Requirements for Operating Rights Owners and Operators
 
Sec. 3162.3-4  Well abandonment.

    (a) The operator shall promptly plug and abandon, in accordance with 
a plan first approved in writing or prescribed

[[Page 422]]

by the authorized officer, each newly completed or recompleted well in 
which oil or gas is not encountered in paying quantities or which, after 
being completed as a producing well, is demonstrated to the satisfaction 
of the authorized officer to be no longer capable of producing oil or 
gas in paying quantities, unless the authorized officer shall approve 
the use of the well as a service well for injection to recover 
additional oil or gas or for subsurface disposal of produced water. In 
the case of a newly drilled or recompleted well, the approval to abandon 
may be written or oral with written confirmation.
    (b) Completion of a well as plugged and abandoned may also include 
conditioning the well as water supply source for lease operations or for 
use by the surface owner or appropriate Government Agency, when 
authorized by the authorized officer. All costs over and above the 
normal plugging and abandonment expense will be paid by the party 
accepting the water well.
    (c) No well may be temporarily abandoned for more than 30 days 
without the prior approval of the authorized officer. The authorized 
officer may authorize a delay in the permanent abandonment of a well for 
a period of 12 months. When justified by the operator, the authorized 
officer may authorize additional delays, no one of which may exceed an 
additional 12 months. Upon the removal of drilling or producing 
equipment from the site of a well which is to be permanently abandoned, 
the surface of the lands disturbed in connection with the conduct of 
operations shall be reclaimed in accordance with a plan first approved 
or prescribed by the authorized officer.

[47 FR 47765, Oct. 27, 1982. Redesignated and amended at 48 FR 36583-
36586, Aug. 12, 1983, further amended at 53 FR 17363, May 16, 1988; 53 
FR 22847, June 17, 1988]