The suggested contents of such an agreement and the procedures for obtaining approval are contained in 43 CFR part 3180.

(a) Requests to communitize separate tracts shall be filed, in triplicate, with the proper BLM office.

(b) Where a duly executed agreement is submitted for final Departmental approval, a minimum of 3 signed counterparts shall be submitted. If State lands are involved, 1 additional counterpart shall be submitted.

When a lease or a portion thereof cannot be independently developed and operated in conformity with an established well-spacing or well-development program, the authorized officer may approve communitization or drilling agreements for such lands with other lands, whether or not owned by the United States, upon a determination that it is in the public interest. Operations or production under such an agreement shall be deemed to be operations or production as to each lease committed thereto.

(a) The communitization or drilling agreement shall describe the separate tracts comprising the drilling or spacing unit, shall show the apportionment of the production or royalties to the several parties and the name of the operator, and shall contain adequate provisions for the protection of the interests of the United States. The agreement shall be signed by or on behalf of all necessary parties and shall be filed prior to the expiration of the Federal lease(s) involved in order to confer the benefits of the agreement upon such lease(s).

(b) The agreement shall be effective as to the Federal lease(s) involved only if approved by the authorized officer. Approved communitization agreements are considered effective from the date of the agreement or from the date of the onset of production from the communitized formation, whichever is earlier, except when the spacing unit is subject to a State pooling order after the date of first sale, then the effective date of the agreement may be the effective date of the order.

(c) The public interest requirement for an approved communitization agreement shall be satisfied only if the well dedicated thereto has been completed for production in the communitized formation at the time the agreement is approved or, if not, that the operator thereafter commences and/or diligently continues drilling operations to a depth sufficient to test the communitized formation or establish to the satisfaction of the authorized officer that further drilling of the well would be unwarranted or impracticable. If an application is received for voluntary termination of a communitization agreement during its fixed term or such an agreement automatically expires at the end of its fixed term without the public interest requirement having been satisfied, the approval of that agreement by the authorized officer shall be invalid and no Federal lease shall be eligible for extension under § 3107.4 of this title.

A contract submitted for approval under this section shall be filed with the proper BLM office, together with enough copies to permit retention of 5 copies by the Department after approval.

Approval of operating, drilling or development contracts ordinarily shall be granted only to permit operators or pipeline companies to enter into contracts with a number of lessees sufficient to justify operations on a scale large enough to justify the discovery, development, production or transportation of oil or gas and to finance the same.

The contract shall be accompanied by a statement showing all the interests held by the contractor in the area or field and the proposed or agreed plan for development and operation of the field. All the contracts held by the same contractor in the area or field shall be submitted for approval at the same time and full disclosure of the projects made.

An application under this section together with sufficient copies to permit retention of 5 copies by the Department after approval shall be filed with the proper BLM office.

Upon obtaining approval of the authorized officer, lessees may combine their interests in leases for the purpose of constructing and carrying on the business of a refinery or of establishing and constructing as a common carrier a pipeline or lines or railroads to be operated and used by them jointly in the transportation of oil or gas from their wells or from the wells of other lessees.

The application shall show a reasonable need for the combination and that it will not result in any concentration of control over the production or sale of oil and gas which would be inconsistent with the anti-monopoly provisions of law.

Rights-of-way for pipelines may be granted as provided in part 2880 of this title.

(a) Applications for subsurface storage shall be filed in the proper BLM office.

(b) Enough copies of the final agreement signed by all the parties in interest shall be submitted to permit the retention of 5 copies by the Department after approval.

In order to avoid waste and to promote conservation of natural resources, the Secretary, upon application by the interested parties, may authorize the subsurface storage of oil and gas, whether or not produced from lands owned by the United States. Such authorization shall provide for the payment of such storage fee or rental on the stored oil or gas as may be determined adequate in each case, or, in lieu thereof, for a royalty other than that prescribed in the lease when such stored oil or gas is produced in conjunction with oil or gas not previously produced.

The agreement shall disclose the ownership of the lands involved, the parties in interest, the storage fee, rental or royalty offered to be paid for such storage and all essential information showing the necessity for such project.

Any lease used for the storage of oil or gas shall be extended for the period of storage under an approved agreement. The obligation to pay annual lease rent continues during the extended period.

BLM may approve consolidation of leases if we determine that there is sufficient justification and it is in the public interest. Each application for a consolidation of leases must include payment of the processing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.12 of this chapter. Each application for consolidation of leases shall be considered on its own merits. Leases to different lessees for different terms, rental and royalty rates, and those containing provisions required by law that cannot be reconciled, shall not be consolidated. The effective date of a consolidated lease shall be that of the oldest lease involved in the consolidation.