The certified letter lands on a Tuesday. The subject line reads “Notice of Flare Discrepancy, Lea County.” The OCD has matched your reported flare volumes against VIIRS satellite thermal imaging and they want an explanation for a reading on API 30-025-45XXX during the third week of last month. Your pumper logged “about 50 MCF, ran most of the day” on the gauge sheet. The satellite saw something bigger.
Form C-115 is the New Mexico Oil Conservation Division’s (OCD) monthly Operator’s Report of Oil and Gas Production and Disposition, filed per well through OCD Online at ocdonline.emnrd.nm.gov. It covers oil produced, gas produced, water produced, disposition of each, and purchaser information, and is due on or before the 15th of the second month following production. This page is the New Mexico entry in the broader oil and gas regulatory production reports framework that covers every state’s monthly filing.
The deadlines are strict. The format has to match. And the data behind it has to be clean before it ever gets to the portal.
What C-115 Requires
Form C-115 is filed per well, per month. Each line reports:
- Oil produced (barrels)
- Gas produced (MCF), including casinghead
- Water produced (barrels)
- Oil disposition: sold, stored, used on lease
- Gas disposition: sold, used on lease, vented, flared
- Water disposition: hauled, injected for disposal, evaporated
- Purchaser for oil and gas sales
- API number and pool code for every well
New Mexico is unusually strict about vented and flared gas. Since 2021, operators have been required to report actual flare volumes, not estimated, and the OCD audits flare reports against satellite data and purchaser-reported gathering volumes. Unreported flares get flagged.
Who Files and When
The operator of record files C-115. The form is due on or before the 15th day of the second month following production. January production is due by March 15th. All filings go through OCD Online at ocdonline.emnrd.nm.gov.
New Mexico also requires Form C-115B for wells on federal or tribal land, which layers on additional fields for lease and agreement tracking. Most operators file C-115 and C-115B together.
Which C-115 Variant Does This Well File?
The C-115 family branches on surface and mineral ownership. Filing the wrong variant creates reconciliation gaps that compound.
| If the well is on… | You file… | Paired federal filing |
|---|---|---|
| Private or state-trust lease, fee minerals | C-115 only | None |
| Federal lease (BLM) | C-115B | ONRR OGOR monthly |
| Tribal lease (Jicarilla, Navajo Nation, etc.) | C-115B with tribal lease and agreement numbers | ONRR OGOR (tribal) monthly |
| Split-estate (federal minerals, private surface) | C-115B on the minerals | ONRR OGOR monthly |
| Communitized or unitized agreement | C-115B with the CA or unit agreement number | ONRR OGOR with the allocation split |
The best operators tag every well’s lease type the day the well spuds, not the month the first C-115 is due. Lease-type tagging upstream is how you avoid filing a C-115 where a C-115B was owed.
The Data Chain Behind C-115
C-115’s well-by-well format means the data has to arrive at the operator’s desk broken out by API number, not just rolled up by lease. That requires:
- Pumper gauges tied to specific tank batteries and specific wells.
- Run tickets with API numbers noted, not just lease names.
- Gas meter reads at each well or each allocation point.
- Flare and vent logs: documented volumes, not “about 50 MCF.”
- Water hauler tickets: produced water tied to disposition (commercial SWD, on-lease injection, etc.).
- Purchaser statements: reconciled against field data before submission.
When the pumper is on paper and the month-end rollup is done in Excel by a bookkeeper who has never been to the lease, the chances of a clean C-115 filing drop fast. New Mexico OCD staff are thorough, and errors trigger follow-up letters. Operators managing multi-state production filings find New Mexico’s satellite-checked flare rules are where the bar is set highest.
How GreaseBook Supports C-115 Prep
GreaseBook captures the daily gauges, run tickets, meter reads, flare volumes, and water hauler tickets in the field on a phone or tablet. On the operator side, the data rolls up well-by-well with API numbers attached, purchaser tagged, and disposition tracked.
The rollup matches what C-115 wants to see. That doesn’t mean GreaseBook files C-115 for you: the OCD wants the operator in OCD Online, or the operator’s designated filer, to press submit. What GreaseBook solves is the upstream problem: is the data on the form the data that actually happened in the field, or is it a bookkeeper’s best guess?
One Lea County operator with 47 wells across three leases described it this way: “The pumper does the gauge, I see it on my phone, and on the 1st of the next month my C-115 data is already built. The filer just reconciles the purchaser statement and submits.”
GreaseBook captures gauges, runs, and meter reads tied to each well so the C-115 rollup is clean from the first of the month.
See how GreaseBook works →Common C-115 Filing Mistakes
- Flared gas underreported. New Mexico OCD compares operator flare reports to satellite thermal imaging. Under-reporting is easy to catch.
- API numbers mismatched. Wells reported under the wrong API create data that won’t reconcile with the OCD’s own well records. This is a common error when pumper tickets list lease names but not APIs.
- Lease use gas treated as produced and sold. Gas used on-lease for engines, dehydrators, and line heaters is reported differently than gas sold. Confusing the two creates audit exposure.
- Federal leases filed on C-115 instead of C-115B. Federal and tribal leases need the C-115B, not the standard C-115. Filing the wrong form for the wrong lease is a common stripper-operator mistake.
- Water hauler volumes missing. If produced water left the lease on a truck, that haul shows up on C-115. Skipping it creates an imbalance.
Phrases to Eliminate When the OCD Writes Back
OCD staff cross-reference C-115 against satellite thermal data, purchaser gathering reports, and state-lands royalty filings. The language you use in a response letter decides whether the matter closes or escalates.
| Instead of… | Say… | Why |
|---|---|---|
| “Our pumper estimated the flare at about 50 MCF” | “Flare volumes on API [number] are calculated per [documented method: meter, EPA AP-42, or flare-model calculation] with inputs [cite]” | New Mexico has required documented flare calculation methods since 2021; “estimated” is the audit trigger |
| “The well was down for maintenance” | “API [number] had [X] non-production days (dates) for a workover, reported on C-115 as [X] producing days” | OCD audits against documented non-production periods, not vague downtime |
| “That API number got mixed up in the field” | “The C-115 amendment for [month] corrects API [wrong] to API [right] with run ticket numbers [range] reconciling to the corrected well” | API mix-ups without a paper trail suggest allocation problems; with a paper trail they suggest a clerical fix |
| “We filed C-115 but meant to file C-115B” | “Amendment filed [date] reclassifies lease [name] as federal; C-115B substituted for C-115 with paired ONRR OGOR” | Self-correct federal-lease misfilings before OCD and ONRR reconcile them against each other |
The best New Mexico operators document the flare calculation method before the OCD writes the next rule requiring it. Measurement beats estimation every time the satellite data comes in.
Wrong Fit for This Page
If you are Mewbourne, Franklin Mountain Energy, or another operator running a P2 or Quorum production accounting stack that already generates C-115-ready output from integrated SCADA data, you don’t need help on the data collection side. This page is for the independent New Mexico operator running 10 to 100 wells, a couple of pumpers, and a month-end that can’t slip.
FAQ
Does GreaseBook integrate with the OCD’s OGRID portal?
No. Filing still goes through the OCD’s system. GreaseBook is the upstream layer that captures the gauge, run, and disposition data feeding the C-115: the form submission itself is still the operator’s job or the accountant’s.
When is New Mexico Form C-115 due?
Form C-115 is due on or before the 15th day of the second month following production. March production is due by May 15th.
What is the difference between C-115 and C-115B?
C-115 is the standard monthly operator’s production and disposition report. C-115B covers the same information for wells on federal or tribal land, with additional fields for lease and agreement tracking.
Do I file C-115 through OCD Online?
Yes. All C-115 filings go through OCD Online at ocdonline.emnrd.nm.gov. Paper filings are effectively retired.
How are flared and vented gas volumes reported on C-115?
Actual measured or calculated volumes, not estimated. Since 2021, the New Mexico OCD has required documented methods for calculating flare volumes, and the state cross-references operator reports with satellite thermal data.
Related Pages
GreaseBook also automates state production reports in Texas, Mississippi, Alabama, Wyoming, and Michigan for operators filing across state lines.
- Oil and gas regulatory production reports: the pillar guide to monthly production filings.
- Texas RRC Form PR: the Texas equivalent for Permian operators on both sides of the state line.
- Colorado COGCC Form 7: Colorado’s monthly production report for Rocky Mountain operators.
GreaseBook captures the pumper's daily gauges and run tickets before month-end, so Permian operators file C-115 from numbers that already match the purchaser statement. Because the OCD treats a missing run ticket number the same as no filing at all.
See how GreaseBook works in the Permian →