[Code of Federal Regulations]
[Title 43, Volume 2]
[Revised as of October 1, 2002]
From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access
[CITE: 43CFR3100.0-5]

[Page 321-322]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 3100--OIL AND GAS LEASING--Table of Contents
 
           Subpart 3100--Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing: General
 
Sec. 3100.0-5  Definitions.

    As used in this part, the term:
    (a) Operator means any person or entity, including, but not limited 
to, the lessee or operating rights owner, who has stated in writing to 
the authorized officer that it is responsible under the terms and 
conditions of the lease for the operations conducted on the leased lands 
or a portion thereof.
    (b) Unit operator means the person authorized under the agreement 
approved by the Department of the Interior to conduct operations within 
the unit.
    (c) Record title means a lessee's interest in a lease which includes 
the obligation to pay rent, and the rights to assign and relinquish the 
lease. Overriding royalty and operating rights are severable from record 
title interests.
    (d) Operating right (working interest) means the interest created 
out of a lease authorizing the holder of that right to enter upon the 
leased lands to conduct drilling and related operations, including 
production of oil or gas from such lands in accordance with the terms of 
the lease.
    (e) Transfer means any conveyance of an interest in a lease by 
assignment, sublease or otherwise. This definition includes the terms: 
Assignment which means a transfer of all or a portion of the lessee's 
record title interest in a lease; and sublease which means a transfer of 
a non-record title interest in a lease, i.e., a transfer of operating 
rights is normally a sublease and a sublease also is a subsidiary 
arrangement between the lessee (sublessor) and the sublessee, but a 
sublease does not include a transfer of a purely financial interest, 
such as overriding royalty interest or payment out of production,

[[Page 322]]

nor does it affect the relationship imposed by a lease between the 
lessee(s) and the United States.
    (f) National Wildlife Refuge System Lands means lands and water, or 
interests therein, administered by the Secretary as wildlife refuges, 
areas for the protection and conservation of fish and wildlife that are 
threatened with extinction, wildlife management areas or waterfowl 
production areas.
    (g) Actual drilling operations includes not only the physical 
drilling of a well, but the testing, completing or equipping of such 
well for production.
    (h)(1) Primary term of lease subject to section 4(d) of the Act 
prior to the revision of 1960 (30 U.S.C. 226-1(d)) means all periods of 
the life of the lease prior to its extension by reason of production of 
oil and gas in paying quantities; and
    (2) Primary term of all other leases means the initial term of the 
lease. For competitive leases, except those within the National 
Petroleum Reserve--Alaska, this means 5 years and for noncompetitive 
leases this means 10 years.
    (i) Lessee means a person or entity holding record title in a lease 
issued by the United States.
    (j) Operating rights owner means a person or entity holding 
operating rights in a lease issued by the United States. A lessee also 
may be an operating rights owner if the operating rights in a lease or 
portion thereof have not been severed from record title.
    (k) Bid means an amount of remittance offered as partial 
compensation for a lease equal to or in excess of the national minimum 
acceptable bonus bid set by statute or by the Secretary, submitted by a 
person or entity for a lease parcel in a competitive lease sale.

[48 FR 33662, July 22, 1983, as amended at 53 FR 17352, May 16, 1988; 53 
FR 22836, June 17, 1988]