Title 30 — Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73
§225 Condition of lease, forfeiture for violation
Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 3A— - LEASES AND PROSPECTING PERMITS › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER IV— - OIL AND GAS › § 225
Summary
Oil and gas leases must require the leaseholder to take reasonable steps during drilling to prevent wasting oil or gas and to stop water from entering wells. Breaking this can end the lease under the chapter.
Full Legal Text
Title 30, §225
Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC
All leases of lands containing oil or gas, made or issued under the provisions of this chapter, shall be subject to the condition that the lessee will, in conducting his explorations and mining operations, use all reasonable precautions to prevent waste of oil or gas developed in the land, or the entrance of water through wells drilled by him to the oil sands or oil-bearing strata, to the destruction or injury of the oil deposits. Violations of the provisions of this section shall constitute grounds for the forfeiture of the lease, to be enforced as provided in this chapter.
Legislative History
Notes & Related Subsidiaries
Editorial Notes
Amendments
1946—Act Aug. 8, 1946, omitted condition that no wells should be drilled within two hundred feet of boundaries of leased lands.
Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries
Savings Provision
See note set out under section 181 of this title. Outer Continental Shelf; Terms and Conditions of LeasesTerms and conditions of mineral leases on submerged lands of outer Continental Shelf, see section 1337 of Title 43, Public Lands.
Reference
Citations & Metadata
Citation
30 U.S.C. § 225
Title 30 — Mineral Lands and Mining
Last Updated
Apr 6, 2026
Release point: 119-73