[Code of Federal Regulations]

[Title 43, Volume 2]

[Revised as of October 1, 2005]

From the U.S. Government Printing Office via GPO Access

[CITE: 43CFR3100.0-5]



[Page 330-331]

 

                    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 331]]



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]