Title 30Mineral Lands and MiningRelease 119-73

§358 Rights under prior leases; priority of pending applications; exchange of leases

Title 30 › Chapter CHAPTER 7— - LEASE OF MINERAL DEPOSITS WITHIN ACQUIRED LANDS › § 358

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Those with leases issued before August 7, 1947 keep the rights under the law when they got them. Anyone who on that date had a pending oil or gas lease application for land not then in a known producing field gets priority to it without competitive bidding, and pre-1947 leaseholders may exchange their lease for a new one under this law before it expires.

Full Legal Text

Title 30, §358

Mineral Lands and Mining — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Nothing in this chapter shall affect any rights acquired by any lessee of lands subject to this chapter under the law as it existed prior to August 7, 1947, and such rights shall be governed by the law in effect at the time of their acquisition; but any person qualified to hold a lease who, on August 7, 1947, had pending an application for an oil and gas lease for any lands subject to this chapter which on the date the application was filed was not situated within the known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field, shall have a preference right over others to a lease of such lands without competitive bidding. Any person holding a lease on lands subject hereto, which lease was issued prior to August 7, 1947, shall be entitled to exchange such lease for a new lease issued under the provisions of this chapter, at any time prior to the expiration of such existing lease.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Outer Continental Shelf; Jurisdiction of United States; Validation of Prior LeasesJurisdiction of United States over outer Continental Shelf, grant of leases on submerged lands thereof, and validation of prior leases, see section 1331 et seq. of Title 43, Public Lands.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

30 U.S.C. § 358

Title 30Mineral Lands and Mining

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73