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Revised Edition of Directive 010: Minimum Casing Design Requirements Issued

December 22, 2009

This bulletin announces the revised edition of the Energy Resources Conservation Board (ERCB) Directive 010: Minimum Casing Design Requirements. This revised edition is effective December 22, 2009.

The June 2008 edition of Directive 010 provided a one-year grandfathering period to allow operators, mills, and casing distributors the opportunity to align their tubulars with new material requirements and to use existing casing inventory that was fit for purpose but not compliant with Appendix B of the directive. Due to the unpredicted decline in drilling activity in the last 12 months, industry was left with a large inventory of unused casing that is not compliant with the new standards. The ERCB, after considering the potential impacts on industry and evaluating the potential risks to wellbore integrity associated with extending the grandfathering period, will now allow the use of existing casing and coupling inventory if the additional conditions in Section 1.3.1 of the December 2009 edition of Directive 010 are met.

What's New in the Revised Edition?

• Existing casing and coupling inventory may be used in drilling of non-critical sour wells with an elevated burst design safety factor ranging from 1.30 to 1.40, depending on the hydrogen sulphide content of a well (the burst design safety factor in Directive 010, Appendix B, is 1.25).
  
• The requirements for representative testing for existing inventory are simplified (Section 1.3.2).
  
• Clarifications and/or corrections have been made in Sections 1.4 and 1.5, as well as in Appendix B and Appendix F.

The new edition of Directive 010 is available on the ERCB Web site www.ercb.ca under Industry Zone : Rules, Regulations, and Requirements : Directives, as well as in print from ERCB Information Services, 640 – 5 Avenue SW, main floor; telephone: 403-297-8311; fax: 403-297-7040; e-mail: infoservices@ercb.ca.

Questions and concerns regarding this bulletin or Directive 010 should be directed to the ERCB Well Operations Section by e-mail to welloperations@ercb.ca.

<original signed by>

Dwayne Waisman, B.E.S., C.E.T.
Executive Manager
Field Surveillance and Operations Branch