43 C.F.R. Subpart 3210—Additional Lease Information
Title 43 - Public Lands: Interior
(a) Lease segregation occurs when: (1) A portion of a lease is committed to a unit agreement while other portions are not committed; or (2) Only a portion of a lease is located in a participating area and the unit contracts. The portion of the lease outside the participating area would be eliminated from the unit agreement and segregated as of the effective date of the unit contraction. (b) BLM will assign the original lease serial number to the portion within the plan or agreement. We will give the lease portion outside the plan or agreement a new serial number with the same lease terms as the original lease. The new segregated lease stands alone and does not receive any of the benefits provided to the portion committed to the unit. We will not give you an extension for the eliminated portion of the lease based on status of the lands committed to the unit, including production in commercial quantities or the existence of a producible well. BLM may approve your consolidation of two or more adjacent leases that have the same ownership and same lease terms, including expiration dates, if the combined leases do not exceed 2,560 acres in size. We may consolidate leases that have different stipulations if all other lease terms are the same. You must include the processing fee for lease consolidations found in the fee schedule in §3000.12 of this chapter with your request to consolidate leases. [63 FR 52364, Sept. 30, 1998, as amended at 58875, Oct. 7, 2005] (a) During your lease's primary period, you must perform diligent exploration activities to yield new geologic information about the lease or related lands, until either: (1) Your approved expenditures on your lease total at least $40 per acre, or (2) BLM places your lease in an additional term. (b) You must begin diligent exploration by the sixth year of the primary term and continue until there is a well capable of production in commercial quantities. Some examples of activities that would qualify as diligent exploration are geochemical surveys, heat flow measurement, core drilling or drilling of test wells. (a) During the first five years of the primary term, you only need to pay your rents. If you make efforts during these first five years that would qualify as diligent exploration expenditures, and we approve them as such during those five years, we will count them toward the requirements of future years. (b) To qualify as diligent exploration expenditures in lease years six through ten, you must make expenditures equal to the minimum amounts listed in the following table. We will apply approved expenditures which exceed the minimum in any one year to subsequent years. (c) To give you credit for your expenditures, we must receive your report no later than 60 days after the end of the lease year in which you made the expenditures. You must include the following information in your report: (1) The types of operations conducted; (2) The location of the operations; (3) When the operations occurred; (4) The amount of money spent conducting those operations; and (5) all geologic information obtained from your operations. If you choose not to conduct diligent exploration, or if your total expenditures do not fully meet the requirement for any lease year, you may still meet the diligent exploration requirement for that year by paying an additional rent of $3 per acre or fraction of an acre. If you choose this option, you must send your payment to MMS before the end of the lease year. BLM will cancel your lease. Yes. The United States reserves the ownership of and the right to extract helium, oil and hydrocarbon gas from all geothermal steam and associated geothermal resources. In addition, BLM allows mineral leasing or location on the same lands that are leased for geothermal resources, provided that operations under the mineral leasing or mining laws do not unreasonably interfere with or endanger your geothermal operations. Yes, we may readjust the terms and conditions of your lease regarding stipulations and surface disturbance requirements. We may do this 10 years after you begin production from your lease, and at not less than 10-year intervals thereafter. If another Federal agency manages the lands' surface, we will ask that agency to review the related terms and conditions and propose any readjustments. Once BLM and the surface managing agency reach agreement, we will apply the readjustments to your lease. (a) We will give you a written proposal to adjust the terms and conditions of your lease. You will have 30 days after you receive the proposal to object in writing to the new terms or relinquish your lease. If you do not do this, these new terms will become part of your lease. If you do object in writing, we will issue a final decision on the new terms and conditions. (b) BLM will set the date that your new terms and conditions become effective. (a) We may readjust your lease rental and royalty rates at not less than 20-year intervals beginning 35 years after we determine that your lease is producing in commercial quantities. We will not increase your rental and royalty rates by more than 50 percent of what you paid before BLM adjusted the rate. Also, we will not raise the royalty rate above 22.5 percent. (b) BLM will notify you in writing of the proposed adjustments. You have 30 days after the date you receive the notice to object to the new rate. If we do not receive your written objection within 30 days, the new rate will become a part of your lease. If you do object in writing, we will issue a final decision on the new rental and royalty rate. (c) We will set the date that your new terms and conditions become effective. If you appeal our decision to adjust your lease terms and conditions, rental or royalty rate, the decision is effective during the appeal. If you win your appeal and we must change our decision, you will receive a refund or credit for any overpaid rents or royalties. Yes, you must prevent the drainage of geothermal resources from your lease by diligently drilling and producing wells which will protect the Federal geothermal resource from loss caused by production from other properties. We will determine the amount of geothermal resources drained from your lease. MMS will bill you for a compensatory royalty based on our findings. This royalty will equal the amount you would have paid for producing those resources. All interest owners in a lease are jointly and severally liable for drainage protection and any compensatory royalties.
Title 43: Public Lands: Interior
PART 3200—GEOTHERMAL RESOURCE LEASING
Subpart 3210—Additional Lease Information
§ 3210.10 When does lease segregation occur?
§ 3210.11 Does a lease segregated from an agreement or plan receive any benefits from unitization of the committed portion of the original lease?
§ 3210.12 May I consolidate leases?
§ 3210.13 What is the diligent exploration requirement?
§ 3210.14 How do I meet the diligent exploration requirement?
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Expenditure Lease year per acre------------------------------------------------------------------------6.......................................................... $47.......................................................... 68.......................................................... 89.......................................................... 1010......................................................... 12------------------------------------------------------------------------
§ 3210.15 Can I do something instead of performing diligent exploration?
§ 3210.16 What happens if I do not meet the diligent exploration requirement or pay the additional rent?
§ 3210.17 Can someone lease or locate other minerals on the same lands as my geothermal lease?
§ 3210.18 May BLM readjust the terms and conditions in my lease?
§ 3210.19 How will BLM readjust the terms and conditions in my lease?
§ 3210.20 May BLM readjust the rental and royalty rates in my lease?
§ 3210.21 What if I appeal BLM's decision to adjust my lease terms?
§ 3210.22 Must I prevent drainage of geothermal resources from my lease?
§ 3210.23 What will BLM do if I do not protect my lease from drainage?
