(a) An application to form a communitization agreement or modify an existing agreement must be filed with the proper BLM office for final approval.

(b) An application for a communitization agreement must include:

(1) A statement as to whether the proposed communitization agreement deviates from the BLM's current model communitization agreement form, and a certification that the applicant received the required signatures;

(2) An Exhibit A displaying a map of the area covered by the proposed agreement and the separate agreement tracts; and

(3) An Exhibit B displaying the separate tracts and ownership;

(c) To ensure accurate reporting to ONRR, an application for a communitization agreement should be submitted at least 90 calendar days prior to first production.

(d) An application for designations of successor operator for a communitization agreement must include the processing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.120 of this chapter.

When a lease or a portion thereof cannot be independently developed and operated in conformity with an established well-spacing or well-development program, the authorized officer may approve a communitization agreement for such lands with other lands, whether or not owned by the United States, upon a determination that it is in the public interest. Operations or production under such an agreement will be deemed to be operations or production as to each lease committed thereto.

(a) The communitization agreement must describe the separate tracts comprising the drilling or spacing unit, must show the apportionment of the production or royalties to the several parties, the name of the operator, and contain adequate provisions for the protection of the interests of the United States. The agreement must be signed by or on behalf of all necessary parties and must be filed prior to the expiration of the Federal lease(s) involved in order to confer the benefits of the agreement upon such lease(s).

(b) The agreement will be effective as to the Federal lease(s) involved only if approved by the authorized officer. Approved communitization agreement are considered effective from the date of the agreement or from the date of the onset of production from the communitized formation, whichever is earlier, except when the spacing unit is subject to a State pooling order after the date of first sale, then the effective date of the agreement will be the effective date of the order.

(c) The public interest requirement for an approved communitization agreement will be satisfied only if the well dedicated thereto has been completed for production in the communitized formation at the time the agreement is approved or, if not, that the operator thereafter commences and/or diligently continues drilling operations to a depth sufficient to test the communitized formation or establishes to the satisfaction of the authorized officer that further drilling of the well would be unwarranted or impracticable. If an application is received for voluntary termination of a communitization agreement during its fixed term or such an agreement automatically expires at the end of its fixed term without the public interest requirement having been satisfied, the approval of that agreement by the authorized officer will be invalid and no Federal lease included in the communitization agreement will be eligible for an extension under 43 CFR 3107.40.

The communitization agreement will remain in effect for a period of 2 years from the effective date or approval date, whichever is later, and so long thereafter as communitized substances may be produced in paying quantities, or as otherwise specified in the agreement.

(a) The suggested contents of such an agreement and the procedures for obtaining approval are contained in 43 CFR part 3180.

(b) An application to form a unit agreement, a unit expansion, or a designation of a successor operator must include the processing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.120 of this chapter.

A contract submitted for approval under this section must be filed with the proper BLM office.

Approval of operating, drilling or development contracts will be granted only to permit operators or pipeline companies to enter into contracts with a number of lessees sufficient to justify operations on a scale large enough to justify the discovery, development, production or transportation of oil or gas and to finance the same.

The contract must be accompanied by a statement showing all the interests held by the contractor in the area or field and the proposed or agreed plan for development and operation of the field. All the contracts held by the same contractor in the area or field must be submitted for approval at the same time and full disclosure of the projects made.

(a) Applications for subsurface storage or designations of successor operator must be filed in the proper BLM office.

(b) The final gas storage agreement signed by all the parties in interest must be submitted to the BLM.

(c) Applications for subsurface storage agreements or designations of successor operator must include the processing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.120 of this chapter.

To avoid waste and to promote conservation of natural resources, the Secretary, upon application by the interested parties, may authorize the subsurface storage of oil and gas, whether or not produced from lands owned by the United States. Such authorization will provide for the payment of such storage fee or rental on the stored oil or gas as may be determined adequate in each case, or, in lieu thereof, for a royalty other than that prescribed in the lease when such stored oil or gas is produced in conjunction with oil or gas not previously produced. The BLM will require a bond as provided under § 3104 for operations conducted in a subsurface storage agreement.

The agreement must disclose the ownership of the lands involved, the parties in interest, the storage fee, rental or royalty offered to be paid for such storage and all information demonstrating such storage would avoid waste and promote the conservation of natural resources.

Any lease used for the storage of oil or gas will be extended for the period of storage under an approved agreement. The obligation to pay annual lease rent continues during the extended period.

(a) Leases may be consolidated upon written request of the lessee filed with the proper BLM office. The request must identify each lease involved by serial number and justify the consolidation. Each request for a consolidation of leases must include the processing fee found in the fee schedule in § 3000.120 of this chapter.

(b) All parties holding any undivided interest in any lease involved in the consolidation must agree to enter into the same lease consolidation.

(c) Leases containing different types of lands (public domain lands vs. acquired lands), mixed fractional mineral interest, or provisions required by law that cannot be reconciled, will not be consolidated.

(d) Consolidation of leases will not exceed acreage limits of 2,560 acres for competitive leases and 10,240 acres for noncompetitive leases.

(e) The effective date, the anniversary date, and the primary term of the consolidated lease will be those of the oldest original lease included in the consolidation. The term of a consolidated lease may be extended beyond the primary lease term under subpart 3107.

(f) The highest royalty and rental rates of the each of the leases to be consolidated will apply to the consolidated lease.

(g) Lease stipulations and other terms and conditions of each original lease, except as noted in paragraphs (e) and (f) of this section, will continue to apply to that lease or any portion thereof regardless of the lease becoming a part of a consolidated lease.