RRC Adopts Revisions to Form P-16, Acreage Designation

The Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) has adopted revisions to the Form P-16, Acreage Designation, and the instructions for both drilling permit and well compliance functions. The revisions align the form’s functionality with the options afforded to operators when providing information for exceptions to 16 Texas Administrative Code §40(e)(2) [Statewide Rule 40(e)(2)].
The new Form P-16 and instructions are required to be used effective Wednesday, June 28, 2022.
The adopted revisions to the form include changes to Section II and Section V.

1. Ownership Interval boxes have been added to Section II.
1. When proposing or completing a regular lease well or pooled unit well, and an ownership interval is being report for an exception to Statewide Rule 40(e)(2), then these boxes will be required to be used and will match what is on the Form W-1, Application for Permit to Drill, Recomplete, or Re-Enter, and the Form G-1, Gas Well Back Pressure Test, Completion or Recompletion Report, and Log/Form W-2, Oil Well Potential Test, Completion or Recompletion Report, and Log.
1. If full interval rights exist, please leave the boxes empty. 0/999999 will no longer be used.
2. If the well is an Allocation or Production Sharing Well (PSA) well, the interval boxes in Section II do not need to be used, as the interval information for these wells will be provided for the developmental tracts listed in Section V.
2. Section V will no longer account for the proposed well. The information provided in this section now only pertains to the developmental tract acreage and any ownership interval information for those tracts.
1. The allocated lease acres column has been repurposed and is now the Upper Ownership Interval column, and the remaining acres column has been repurposed and is now the Lower Ownership Interval column.
2. If a lease, pooled unit, or undeveloped tract being used with an Allocation or PSA well contain ownership intervals, the new columns in Section V will be used to provide that information.
1. If full interval rights exist, then the respective values for that tract will be left empty. 0/999999 will no longer be used.
3. For the Form W-1, one of the intervals from Section V will be entered in the new Statewide Rule 40 Section (it doesn’t matter which one). Interval information for Allocation or PSA wells will now be reviewed from Section V, and a detailed comment is no longer required.
1. Comments are optional. We always encourage any comments to be made that will aid with the review of a Form W-1 or a Form G-1/Form W-2 packet.
3. When filing the Form P-16 with a W-1 application that is for an Allocation or PSA well, the proposed well will now be required to be listed in Section VI.
1. This is a change brings the Drilling Permit P-16 procedure for Section IV closer in line with the Well Compliance P-16 procedures.

To download the revised Form P-16and instructions, visit the RRC website at  https://www.rrc.texas.gov/oil-and-gas/oil-and-gas-forms/.
IMPORTANT: When downloading the form and instructions, note the June 2022 revision date to confirm the current files. If you do not see the revisions to Section II or Section V, then you do not have the new file and must clear your browser cache.