PRIA, Government Policy, Made Personal

Summary

Leases for land with oil or gas must require the leaseholder to act carefully during exploration and drilling to avoid wasting oil or gas and to keep water out of wells that could damage the oil-bearing layers. If the leaseholder breaks these rules, the lease can be canceled and taken away under the chapter’s procedures.

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.

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.

§225 Condition of Lease, Forfeiture for Violation