Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 92 Part 3.djvu/727

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PUBLIC LAW 95-000—MMMM. DD, 1978

PUBLIC LAW 95-621—NOV. 9, 1978

92 STAT. 3359

(ii) any completion location, of any new well, which is located at a depth at least 1,000 feet below the deepest completion location of each marker well within 2.5 miles (determined in accordance with paragraph (2)) of such new well. (C) N E W ONSHORE RESERVOIRS.— (i) GENERAL RULE.—Except as provided in clauses (ii)

and (iii), natural gas determined in accordance with section 603 to be produced (other than from the Outer Post, p. 3397. Continental Shelf) from a reservoir from which natural gas was not produced in commercial quantities before April 20, 1977. (ii) BEHIND-THE-PIPE EXCLUSION.—Clause (i) shall not not apply to natural gas produced from any reservoir if— (I) the reservoir was penetrated before April 20, 1977, by an old well from which natural gas or crude oil was produced in commercial quantities (whether or not such production was from such reservoir); and ( II) natural g^as could have been produced in commercial quantities from such reservoir through such old well before April 20, 1977. (iii) WITHHELD GAS EXCLUSION.—Clause (i) shall not apply to natural gas produced from any reservoir— j;. (I) if such natural gas is produced through an old well; and ( II) subject to clause (iv), suitable facilities for the production and delivery to a pipeline of such natural gas were in existence on April 20, 1977. (iv) EMERGENCY SALE FACILITIES.—The criteria of clause (iii) ( II) shall not be considered to be met by reason of the existence of production and delivery facilities which were installed to carry out sales and deliveries of natural gas— (I) under section 6 of the Emergency Natural Gas Act of 1977; or 15 USC 717 ( II) under the emergency sale authority pursu- "t®ant to Opinion 699-B issued by the Federal Power Commission under section 7(c) of the Natural Gas Act. (2) DETERMINATIONS OF DISTANCE.—For purposes of determin-

ing the distance from any new well to any marker well— (A) SURFACE LOCATION TO SURFACE LOCATION.—The measurement shall be the horizontal distance from the surface location of the new well to the surface location of the marker well— (i) in any case in which the new well meets requirements for the nondirectional drilling of wells prescribed by the appropriate State or Federal agency having regulatory jurisdiction over the drilling of such well; or (ii) in any case in which— (I) the surface drilling of such new well began on or after February 19, 1977; ' ( II) production of natural gas in commercial quantities began from such well before the date of the enactment of this Act; and

15 USC 717f.