{"data":{"id":"us-ky/krs-353.510","jurisdiction":"us-ky","citation":"KRS 353.510","heading":"Definitions for KRS  353.500 to 353.720.","body":"As used in KRS 353.500 to 353.720, unless the context otherwise requires:\n(1) \"Department\" means the Department for Natural Resources;\n(2) \"Commissioner\" means  the commissioner of the Department for Natural\nResources;\n(3) \"Director\" means the director of the Division of Oil and Gas as provided in KRS\n353.530;\n(4) \"Commission\" means the Kentucky Oil and Gas Conservation Commission as\nprovided in KRS 353.565;\n(5) \"Person\" means  any natural person, corporation, association, partnership,\nreceiver, governmental agency subject to KRS  353.500 to 353.720, trustee,\nso-called common-law  or statutory trust, guardian, executor, administrator, or\nfiduciary of any kind, federal agency, state agency, city, commission, political\nsubdivision of the Commonwealth, or any interstate body;\n(6) \"Correlative rights\" means  the reasonable opportunity of each person entitled\nthereto to recover and receive or receive, without waste, the oil and gas in and\nunder or produced from a tract or tracts in which the person owns or controls\nan interest, or proceeds thereof;\n(7) \"Oil\" means natural crude oil or petroleum and other hydrocarbons, regardless\nof gravity, which are produced at the well in liquid form by ordinary production\nmethods and which are not the result of condensation of gas after it leaves the\nunderground reservoir;\n(8) \"Gas\"  means  all natural gas, including casinghead gas, and  all other\nhydrocarbons not defined in subsection (7) of this section as oil;\n(9) \"Pool\" means:\n(a) An  underground reservoir containing a common  accumulation of oil or\ngas or both; or\n(b) An area established by the department or the commission as a pool.\nEach  productive zone of a general structure which is completely separated\nfrom any other zone in the structure, or which for the purpose of KRS  353.500\nto 353.720 may  be so declared by the department, is covered by the word\n\"pool\";\n(10) \"Field\" means the general area which is underlaid or appears to be underlaid\nby  at least one (1) pool; and \"field\" includes the underground reservoir\ncontaining oil or gas or both. The words \"field\" and \"pool\" mean the same thing\nwhen  only one (1) underground reservoir is involved; however, \"field,\" unlike\n\"pool,\" may relate to two (2) or more pools;\n(11) \"Just and equitable share of production\" means, as to each person, an amount\nof oil or gas or both substantially equal to the amount of recoverable oil and\ngas in that part of a pool underlying his tract or tracts;\n(12) \"Abandoned,\" when used in connection with a well or hole, means  a well or\nhole which has never been used, or which, in the opinion of the department,\nwill no longer be used for the production of oil or gas or for the injection or\ndisposal of fluid therein;\n(13) \"Workable bed\" means:\n(a) A coal bed actually being operated commercially;\n(b) A  coal bed that the department decides can be operated commercially\nand  the operation of which can reasonably be expected to commence\nwithin not more than ten (10) years; or\n(c) A  coal bed which, from outcrop indications or other definite evidence,\nproves to the satisfaction of the commissioner to be workable, and which,\nwhen  operated, will require protection if wells are drilled through it;\n(14) \"Well\" means a borehole:\n(a) Drilled or proposed to be drilled for the purpose of producing gas or oil;\n(b) Through which gas or oil is being produced; or\n(c) Drilled or proposed to be drilled for the purpose of injecting any water,\ngas, or other fluid therein or into which any water, gas, or other fluid is\nbeing injected;\n(15) \"Shallow well\" means any well drilled and completed at a depth of six thousand\n(6,000) feet or less except, in the case of any well drilled and completed east of\nlongitude line 84 degrees 30', shallow well means  any well drilled and\ncompleted at a depth of six thousand (6,000) feet or above the base of the\nlowest member  of the Devonian Brown Shale, whichever is the deeper in\ndepth;\n(16) \"Deep  well\" means  any well drilled and completed below the depth of six\nthousand (6,000) feet or, in case of a well located east of longitude line 84\ndegree 30', a well drilled and completed at a depth below six thousand (6,000)\nfeet or below the base of the lowest member  of the Devonian Brown Shale,\nwhichever is deeper;\n(17) \"Operator\" means:\n(a) For a deep well, any owner of the right to develop, operate, and produce\noil and gas from a pool and to appropriate the oil and gas produced\ntherefrom, either for himself or for himself and others. In the event that\nthere is no oil and gas lease in existence with respect to the tract in\nquestion, the owner of the oil and gas rights therein shall be considered\nas the royalty owner to the extent of the prevailing royalty in the oil and\ngas in that portion of the pool underlying the tract owned by the owner,\nand as operator as to the remaining interest in such oil and gas. In the\nevent the oil is owned separately from the gas, the owner of the right to\ndevelop, operate, and produce the substance being produced or sought\nto be produced from the pool shall be considered as \"operator\" as to such\npool; and\n(b) For a shallow well, any owner of the right to develop, operate, and\nproduce oil and gas from a pool and to appropriate the oil and gas\ntherefrom, either for himself or herself, or for himself or herself and others.\nIf there is no oil and gas lease in existence with respect to the tract in\nquestion, the owner of the oil and gas rights therein shall be considered\nas operator to the extent of seven-eighths (7/8) of the oil and gas in that\nportion of the pool underlying the tract owned  by the owner, and as a\nroyalty owner as to the one-eighth (1/8) interest in the oil and gas. If the\noil is owned separately from the gas, the owner of the right to develop,\noperate, and produce the substance being produced or sought to be\nproduced from the pool shall be considered as operator as to the pool;\n(18) \"Royalty owner\" means any owner of oil and gas in place, or oil and gas rights,\nto the extent that the owner is not an operator as defined in subsection (17) of\nthis section;\n(19) \"Drilling unit\" generally means  the maximum  area in a pool which may  be\ndrained efficiently by one (1) well so as to produce the reasonable maximum  oil\nor gas reasonably recoverable in the area. Where the regulatory authority has\nprovided rules for the establishment of a drilling unit and  an operator,\nproceeding within the framework of the rules so prescribed, has taken the\naction necessary to have a specified area established for production from a\nwell, the area shall be a drilling unit;\n(20) \"Underground  source of drinking water\" means  those subsurface waters\nidentified as in regulations promulgated by the department which shall be\nconsistent with the definition of underground source of drinking water in\nregulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to\nthe Safe Drinking Water Act, 42 U.S.C. secs. 300(f) et seq.;\n(21) \"Underground injection\" means  the subsurface emplacement of fluids by well\ninjection but does not include the underground injection of natural gas for\npurposes of storage;\n(22) \"Endangerment of underground sources of drinking water\" means underground\ninjection which may  result in the presence in underground water, which\nsupplies or can reasonably be expected to supply any public water system, of\nany  contaminant and if the presence of the contaminant may  result in the\nsystem's not complying with any national primary drinking water regulation or\nmay  otherwise adversely affect the health of persons;\n(23) \"Class II well\" means wells which inject fluids:\n(a) Which  are brought to the surface in connection with conventional oil or\nnatural gas production and may be commingled with waste waters from\ngas  plants which are an integral part of production operations, unless\nthose waters are classified as a hazardous waste at the time of injection;\n(b) For enhanced recovery of oil or natural gas; and\n(c) For storage of hydrocarbons which are liquid at standard temperature and\npressure;\n(24) \"Fluid\" means  any material or substance which flows or moves whether in a\nsemisolid, liquid, sludge, gas, or any other form or state;\n(25) \"Horizontal well\" means  a well, the wellbore of which is initially drilled on a\nvertical or directional plane and which is curved to become horizontal or nearly\nhorizontal, in order to parallel a particular geological formation and which may\ninclude multiple horizontal or stacked laterals;\n(26) \"Vertical well\" means  a well, the wellbore of which is drilled on a vertical or\ndirectional plane into a formation and is not turned or curved horizontally to\nallow the wellbore additional access to the oil and gas reserves in the\nformation;\n(27) \"Prevailing royalty\" means  the royalty rate or percentage that the department\nor the commission determines is the royalty most commonly  applicable with\nregard to the tract or unit in the issue. The royalty rate set by the department or\nthe commission shall not be less than one-eighth (1/8) or twelve and one-half\npercent (12.5%);\n(28) \"Best management  practices\" means  demonstrated practices intended to\ncontrol site runoff and pollution of surface water and groundwater to prevent or\nreduce the pollution of waters of the Commonwealth;\n(29) \"Abandoned  storage tank facility\" means  any aboveground storage tank or\ninterconnected grouping of tanks that is no longer being actively used and\nmaintained in conjunction with the production and storage of crude oil or\nproduced water;\n(30) \"Spill prevention, control, and countermeasure structures\" means containment\nstructures constructed around a storage facility to contain facility discharges;\n(31) \"Landowner\" means any person who owns real property where an abandoned\nstorage tank facility is currently located;\n(32) \"Chemical Abstracts Service\" means  the division of the American Chemical\nSociety that is the globally recognized authority for information on chemical\nsubstances;\n(33) \"Chemical abstracts service number\" means  the unique identification number\nassigned to a chemical by the Chemical Abstracts Service;\n(34) \"Chemical\" means any element, chemical compound, or mixture of elements or\ncompounds  that has its own specific name  or identity, such as a chemical\nabstracts service number;\n(35) \"Chemical  disclosure registry\" means  the chemical registry known  as\nFracFocus  developed by  the Groundwater  Protection Council and  the\nInterstate Oil and  Gas  Compact  Commission.  If that registry becomes\npermanently inoperable, the chemical disclosure registry shall mean  another\npublicly accessible Web site that is designated by the commissioner;\n(36) \"Division\" means the Kentucky Division of Oil and Gas;\n(37) \"Emergency  spill or discharge\" means  an uncontrolled release, spill, or\ndischarge associated with an oil or gas well or production facility that has an\nimmediate adverse impact to public health, safety, or the environment as\ndeclared by the secretary of the cabinet;\n(38) \"Health  professional\" means  a  physician, physician assistant, nurse\npractitioner, registered nurse, or emergency medical technician licensed by the\nCommonwealth  of Kentucky;\n(39) \"High-volume horizontal fracturing treatment\" means  the stimulated treatment\nof a horizontal well by the pressurized application of more than eighty thousand\n(80,000) gallons of water, chemical, and proppant, combined for any stage of\nthe treatment or three hundred twenty thousand (320,000) gallons in the\naggregate for the treatment used to initiate or propagate fractures in a\ngeological formation for the purpose of enhancing the extraction or production\nof oil or natural gas;\n(40) \"Proppant\" means sand or any natural or man-made  material that is used in a\nhydraulic fracturing treatment to prop open the artificially created or enhanced\nfractures once the treatment is completed;\n(41) \"Total water volume\" means the total quantity of water from all sources used in\na high-volume hydraulic fracturing treatment;\n(42) \"Trade secret\" means  information concerning the volume of a chemical or\nrelative concentration of chemicals used in a hydraulic fracturing treatment\nthat:\n(a) Is known only to the hydraulic fracturing treatment's owners, employees,\nformer employees, or persons under contractual obligation to hold the\ninformation in confidence;\n(b) Has  been  perfected and appropriated by the exercise of individual\ningenuity which gives the hydraulic fracturing treatment's owner  an\nopportunity to retain or obtain an advantage over competitors who do not\nknow the information; and\n(c) Is not required to be disclosed or otherwise made available to the public\nunder any federal or state law or administrative regulation;\n(43) \"Cabinet\" means the Energy and Environment Cabinet;\n(44) \"Stratigraphic test well\" means  an exploratory borehole drilled for the sole\npurpose of acquiring subsurface geological and structure test data;\n(45) \"Notice\" means  the sending of certified mail to the last known address. The\ndate of delivery shall be the earlier of the date shown on the certified mail\nreturn receipt or the date thirty (30) days after the date shown on the postal\nservice proof of mailing. For the purposes of KRS  353.620, 353.630, 353.640,\nand  353.700, any unknown  or nonlocatable owner shall be deemed  to have\nreceived notice, provided that the person giving the notice has caused to be\npublished, no more  than thirty (30) days prior to the submission of an\napplication or order issued pursuant to an application, one (1) notice in the\nnewspaper  of the largest circulation in each county in which any tract, or\nportion thereof, affected or proposed to be affected, is located. The applicant\nshall provide a copy of the published notification to the director within twenty\n(20) days of the date of publication. The notice shall:\n(a) State, as applicable, that an application is being filed with the division or\nthat an order has been issued pursuant to an application filed with the\ndivision;\n(b) Describe any tract, or portion thereof, affected or proposed to be affected;\n(c) In the case of an unknown  owner, identify the name  of the last known\nowner;\n(d) In the case of a nonlocatable owner, identify the owner and the owner's\nlast known address; and\n(e) State that any party claiming an interest in any tract, or portion thereof,\naffected or proposed to be affected, shall contact the operator at the\npublished address;\n(46)(a) \"Control person\" means a person who:\n1. Has  the ability to commit the financial or real property assets or\nworking resources of an entity to comply with this chapter and the\nadministrative regulations promulgated hereunder with respect to\nthe operations of a well or the manner in which a well is operated;\n2. Has  any other relationship that gives that person authority to\ndetermine the manner in which a well is operated, plugged, and\nabandoned. This includes a rebuttable presumption that an ineligible\nperson is directing the actions of his or her spouse or child who files\nan application;\n3. Is an officer, director, or general partner of an entity; or\n4. Has  an ownership interest in an entity equaling or exceeding fifty\npercent (50%), except that the cabinet may determine that a person\nhas controlling interest in an entity with less than fifty percent (50%)\nownership.\n(b) Unless the person is determined to qualify under paragraph (a) of this\nsubsection, \"control person\" does not include:\n1. An independent third-party service company;\n2. A contract operator;\n3. A well tender or pumper;\n4. The owner of a non-operated undivided working interest;\n5. A limited partner;\n6. A unitholder in a limited liability company; or\n7. Any  other person who  by virtue of a joint operating agreement,\nentity governance agreement, or other contractual relationship does\nnot have the right to control the manner in which a well is operated\nand plugged and abandoned;\n(47) \"Eligible well\" means:\n(a) An orphan well; or\n(b) Any  abandoned  well that poses an imminent threat to human  health,\nsafety, or the environment; and\n(48) \"Orphan well\" means any oil or gas well, as defined in subsection (14) of this\nsection, which has  been  determined by  the cabinet to be  improperly\nabandoned  or improperly closed, and that has no known owner or operator\nwith continuing legal responsibility or all owners or operators with continuing\nlegal responsibility for the well are determined to be financially insolvent\nfollowing a reasonable investigation conducted by the cabinet.","path":["KRS Chapter 353"],"source_url":"https://apps.legislature.ky.gov/law/statutes/statute.aspx?id=52164","current_through":"Includes enactments through the 2026 Regular Session","vintage":"09/05/2026","retrieved_at":"2026-09-05T20:58:39Z","sha256":"64b56ee11773e2be5eea222c55f00f43971812bcd9c8060ed171af82489515b6","source_id":"us-ky","stale":false,"prev":"us-ky/krs-353.500","next":"us-ky/krs-353.520"},"notice":"GroundRules: Original legal text. Not legal advice."}