§ 223. — Leases; amount and survey of land; term of lease; royalties and annual rental.
[Laws in effect as of January 24, 2002]
[Document not affected by Public Laws enacted between
January 24, 2002 and December 19, 2002]
[CITE: 30USC223]
TITLE 30--MINERAL LANDS AND MINING
CHAPTER 3A--LEASES AND PROSPECTING PERMITS
SUBCHAPTER IV--OIL AND GAS
Sec. 223. Leases; amount and survey of land; term of lease;
royalties and annual rental
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 12\1/2\ 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.
(Feb. 25, 1920, ch. 85, Sec. 14, 41 Stat. 442; Aug. 21, 1935, ch. 599,
Sec. 1, 49 Stat. 676.)
Amendments
1935--Act Aug. 21, 1935, inserted ``reasonably'' before ``compact
form'' and substituted ``and shall continue in force otherwise as
prescribed in section 226 of this title for leases issued prior to
August 21, 1935'' and ``oil or gas leases issued under section 226 of
this title'' for ``with the right of renewal as prescribed in section
226 of this title'' and ``oil or gas leases in this chapter'',
respectively.
Limitation of Royalty on Discoveries During War Period
Act Dec. 24, 1942, ch. 812, 56 Stat. 1080, limiting royalty
obligation of oil or gas lessee who drills well resulting in discovery
of new deposit on public domain during the national emergency was
repealed by Joint Res. July 25, 1947, ch. 327, Sec. 1, 61 Stat. 449.
Outer Continental Shelf; Leases
Grant by Secretary of the Interior of oil, gas, and other mineral
leases on submerged lands of outer Continental Shelf, see section 1331
et seq. of Title 43, Public Lands.
Section Referred to in Other Sections
This section is referred to in sections 188, 229, 236a of this
title; title 10 sections 7421, 7435.
