§ 14-102. Definitions

   (a) In general. -- In this subtitle the following words have the meanings indicated.

(b) Coalbed methane. -- "Coalbed methane" means methane and any other gaseous substance occurring in or produced from a coal seam or related, associated, or adjacent rock materials.

(c) County. -- "County" includes Baltimore City unless otherwise indicated.

(d) Department. -- "Department" means the Department of the Environment.

(e) Field. -- "Field" means the general area underlaid by one or more pools.

(f) Fund. -- "Fund" means the Oil and Gas Fund.

(g) Gas. -- "Gas" means all natural gas and other fluid hydrocarbons, not defined as oil, which are produced from a natural reservoir.

(h) Oil. -- "Oil" means crude petroleum oil and other hydrocarbons, regardless of gravity, which are produced at the wellhead in liquid form, except liquid hydrocarbons known as distillate or condensate recovered or extracted from gas.

(i) Owner. -- "Owner" means the person who has the right to drill into and produce from a pool, or to store in a pool, and appropriate the oil or gas the person produces or stores either for the person or others.

(j) Person. -- "Person" means any individual, corporation, association, partnership, receiver, trustee, executor, administrator, guardian, fiduciary, or other representative of any kind.

(k) Pool. -- "Pool" means an underground reservoir containing a common accumulation of oil, gas, or both.

(l) Producer. -- "Producer" means the owner of a well capable of producing oil, gas, or both.

(m) Product. -- "Product" means any commodity produced in its natural state by an oil or gas well.

(n) Production. --

   (1) "Production" means the act or process of producing oil or gas from a natural reservoir.

   (2) "Production" does not include the sale or distribution of oil or gas.

(o) Underground storage. --

   (1) "Underground storage" means the storing of gas or oil in a geological stratum beneath the surface of the earth.

   (2) "Underground storage" includes the injection of gas or oil into and withdrawal from an underground storage reservoir and any other operation necessary for or convenient to the storage of gas or of oil.

(p) Underground storage reservoir. -- "Underground storage reservoir" means the stratum and subsurface area that are used or are to be used for or in connection with the underground storage of gas or of oil.

HISTORY: An. Code 1957, art. 66C, § 689; 1973, 1st Sp. Sess., ch. 4, § 1; 1977, ch. 185, § 1, 2; 1988, ch. 777; 1995, ch. 488, § 2, 8; 2006, ch. 44, § 6; ch. 399; 2010, ch. 383.