- §§ 221 to 222i. Omitted
- § 223. Leases; amount and survey of land; term of lease; royalties and annual rental
- § 223a. Repealed.
- § 224. Payments for oil or gas taken prior to application for lease
- § 225. Condition of lease, forfeiture for violation
- § 226. Lease of oil and gas lands
- § 226-1. Extension of noncompetitive oil or gas lease issued before
- § 226-2. Limitations for filing oil and gas contests
- § 226-3. Lands not subject to oil and gas leasing
- §§ 226a, 226b. Repealed.
- § 226c. Reduction of royalties under existing leases
- §§ 226d, 226e. Omitted
- § 227. Omitted
- § 228. Prospecting permits and leases to persons of lands not withdrawn; terms and conditions of; fraud of claimants
- § 229. Preference right to permits or leases of claimants of lands bona fide entered as agricultural land; terms and conditions
- § 229a. Water struck while drilling for oil and gas
- §§ 230 to 233. Repealed.
- § 233a. Permits or leases of certain lands in Oklahoma; retention of royalties
- §§ 234 to 236. Repealed.
- § 236a. Lands in naval petroleum reserves and naval oil-shale reserves; effect of other laws
- § 236b. Existing leases within naval petroleum reserves not affected
- § 237. Omitted
Upon establishing to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that valuable deposits of oil or gas have been discovered within the limits of the land embraced in any permit, the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for one-fourth of the land embraced in the prospecting permit: Provided, That the permittee shall be granted a lease for as much as one hundred and sixty acres of said lands, if there be that number of acres within the permit. The area to be selected by the permittee, shall be in reasonably compact form and, if surveyed, to be described by the legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys; if unsurveyed, to be surveyed by the Government at the expense of the applicant for lease in accordance with rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the lands leased shall be conformed to and taken in accordance with the legal subdivisions of such surveys; deposits made to cover expense of surveys shall be deemed appropriated for that purpose, and any excess deposits may be repaid to the person or persons making such deposit or their legal representatives. Such leases shall be for a term of twenty years upon a royalty of 5 per centum in amount or value of the production and the annual payment in advance of a rental of $1 per acre, the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties as they accrue for that year, and shall continue in force otherwise as prescribed in section 226 of this title for leases issued prior to August 21, 1935. The permittee shall also be entitled to a preference right to a lease for the remainder of the land in his prospecting permit at a royalty of not less than 12½ per centum in amount or value of the production nor more than the royalty rate prescribed by regulation in force on January 1, 1935, for secondary leases issued under this section, and under such other conditions as are fixed for oil or gas leases issued under section 226 of this title the royalty to be determined by competitive bidding or fixed by such other method as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe: Provided further, That the Secretary shall have the right to reject any or all bids.
Until the permittee shall apply for lease to the one quarter of the permit area heretofore provided for he shall pay to the United States 20 per centum of the gross value of all oil or gas secured by him from the lands embraced within his permit and sold or otherwise disposed of or held by him for sale or other disposition.
All leases of lands containing oil or gas, made or issued under the provisions of this chapter, shall be subject to the condition that the lessee will, in conducting his explorations and mining operations, use all reasonable precautions to prevent waste of oil or gas developed in the land, or the entrance of water through wells drilled by him to the oil sands or oil-bearing strata, to the destruction or injury of the oil deposits. Violations of the provisions of this section shall constitute grounds for the forfeiture of the lease, to be enforced as provided in this chapter.
All lands subject to disposition under this chapter which are known or believed to contain oil or gas deposits may be leased by the Secretary.
Land made available for leasing under subsection (b)(1) for which no bid is accepted or received, or the land for which a lease terminates, expires, is cancelled, or is relinquished, may be made available by the Secretary of the Interior for a new round of competitive bidding under that subsection.
All leases issued under this section, as amended by the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act of 1987, shall be conditioned upon payment by the lessee of a rental of not less than $3 per acre per year during the 2-year period beginning on the date the lease begins for new leases, and after the end of that 2-year period, $5 per acre per year for the following 6-year period, and not less than $15 per acre per year thereafter, or, in the case of a lease issued during the 10-year period beginning on August 16, 2022, $3 per acre per year during the 2-year period beginning on the date the lease begins, and after the end of that 2-year period, $5 per acre per year for the following 6-year period, and $15 per acre per year thereafter. A minimum royalty in lieu of rental of not less than the rental which otherwise would be required for that lease year shall be payable at the expiration of each lease year beginning on or after a discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on the lands leased.
Any lease issued under this section, including a lease for tar sand areas, shall be for a primary term of 10 years.
A lease described in paragraph (1) shall continue after the primary term of the lease for any period during which oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
Any lease issued under this section for land on which, or for which under an approved cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, actual drilling operations were commenced and diligently prosecuted prior to the end of the primary term of the lease shall be extended for 2 years and for any period thereafter during which oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
At least 45 days before offering lands for lease under this section, and at least 30 days before approving applications for permits to drill under the provisions of a lease or substantially modifying the terms of any lease issued under this section, the Secretary shall provide notice of the proposed action. Such notice shall be posted in the appropriate local office of the leasing and land management agencies. Such notice shall include the terms or modified lease terms and maps or a narrative description of the affected lands. Where the inclusion of maps in such notice is not practicable, maps of the affected lands shall be made available to the public for review. Such maps shall show the location of all tracts to be leased, and of all leases already issued in the general area. The requirements of this subsection are in addition to any public notice required by other law.
The Secretary of the Interior, or for National Forest lands, the Secretary of Agriculture, shall regulate all surface-disturbing activities conducted pursuant to any lease issued under this chapter, and shall determine reclamation and other actions as required in the interest of conservation of surface resources. No permit to drill on an oil and gas lease issued under this chapter may be granted without the analysis and approval by the Secretary concerned of a plan of operations covering proposed surface-disturbing activities within the lease area. The Secretary concerned shall, by rule or regulation, establish such standards as may be necessary to ensure that an adequate bond, surety, or other financial arrangement will be established prior to the commencement of surface-disturbing activities on any lease, to ensure the complete and timely reclamation of the lease tract, and the restoration of any lands or surface waters adversely affected by lease operations after the abandonment or cessation of oil and gas operations on the lease. The Secretary shall not issue a lease or leases or approve the assignment of any lease or leases under the terms of this section to any person, association, corporation, or any subsidiary, affiliate, or person controlled by or under common control with such person, association, or corporation, during any period in which, as determined by the Secretary of the Interior or Secretary of Agriculture, such entity has failed or refused to comply in any material respect with the reclamation requirements and other standards established under this section for any prior lease to which such requirements and standards applied. Prior to making such determination with respect to any such entity the concerned Secretary shall provide such entity with adequate notification and an opportunity to comply with such reclamation requirements and other standards and shall consider whether any administrative or judicial appeal is pending. Once the entity has complied with the reclamation requirement or other standard concerned an oil or gas lease may be issued to such entity under this chapter.
The Secretary of the Interior may not issue any lease on National Forest System Lands reserved from the public domain over the objection of the Secretary of Agriculture.
No lease issued under this section which is subject to termination because of cessation of production shall be terminated for this cause so long as reworking or drilling operations which were commenced on the land prior to or within sixty days after cessation of production are conducted thereon with reasonable diligence, or so long as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities as a result of such operations. No lease issued under this section shall expire because operations or production is suspended under any order, or with the consent, of the Secretary. No lease issued under this section covering lands on which there is a well capable of producing oil or gas in paying quantities shall expire because the lessee fails to produce the same unless the lessee is allowed a reasonable time, which shall be not less than sixty days after notice by registered or certified mail, within which to place such well in producing status or unless, after such status is established, production is discontinued on the leased premises without permission granted by the Secretary under the provisions of this chapter.
Whenever it appears to the Secretary that lands owned by the United States are being drained of oil or gas by wells drilled on adjacent lands, he may negotiate agreements whereby the United States, or the United States and its lessees, shall be compensated for such drainage. Such agreements shall be made with the consent of the lessees, if any, affected thereby. If such agreement is entered into, the primary term of any lease for which compensatory royalty is being paid, or any extension of such primary term, shall be extended for the period during which such compensatory royalty is paid and for a period of one year from discontinuance of such payment and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
If, during the primary term or any extended term of any lease issued under this section, a verified statement is filed by any mining claimant pursuant to subsection (c) of section 527 of this title, whether such filing occur prior to September 2, 1960 or thereafter, asserting the existence of a conflicting unpatented mining claim or claims upon which diligent work is being prosecuted as to any lands covered by the lease, the running of time under such lease shall be suspended as to the lands involved from the first day of the month following the filing of such verified statement until a final decision is rendered in the matter.
The Secretary of the Interior shall, upon timely application therefor, issue a new lease in exchange for any lease issued for a term of twenty years, or any renewal thereof, or any lease issued prior to August 8, 1946, in exchange for a twenty-year lease, such new lease to be for a primary term of five years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities and at a royalty rate of not less than 16⅔ percent in amount or value of the production removed or sold from such leases, except that the royalty rate shall be 16⅔ percent in amount or value of the production removed or sold from said leases as to (1) such leases, or such parts of the lands subject thereto and the deposits underlying the same, as are not believed to be within the productive limits of any producing oil or gas deposit, as such productive limits are found by the Secretary to have existed on August 8, 1946; and (2) any production on a lease from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, by a well or wells drilled within the boundaries of the lease, and which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit; and (3) any production on or allocated to a lease pursuant to an approved cooperative or unit plan of development or operation from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, on land committed to such plan, and which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit, where such lease, or a lease for which it is exchanged, was included in such plan at the time of discovery or was included in a duly executed and filed application for the approval of such plan at the time of discovery.
For the purpose of more properly conserving the natural resources of any oil or gas pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof (whether or not any part of said oil or gas pool, field, or like area, is then subject to any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation), lessees thereof and their representatives may unite with each other, or jointly or separately with others, in collectively adopting and operating under a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation of such pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof, whenever determined and certified by the Secretary of the Interior to be necessary or advisable in the public interest. The Secretary is thereunto authorized, in his discretion, with the consent of the holders of leases involved, to establish, alter, change, or revoke drilling, producing, rental, minimum royalty, and royalty requirements of such leases and to make such regulations with reference to such leases, with like consent on the part of the lessees, in connection with the institution and operation of any such cooperative or unit plan as he may deem necessary or proper to secure the proper protection of the public interest. The Secretary may provide that oil and gas leases hereafter issued under this chapter shall contain a provision requiring the lessee to operate under such a reasonable cooperative or unit plan, and he may prescribe such a plan under which such lessee shall operate, which shall adequately protect the rights of all parties in interest, including the United States.
Any plan authorized by the preceding paragraph which includes lands owned by the United States may, in the discretion of the Secretary, contain a provision whereby authority is vested in the Secretary of the Interior, or any such person, committee, or State or Federal officer or agency as may be designated in the plan, to alter or modify from time to time the rate of prospecting and development and the quantity and rate of production under such plan. All leases operated under any such plan approved or prescribed by the Secretary shall be excepted in determining holdings or control under the provisions of any section of this chapter.
When separate tracts cannot be independently developed and operated in conformity with an established well-spacing or development program, any lease, or a portion thereof, may be pooled with other lands, whether or not owned by the United States, under a communitization or drilling agreement providing for an apportionment of production or royalties among the separate tracts of land comprising the drilling or spacing unit when determined by the Secretary of the Interior to be in the public interest, and operations or production pursuant to such an agreement shall be deemed to be operations or production as to each such lease committed thereto.
Any lease issued for a term of twenty years, or any renewal thereof, or any portion of such lease that has become the subject of a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation of a pool, field, or like area, which plan has the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, shall continue in force until the termination of such plan. Any other lease issued under any section of this chapter which has heretofore or may hereafter be committed to any such plan that contains a general provision for allocation of oil or gas shall continue in force and effect as to the land committed so long as the lease remains subject to the plan: Provided, That production is had in paying quantities under the plan prior to the expiration date of the term of such lease. Any lease heretofore or hereafter committed to any such plan embracing lands that are in part within and in part outside of the area covered by any such plan shall be segregated into separate leases as to the lands committed and the lands not committed as of the effective date of unitization: Provided, however, That any such lease as to the nonunitized portion shall continue in force and effect for the term thereof but for not less than two years from the date of such segregation and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. The minimum royalty or discovery rental under any lease that has become subject to any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, or other plan that contains a general provision for allocation of oil or gas, shall be payable only with respect to the lands subject to such lease to which oil or gas shall be allocated under such plan. Any lease which shall be eliminated from any such approved or prescribed plan, or from any communitization or drilling agreement authorized by this section, and any lease which shall be in effect at the termination of any such approved or prescribed plan, or at the termination of any such communitization or drilling agreement, unless relinquished, shall continue in effect for the original term thereof, but for not less than two years, and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
The Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized, on such conditions as he may prescribe, to approve operating, drilling, or development contracts made by one or more lessees of oil or gas leases, with one or more persons, associations, or corporations whenever, in his discretion, the conservation of natural products or the public convenience or necessity may require it or the interests of the United States may be best subserved thereby. All leases operated under such approved operating, drilling, or development contracts, and interests thereunder, shall be excepted in determining holdings or control under the provisions of this chapter.
The Secretary of the Interior, to avoid waste or to promote conservation of natural resources, may authorize the subsurface storage of oil or gas, whether or not produced from federally owned lands, in lands leased or subject to lease under this chapter. Such authorization may provide for the payment of a storage fee or rental on such stored oil or gas or, in lieu of such fee or rental, 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. Any lease on which storage is so authorized shall be extended at least for the period of storage and so long thereafter as oil or gas not previously produced is produced in paying quantities.
If the Secretary provides notice under paragraph (2)(B), the applicant shall have a period of 2 years from the date of receipt of the notice in which to complete all requirements specified by the Secretary, including providing information needed for compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969.
If the applicant completes the requirements within the period specified in subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall issue a decision on the permit not later than 10 days after the date of completion of the requirements described in subparagraph (A), unless compliance with the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 and other applicable law has not been completed within such timeframe.
If the applicant does not complete the requirements within the period specified in subparagraph (A) or if the applicant does not comply with applicable law, the Secretary shall deny the permit.
The Secretary shall assess a nonrefundable fee against any person that, in accordance with procedures established by the Secretary to carry out this subsection, submits an expression of interest in leasing land available for disposition under this section for exploration for, and development of, oil or gas.
Subject to subparagraph (B), the fee assessed under paragraph (1) shall be $5 per acre of the area covered by the applicable expression of interest.
The Secretary shall, by regulation, not less frequently than every 4 years, adjust the amount of the fee under subparagraph (A) to reflect the change in inflation.
Upon the expiration of the initial five-year term of any noncompetitive oil or gas lease which was issued prior to September 2, 1960, and which has been maintained in accordance with applicable statutory requirements and regulations, the record titleholder thereof shall be entitled to a single extension of the lease, unless then otherwise provided by law, for such lands covered by it as are not, on the expiration date of the lease, withdrawn from leasing. A withdrawal, however, shall not affect the right to an extension if actual drilling operations on such lands were commenced prior to the effective date of the withdrawal and were being diligently prosecuted on the expiration date of the lease. No withdrawal shall be effective within the meaning of this section until ninety days after notice thereof has been sent by registered or certified mail to each lessee to be affected by such withdrawal.
As to lands not within the known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field, a noncompetitive oil or gas lease to which this section is applicable shall be extended for a period of five years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. As to lands within the known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field, a noncompetitive lease to which this section is applicable shall be extended for a period of two years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
Any noncompetitive oil or gas lease extended under this section shall be subject to the rules and regulations in force at the expiration of the initial five-year term of the lease. No extension shall be granted, however, unless within a period of ninety days prior to the expiration date of the lease an application therefor is filed by the record titleholder or an assignee whose assignment has been filed for approval or an operator whose operating agreement has been filed for approval.
Any lease issued prior to September 2, 1960, which has been maintained in accordance with applicable statutory requirements and regulations and which pertains to land on which, or for which under an approved cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, actual drilling operations were commenced prior to the end of its primary term and are being diligently prosecuted at that time shall be extended for two years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities.
No action contesting a decision of the Secretary involving any oil and gas lease shall be maintained unless such action is commenced or taken within ninety days after the final decision of the Secretary relating to such matter. No such action contesting such a decision of the Secretary rendered prior to September 2, 1960 shall be maintained unless the same be commenced or taken within ninety days after September 2, 1960.
From and after August 8, 1946, the royalty obligation to the United States under all leases requiring payment of royalty in excess of 12½ per centum, except leases issued or to be issued upon competitive bidding, is reduced to 12½ per centum in amount or value of production removed or sold from said leases as to (1) such leases, or such part of the lands subject thereto, and the deposits underlying the same, as are not believed to be within the productive limits of any oil or gas deposit, as such productive limits are found by the Secretary to exist on August 8, 1946, and (2) any production on a lease from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, by a well or wells drilled within the boundaries of the lease, and which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit; and (3) any production on or allocated to a lease pursuant to an approved unit or cooperative agreement from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, on land committed to such agreement, and which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit, where such lease was included in such agreement at the time of discovery, or was included in a duly executed and filed application for the approval of such agreement at the time of discovery.
Any person who on October 1, 1919, was a bona fide occupant or claimant of oil or gas lands under a claim initiated while such lands were not withdrawn from oil or gas location and entry, and who had previously performed all acts under then existing laws necessary to valid locations thereof except to make discovery, and upon which discovery had not been made prior to February 25, 1920, and who has performed work or expended on or for the benefit of such locations an amount equal in the aggregate of $250 for each location if application therefor shall be made within six months from February 25, 1920, shall be entitled to prospecting permits thereon upon the same terms and conditions, and limitations as to acreage, as other permits provided for in this chapter, or where any such person has made such discovery, prior to said February 25, 1920, he shall be entitled to a lease thereon under such terms as the Secretary of the Interior may prescribe unless otherwise provided for in section 227 1
All permits or leases hereunder shall inure to the benefit of the claimant and all persons claiming through or under him by lease, contract, or otherwise, as their interests may appear.
In the case of lands bona fide entered as agricultural, and not withdrawn or classified as mineral at the time of entry, but not including lands claimed under any railroad grant, the entryman or patentee, or assigns, where assignment was made prior to January 1, 1918, if the entry has been patented with the mineral right reserved, shall be entitled to a preference right to a permit and to a lease, as herein provided, in case of discovery; and within an area not greater than a township such entryman and patentees, or assigns holding restricted patents may combine their holdings, not to exceed two thousand five hundred and sixty acres for the purpose of making joint application. Leases executed under this section and embracing only lands so entered shall provide for the payment of a royalty of not less than 12½ per centum as to such areas within the permit as may not be included within the discovery lease to which the permittee is entitled under section 223 of this title.
All prospecting permits and leases for oil or gas made or issued under the provisions of this chapter shall be subject to the condition that in case the permittee or lessee strikes water while drilling instead of oil or gas, the Secretary of the Interior may, when such water is of such quality and quantity as to be valuable and usable at a reasonable cost for agricultural, domestic, or other purposes, purchase the casing in the well at the reasonable value thereof to be fixed under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary.
In cases where water wells producing such water have heretofore been or may hereafter be drilled upon lands embraced in any prospecting permit or lease heretofore issued under this chapter, the Secretary may in like manner purchase the casing in such wells.
The Secretary may make such purchase and may lease or operate such wells for the purpose of producing water and of using the same on the public lands or of disposing of such water for beneficial use on other lands, and where such wells have heretofore been plugged or abandoned or where such wells have been drilled prior to the issuance of any permit or lease by persons not in privity with the permittee or lessee, the Secretary may develop the same for the purposes of this section: Provided, That owners or occupants of lands adjacent to those upon which such water wells may be developed shall have a preference right to make beneficial use of such water.
The Secretary may use so much of any funds available for the plugging of wells, as he may find necessary to start the program provided for by this section, and thereafter he may use the proceeds from the sale or other disposition of such water as a revolving fund for the continuation of such program, and such proceeds are hereby appropriated for such purpose.
Nothing in this section shall be construed to restrict operations under any oil or gas lease or permit under any other provision of this chapter.
The Secretary of the Interior is directed to retain in his custody until otherwise directed by law the 12½ per centum and other royalties heretofore or hereafter received by him in pursuance of section 233 1
Nothing in sections 185, 221,1
Nothing in this act shall be construed as affecting existing leases within the borders of the naval petroleum reserves, or agreements concerning operations thereunder or in relation thereto.