[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: 43CFR3183.4]

[Page 441-442]
 
                    TITLE 43--PUBLIC LANDS: INTERIOR
 
    CHAPTER II--BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
 
PART 3180--ONSHORE OIL AND GAS UNIT AGREEMENTS: UNPROVEN AREAS--Table of Contents
 
             Subpart 3183--Filing and Approval of Documents
 
Sec. 3183.4  Approval of executed agreement.

    (a) A unit agreement shall be approved by the authorized officer 
upon a determination that such agreement is necessary or advisable in 
the public interest and is for the purpose of more properly conserving 
natural resources. Such approval shall be incorporated in a 
Certification-Determination document appended to the agreement (see 
Sec. 3186.1 of this part for an example), and the unit agreement shall 
not be deemed effective until the authorized officer has executed the 
Certification-Determination document. No such agreement shall be 
approved unless the parties signatory to the agreement hold

[[Page 442]]

sufficient interests in the unit area to provide reasonably effective 
control of operations.
    (b) The public interest requirement of an approved unit agreement 
for unproven areas shall be satisfied only if the unit operator 
commences actual drilling operations and thereafter diligently 
prosecutes such operations in accordance with the terms of said 
agreement. If an application is received for voluntary termination of a 
unit agreement for an unproven area 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 and lease segregations and 
extensions under Sec. 3107.3-2 of this title shall be invalid, and no 
Federal lease shall be eligible for extensions under Sec. 3107.4 of this 
title.
    (c) Any modification of an approved agreement shall require the 
prior approval of the authorized officer.

[53 FR 17365, May 16, 1988, as amended at 58 FR 58633, Nov. 2, 1993]