At all times from the start of erection of a derrick, mast, or gin pole until the well is abandoned and plugged or completed as a producer and enclosed with a fence as provided in this division, the permittee shall keep a watchman on duty on the premises at all times.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-44)
It shall be unlawful for any person to drill a well within the city limits to a depth in excess of ten thousand (10,000) feet, and no drilling and operating permit shall be granted for any well to a depth in excess of ten thousand (10,000) feet.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-45)
It shall be unlawful for any person to complete and/or operate any well in a sand or horizon which would result in a surface shut-in pressure in excess of five thousand (5,000) pounds per square inch, and no drilling and operating permit shall be granted for the completion and/or operation of any well in any sand or horizon which would result in a surface shut-in pressure in excess of five thousand (5,000) pounds per square inch. It shall be the duty and obligation of the permittee and operator to properly and adequately seal and shut off such sand and horizon in keeping with the then best known practice of the industry.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-46)
It shall be unlawful for any person to use or operate in connection with the drilling or reworking of any well within the city limits any wooden derrick or any steam-powered rig; or to use as fuel in any drilling rig or in any drilling, reworking or production operations any butane, propane or other liquefied petroleum gas; or to permit any drilling rig or derrick to remain on the premises or drilling site for a period of longer than thirty (30) days after completion or abandonment of the well.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-47)
It shall be unlawful for any person to use or operate in connection with any drilling or reworking operations within the city limits any earthen slush, mud or reserve pit or pits, or to use any pit or pits except steel pits, which steel pits and their contents shall be promptly removed from the premises and drilling site as soon as the well is either completed for production or abandoned as a dry hole; provided, however, the city council shall have the power, and reserves the authority, to permit the use of a temporary reserve pit or pits if such pits are located on a single tract of land in excess of 30 acres in size which is owned by a single owner or by a group of owners in undivided interests, provided that such reserve pits shall be drained, filled and leveled following the completion of such well either as a producer or as a dry hole.
(Ordinance 866 adopted 7/13/92)
(a) 
All casing, other than conductor, including surface, protection and production strings, shall be either seamless steel or equivalent quality on the well casing. Each production string of casing must comply with at least the following minimum internal pressure yield strength, computed in accordance with API standards:
Depth of String in Feet
Internal Pressure Rating
(psi)
0 - 6,000
4,500 lbs.
6,000 - 7,000
5,000 lbs.
7,000 - 8,000
6,000 lbs.
8,000 - 9,000
7,000 lbs.
9,000 - 10,000
8,000 lbs.
(b) 
Each joint and length of each particular casing, other than conductor, shall have, prior to setting, unconditionally passed a complete internal inspection and external inspection, with such inspection having been at least comparable to the complete inspection service available by either the Tuboscope Company, or Huston Oil Field Material Company, Inc., or Western Inspection Company.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-49)
(a) 
No well shall be drilled within the city limits without properly setting conductor casing to a minimum depth of twenty (20) feet, and without properly setting surface casing to a minimum of one thousand (1,000) feet in any well having a total well depth not exceeding six thousand (6,000) feet, or to a minimum depth of one thousand five hundred (1,500) feet in a well having a total depth in excess of six thousand (6,000) feet but not exceeding seven thousand (7,000) feet, or to a minimum depth of two thousand (2,000) feet in a well having a total depth in excess of seven thousand (7,000) feet. No well shall be drilled within the city limits to a depth exceeding eight thousand (8,000) feet without properly setting a protection string of casing at a depth between seven thousand nine hundred (7,900) feet and eight thousand (8,000) feet.
(b) 
No well shall be drilled within the city limits without cementing the conductor casing and the surface casing by the pump and plug method with sufficient cement to completely fill all of the annular space behind such casing to the surface of the ground, and without cementing the production string by the pump and plug method with sufficient cement to completely fill all the annular space behind the production string to at least six hundred (600) feet above the highest oil and/or gas bearing horizon, and, in the event a protection string of casing is required under the terms of this division, without cementing the protection string by the pump and plug method with sufficient cement to completely fill all the annular space behind the protection string to at least six hundred (600) feet above the highest oil and/or gas bearing horizon.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-50)
All tubing used in any well within the city limits shall be seamless steel tubing having not less than a minimum internal pressure yield strength of seven thousand (7,000) pounds per square inch if used in connection with a well completion at a depth not exceeding seven thousand (7,000) feet, or less than a minimum internal pressure yield strength of ten thousand (10,000) pounds per square inch if used in connection with a well completion at a depth in excess of seven thousand (7,000) feet.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-51)
No well shall be drilled within the city limits without properly equipping the conductor casing, when set, with at least one blowout preventer, and without properly equipping the surface casing, when set, with at least one master valve and at least two (2) ram type blowout preventers, and properly equipping the production casing during completion operations and workover operations with at least one master valve and at least two (2) ram type blowout preventers, On each well drilled, a valve cock or kelly cock shall be installed on the kelly used. Each blowout preventer shall be tested at least once every eight-hour period and all control equipment shall be in good working condition and order at all times.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-53)
No well shall be drilled or reworked within the city limits without using mud as the drilling fluid at all times. Prior to the time the well reaches a total depth of five thousand (5,000) feet or the depth of the first known or encountered oil or gas bearing horizon, whichever is the lesser depth, the weight of the mud-laden drilling fluid shall at all times be maintained at not less than ten (10) pounds per gallon. After the well reaches a total depth of five thousand (5,000) feet or the depth of the first known encountered oil or gas bearing horizon, whichever is the lesser depth, the weight of the mud-laden drilling fluid shall at all times be maintained at such weight as will provide a hydrostatic head or not less than five hundred (500) pounds per square inch in excess of the formation pressure.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-54)
It shall be unlawful for any person connected with the drilling or reworking operations of any well within the city limits to take and to complete any drill stem test or tests except during daylight hours, and then only if the well effluent during the test is produced through an adequate oil and gas separator to storage tanks, and the effluent remaining in the drill pipe at the time the tool is closed is flushed to the surface by circulating drilling fluid down the annulus and up the drill pipe.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-55)
Each well drilled within the city limits shall be equipped with a bradenhead with a working pressure of not less than six thousand (6,000) pounds per square inch. Bradenheads shall not be welded. The bradenhead installed on the surface casing shall be set above ground level and shall be equipped with fittings having a test pressure rating of not less than six thousand (6,000) pounds per square inch. The bradenhead pressure shall be checked at least once each calendar month and, if pressure is found to exist, proper remedial measures shall be immediately taken to eliminate the source and the existence of the pressure.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-56)
The Christmas tree and all well head connections on each well drilled within the city limits shall be new. On all wells completed at a depth above seven thousand (7,000) feet, the Christmas tree and well head connections shall have at least a minimum working pressure of three thousand (3,000) pounds per square inch and a minimum test pressure of at least six thousand (6,000) pounds per square inch. On all wells completed below a depth of seven thousand (7,000) feet, the Christmas tree and well head connections shall have at least a minimum working pressure of five thousand (5,000) pounds per square inch and a minimum test pressure of at least ten thousand (10,000) pounds per square inch. All pipe and fittings connecting the well head to an oil/gas separator shall have at least the same minimum working pressure and minimum test pressure as hereinabove specified for Christmas tree and well head connections. In the event the surface shut-in pressure of any well in the city limits exceeds two thousand (2,000) pounds per square inch, the flow wing of the Christmas tree shall be equipped with an automatic closing safety valve in addition to the regular control valves.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-57)
It shall be unlawful for any person to use, construct or operate in connection with any producing well within the city limits any crude oil storage tanks, except to the extent of two (2) steel tanks for oil storage, not exceeding five hundred (500) barrels capacity each, and so constructed and maintained as to be vapor tight, and each surrounded with an earth fire wall at such distance from the tanks as will, under any circumstances, hold and retain at least one and one-half (1-1/2) the maximum capacity of such tank. A permittee may use, construct and operate a steel conventional separator, and such other steel tanks and appurtenances as are necessary for treating oil, with each of such facilities to be so constructed and maintained as to be vapor tight. Each oil/gas separator shall be equipped with both a regulation pressure relief safety valve and a bursting head.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-58)
No person engaged in drilling or operating any well shall permit gas to escape or be vented into the air unless such gas is flared and burned. All gas flared or burned from a torch, pipe, or other burning device, and the construction, maintenance and operation of such device, shall at all times be in full compliance with such regulations as may, from time to time, be issued by the fire marshal.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-59)
Any person who completes any well as a producer shall have the obligation to enclose the well, together with its surface facilities and storage tanks, by a substantial smooth net wire fence sufficiently high and properly built so as to ordinarily keep persons and animals out of the enclosure, with all gates thereto to be kept locked when the permittee or his employees are not within the enclosure. The permittee shall attach to the outside of each directional panel or the enclosure signs bearing the markings “Danger–Keep Out” and “No Smoking or Open Lights.”
(1964 Code, sec. 17-60)
No person engaged in the drilling or operation of a well within the city shall permit any oil or gas to spill over, overflow, leak, drain out, escape or accumulate in or about the premises, or on any surface, or in any open ditch or any other exposed surface conduit, in such manner or amount as to create a potential fire or explosion hazard.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-62)
Whenever any well is abandoned it shall be the obligation of the permittee and the operator of the well to set a cast iron bridge plug in the top of all the remaining completion and protection casing sections and a one-hundred-foot cement plug pumped below and above such bridge plug, and to set a cast iron bridge plug as low as possible in the surface casing and a one-hundred-foot cement plug pumped below and above such bridge plug. No surface string or conductor string of casing may be pulled and removed from a well. The production string of casing may be pulled and removed from a well. The production string of casing may be removed from a point one hundred (100) feet or more above the shoe of the protection string. The protection string of string may be removed from a point one hundred (100) feet of more above the shoe of the surface string of casing. Whenever any such well is abandoned and plugged, it shall be the further obligation of the permittee and the operator of the well to cut the surface casing off at least six (6) feet below the surface of the ground, place at least a twenty-five-foot cement plug in the top of the casing, and weld the top of the casing completely shut, with the resulting hole being completely filled to the surface of the ground and duly tamped. Any additional provisions or precautionary measures prescribed by the state in connection with the abandonment and plugging of a well shall be complied with by the permittee.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-64)
Any violation of the laws of the state or any rules, regulations, or requirements of any state or federal regulatory body having jurisdiction in reference to drilling, completing, equipping, operating, producing, maintaining or abandoning an oil or gas well or related appurtenances, equipment or facilities, or in reference to fire walls, fire protection, blowout protection, safety protection, or convenience of persons or property, shall also be a violation of this division and punishable as such.
(1964 Code, sec. 17-65)