tions now or hereafter in force governing oil and gas operations on restricted Indian lands. Operations will not be permitted under any lease requiring approval of the Secretary of the Interior until the approved lease has been delivered.

(b) All leases issued under the provisions of the regulations in this part shall be subject to imposition by the Secretary of such restrictions as to time or times for the drilling of wells and as to the production from any well or wells as in his judgment may be necessary or proper for the protection of the natural resources of the leased land and in the interests of the Indian lessor. In the exercise of his judgment the Secretary may take into consideration among other things the Federal laws, State laws or regulations by competent Federal or State authorities or lawful agreements among operators regulating either drilling or production or both, and also any regulatory action desired by tribal authorities.

(c) All leases issued pursuant to the regulations in this part shall be subject to a co-operative or unit development plan affecting the leased lands if and when required by the Secretary of the Interior.

§ 212.25 Inspection of books and accounts. Lessees shall agree to allow the lessors and their agents or any authorized representative of the Interior Department to enter, from time to time, upon and into all parts of the leased premises for the purposes of inspection, and shall further agree to keep a full and correct account of all operations and make reports thereof, as required by the regulations of the Department governing operations on public and restricted Indian lands; and their books and records showing manner of operations and persons interested shall be open at all times for examination of such officers of the department as shall be instructed in writing by the Secretary of the Interior or authorized by regulations to make such examinations.

§ 212.26 Leases on unrestricted lands.

All leases of any description whatever executed by an allottee on land from all of which the restrictions

against alienation had been removed before such execution may be executed without any provision for reference to or supervision by the Secretary of the Interior or any official of the Department of the Interior; and the superintendent shall refuse to accept for consideration any lease covering land from all of which restrictions had been removed before such execution.

§ 212.27 Leases executed before removal of restrictions.

All leases executed before the removal of restrictions against alienation on land from all of which restrictions against alienation shall be removed after such execution, if such leases contain specific provision or approval by the Secretary of the Interior, whether now filed with the Department of the Interior or presented for consideration hereafter, will be considered and acted upon by the Department as heretofore.

§ 212.28 Removal of restrictions.

(a) Oil and gas leases heretofore or hereafter approved and leases for other minerals now or hereafter in force on land from all of which restrictions against alienation have been or shall be removed, even if such leases contain provisions authorizing supervision by the Department, shall, after such removal of restrictions against alienation, be operated entirely free from such supervision, and the authority and power delegated to the Secretary of the Interior in said leases shall cease, and all payments required to be made to the superintendent shall thereafter be made to lessor or the then owner of said land; and changes in regulations thereafter made by the Secretary of the Interior applicable to oil and gas leases shall not apply to such leased land from which said restrictions are removed.

(b) In the event restrictions are removed from a part of the land included in any lease to which this section applies the entire lease shall continue subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior, and all royalties thereunder shall be paid to the superintendent until such time as the lessor and lessee shall furnish the Secretary

40-083 0-90-17

of the Interior satisfactory information that adequate arrangements have been made to account for the oil, gas, or mineral upon the restricted land, separately from that upon the unrestricted. Thereafter the restricted land only shall be subject to the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior: Provided, That the unrestricted portion shall be relieved from such supervision as in the lease or regulations provided.

§ 212.29 Terms applying after relinquishment.

Sections 8 and 9 of the approved oil and gas lease (Form 5-154h, as revised Apr. 24, 1935), relative to relinquishment of supervision and terms operative after such relinquishment, read as follows:

8. Relinquishment of supervision by the Secretary of the Interior. Should the Secretary of the Interior, at any time during the life of this instrument, relinquish supervision as to all or part of the acreage covered hereby, such relinquishment shall not bind lessee until said Secretary shall have given 30 days' written notice. Until said requirements are fulfilled, lessee shall continue to make all payments due hereunder as heretofore in section 3(c). After notice of relinquishment has been received by lessee, as herein provided, this lease shall be subject to the following further conditions:

(a) All rentals and royalties thereafter accruing shall be paid in the following manner: Rentals and royalties shall be paid to lessor or his successors in title, or to a trustee appointed under the provisions of section 9 hereof. Rentals and royalties shall be paid directly to lessor or his successors in title, or to said trustee as the case may be. (b) If, at the time supervision is relinquished by the Secretary of the Interior, lessee shall have made all payments then due hereunder, and shall have fully performed all obligations on its part to be performed up to the time of such relinquishment, then the bond given to secure the performance hereof, on file in the Indian Office, shall be of not further force or effect.

(c) Should such relinquishment affect only part of the acreage, then lessee may continue to drill and operate the land covered hereby as an entirety: Provided, That the lessee shall pay in the manner prescribed by section 3(c), for the benefit of lessor such proportion of all rentals and royalties due hereunder as the acreage retained under the supervision of the Secretary of the Interior bears to the entire acre

age of the lease, the remainder of such rentals and royalties to be paid directly to lessor or his successors in title or said trustee as the case may be, as provided in subdivision (a) of this section.

9. Division of fee. It is covenanted and agreed that should the fee of said land be divided into separate parcels, held by different owners, or should the rental or royalty interest hereunder be so divided in ownership, after the execution of this lease and after the Secretary of the Interior relinquishes supervision hereof, the obligations of lessee hereunder shall not be added to or changed in any manner whatsoever save as specifically provided by the terms of this lease. Notwithstanding such separate ownership, lessee may continue to drill and operate said premises as an entirety: Provided, That each separate owner shall receive such proportion of all rentals and royalties accruing after the vesting of his title as the acreage of the fee, or rental or royalty interest, bears to the entire acreage covered by the lease; or to the entire rental and royalty interest as the case may be: Provided further, That if, at any time after departmental supervision hereof is relinquished, in whole or in part, there shall be four or more parties entitled to rentals or royalties hereunder, whether said parties are so entitled by virtue of undivided interests or by virtue of ownership hereby, of separate parcels of the land covered lessee at his election may withhold the payment of further rentals or royalties (except as to the portion due the Indian lessor while under restriction), until all of said parties shall agree upon and designate in writing and in a recordable instrument a trustee to receive all payments due hereunder on behalf of said parties and their respective successors in title. Payments to said trustee shall constitute lawful payments hereunder, and the sole risk of an improper or unlawful distribution of said funds by said trustee shall rest upon the parties naming said trustee and their respective successors in title.

These, or similar provisions, will be contained in all leases.

§ 212.30 Removal of restrictions upon part of acreage.

Should the removal of restrictions affect only part of the acreage covered by an oil and gas lease containing provisions to the effect that the royalties accruing under the lease, where the fee is divided into separate parcels, shall be paid to each owner in the proportion which his acreage bears to the entire acreage covered by the lease, the lessee or assignee of such unre

stricted portion will be required to make the reports required by the regulations in this part and the operating regulations with respect to the beginning of drilling operations, completion of wells, and production, the same as if the restrictions had not been removed. In the event the unrestricted portion of the leased premises is producing, the owners of the lease thereon will be required to pay the portion of the royalties due the Indian lessor at the time and in the manner specified by the regulations in this part.

§ 212.31 Fees.

The provisions of § 211.25 of this chapter, or as hereafter amended, are applicable to this part.

[24 FR 7974, Oct. 2, 1959. Redesignated at 47 FR 13327, Mar. 30, 1982]

§ 212.32 Forms.

The provisions of § 211.30 of this chapter, or as hereafter amended, are applicable to this part.

[24 FR 7974, Oct. 2, 1959. Redesignated at 47 FR 13327, Mar. 30, 1982]

§ 212.33 Individual tribal assignments excluded.

The reference in this part to "allottees" and "allotments" does not include assignments of tribal lands made pursuant to tribal constitutions for the use of individual Indians and assignees of such lands; but such tribal assignments may be leased by Indians to whom mineral rights have been so assigned, subject to the terms of the tribal constitution and subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior for such periods of time as are authorized by existing law. In the leasing of such lands preference will be given to Indian cooperative associations and to individual Indians.

(Secs. 16, 17, 48 Stat. 987, 988; 25 U.S.C. 476, 477)

213.46

213.47

213.48

Field clerks.
Forms.

Effective date.

213.49 Scope of regulations.

AUTHORITY: Sec. 2, 35 Stat. 312, sec. 18, 41 Stat. 426, sec. 1, 45 Stat. 495, sec. 1, 47 Stat. 777; 25 U.S.C. 356. Interpret or apply secs. 3, 11, 35 Stat. 313, 316, sec. 8, 47 Stat. 779, unless otherwise noted.

SOURCE: 22 FR 10599, Dec. 24, 1957, unless otherwise noted. Redesignated at 47 FR 13327, Mar. 30, 1982.

CROSS REFERENCE: For oil and gas operating regulations of the Geological Survey, see 30 CFR Part 221.

66

Area Director. The term 'Area Director" in this part refers to the officer in charge of the Five Civilized Tribes Indian Agency.

Supervisor. The term “supervisor” in this part refers to a representative of the Secretary of the Interior under direction of the Director of the U.S. Geological Survey, authorized and empowered to supervise and direct operations under oil and gas or other mining leases, to furnish scientific and technical information and advice, to ascertain and record the amount and value of production, and to determine and record rentals and royalties due and paid.

How To ACQUIRE LEASES

§ 213.2 Applications for leases. Applications for leases should be made to the Area Director.

§ 213.3 No Government employee shall acquire leases.

No lease, assignment thereof, or interest therein will be approved to any employee or employees of the U.S. Government, whether connected with the Bureau of Indian Affairs or otherwise, and no employee of the Department of the Interior shall be permitted to acquire any interest in such leases covering restricted Indian lands by ownership of stock in corporations having leases or in any other manner. (R.S. 2078; 25 U.S.C. 68)

§ 213.4 Sale of oil and gas leases.

(a) At such times and in such manner as he may deem appropriate, the Area Director shall publish notices at least thirty days prior to the sale, unless a shorter period is authorized by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs, that oil and gas leases on specific tracts, each of which shall be in a reasonably compact body, will be offered to the highest responsible bidder for a bonus consideration, in addition to stipulated rentals and royalties. Each bid must be accompanied by a cashier's check, certified check, or postal money order, payable to the payee designated in the invitation to bid, in an amount not less than 25 percent of the bonus bid. Within 30 days after notification of being the successful bidder, said bidder must remit the balance of the bonus, the first year's rental, and his share of the advertising costs, and shall file with the Area Director the lease in completed form. The Area Director may, for good and sufficient reasons, extend the time for the completion and submission of the lease form, but no extension shall be granted for remitting the balance of monies due. If the successful bidder fails to pay the full consideration within said period, or fails to file the completed lease within said period or extension thereof, or if the lease is disapproved through no fault of the lessor or the Department of the Interior, 25 percent of the bonus bid will be forfeited for the use and benefit of the Indian lessor.

(b) In cases where any part of the bonus bid for a lease is paid directly to the Indian lessor, upon his signing the

lease, the lessee must procure and file with the lease an affidavit of the lessor, sworn to before a U.S. Commissioner, Postmaster, Area Director, local representative of the Area Director, county or district judge, Federal judge or clerk of a Federal court, showing the amount of bonus so paid, and the balance thereof must be paid into the office of the Area Director upon filing the lease. Where possible lessees are requested to take the lessor to the nearest United States field clerk who will render all proper assistance in the execution of leases, and before whom the bonus affidavit may be executed in cases where any part of bonus consideration is paid directly to the lessor. Where leases are executed by guardians, under order of court, the affidavit of lessor may be executed before a notary public.

(c) All notices or advertisements of sales of oil and gas leases shall reserve to the Secretary of the Interior the right to reject all bids when in his judgment the interests of the Indians will be best served by so doing, and that if no satisfactory bid is received, or if the accepted bidder fails to complete the lease or if the Secretary of the Interior shall determine that it is unwise in the interests of the Indians to accept the highest bid, the Secretary may readvertise such lease for sale, or if deemed advisable, with the consent of the Indian owners, a lease may be made by private negotiations. The successful bidder or bidders will be required to pay his or their share of the advertising costs. Amounts received from unsuccessful bidders will be returned; but when no bid is accepted on a tract, the costs of advertising will be assessed against the applicant who requested that said tract be advertised.

(Secs. 16, 17, 48 Stat. 987, 988, sec. 9, 49 Stat. 1968, sec. 4, 52 Stat. 348; 25 U.S.C. 396d, 476, 477, 509)

§ 213.5 Term of oil and gas leases.

Oil and gas mining leases which require the approval of the Secretary of the Interior may be made for periods of 10 years from the date of approval of lease by the Secretary of the Interior and as much longer thereafter as

oil and/or gas is produced in paying quantities.

§ 213.6 Leases for minerals other than oil and gas.

Uncontested mining leases for minerals other than oil and gas shall be made on forms 1 prescribed by the Department, for a period of 15 years with the right of renewal on such terms as the superintendent may prescribe, and shall be subject only to approval by the Area Director. See provisions of the act of February 14, 1920 (41 Stat. 408). Any persons aggrieved by any decision or order of the Area Director approving, rejecting, or disapproving any such lease may appeal from the same to the Secretary of the Interior within 30 days from the date of such decision or order.