§1712 — Title 30 Mineral Lands and Mining | U.S. Code

Summary

Lessees must pay royalties and other required payments when and how the Secretary or a delegated State tells them to. A lessee can name someone else to make those payments and must tell the Secretary or delegated State in writing. That designee can pay, credit, adjust accounts, ask for refunds, and file reports in their own name, but the designee is not liable for the lease’s payment obligations. The owner of the operating rights is primarily responsible for its share of payments. If the legal title owner is different, that title owner is secondarily responsible for its share. Operators must write and follow a site security plan and other minimum security steps set by the Secretary to prevent theft of oil or gas onshore or on the Outer Continental Shelf. Operators must notify the Secretary, in the way the Secretary requires, by the 5th business day after a well starts production or restarts after being off for more than 90 days. Anyone moving oil by motor vehicle from a lease must carry papers showing at least the amount, origin, and first destination. Pipeline transporters from leases on Federal or Indian lands must keep similar records.

Title 30, §1712

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)In order to increase receipts and achieve effective collections of royalty and other payments, a lessee who is required to make any royalty or other payment under a lease or under the mineral leasing laws, shall make such payments in the time and manner as may be specified by the Secretary or the applicable delegated State. A lessee may designate a person to make all or part of the payments due under a lease on the lessee’s behalf and shall notify the Secretary or the applicable delegated State in writing of such designation, in which event said designated person may, in its own name, pay, offset or credit monies, make adjustments, request and receive refunds and submit reports with respect to payments required by the lessee. Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter to the contrary, a designee shall not be liable for any payment obligation under the lease. The person owning operating rights in a lease shall be primarily liable for its pro rata share of payment obligations under the lease. If the person owning the legal record title in a lease is other than the operating rights owner, the person owning the legal record title shall be secondarily liable for its pro rata share of such payment obligations under the lease.

(b)An operator shall—

(1)develop and comply with a site security plan designed to protect the oil or gas produced or stored on an onshore lease site from theft, which plan shall conform with such minimum standards as the Secretary may prescribe by rule, taking into account the variety of circumstances at lease sites;

(2)develop and comply with such minimum site security measures as the Secretary deems appropriate to protect oil or gas produced or stored on a lease site or on the Outer Continental Shelf from theft; and

(3)not later than the 5th business day after any well begins production anywhere on a lease site or allocated to a lease site, or resumes production in the case of a well which has been off of production for more than 90 days, notify the Secretary, in the manner prescribed by the Secretary, of the date on which such production has begun or resumed.

(c)(1)Any person engaged in transporting by motor vehicle any oil from any lease site, or allocated to any such lease site, shall carry, on his person, in his vehicle, or in his immediate control, documentation showing, at a minimum, the amount, origin, and intended first destination of the oil.

(2)Any person engaged in transporting any oil or gas by pipeline from any lease site, or allocated to any lease site, on Federal or Indian lands shall maintain documentation showing, at a minimum, amount, origin, and intended first destination of such oil or gas.

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1996—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 104–185 inserted heading and amended text generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: “A lessee— “(1) who is required to make any royalty or other payment under a lease or under the mineral leasing laws, shall make such payments in the time and manner as may be specified by the Secretary; and “(2) shall notify the Secretary, in the time and manner as may be specified by the Secretary, of any assignment the lessee may have made of the obligation to make any royalty or other payment under a lease or under the mineral leasing laws.”

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–185 applicable with respect to the production of oil and gas after the first day of the month following Aug. 13, 1996, see section 11 of Pub. L. 104–185, set out as a note under section 1701 of this title. Applicability of 1996 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 104–185 not applicable to any privately owned minerals or with respect to Indian lands, see section 9 and 10 of Pub. L. 104–185, set out as a note under section 1701 of this title.

§1712 Duties of lessees, operators, and motor vehicle transporters