222], or as further extended under the Acts of April 5, 1926 (44 Stat. 236), March 9, 1928 (45 Stat. 252), and the Act of January 23, 1930 (46 Stat. 58), [30 U. S. C., secs. 222a-222f], may be extended by the Secretary of the Interior for an additional period of three years in his discretion, on such conditions as he may prescribe. (June 30, 1932, sec. 1, 47 Stat. 445; 30 U. S. C., sec. 222g.)

1598. Same; permits already expired. Upon application to the Secretary of the Interior, and subject to valid intervening rights and to the provisions of section 1 of this Act [30 U. S. C., sec. 222g], any permit which has already expired because of lack of authority under existing law to make further extensions may be extended for a period of three years from the date of the passage of this Act. (June 30, 1932, sec. 2, 47 Stat. 446; 30 U. S. C., sec. 222h.)

1599. Leases; amount and survey of land; term; royalties and annual rental. That upon establishing to the satisfaction of the Secretary of the Interior that valuable deposits of oil or gas have been discovered within the limits of the land embraced in any permit, the permittee shall be entitled to a lease for one-fourth of the land embraced in the prospecting permit: Provided, That the permittee shall be granted a lease for as much as one hundred and sixty acres of said lands, if there be that number of acres within the permit. The area to be selected by the permittee, shall be in reasonably compact form and, if surveyed, to be described by the legal subdivisions of the public-land surveys; if unsurveyed, to be surveyed by the Government at the expense of the applicant for lease in accordance with rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Secretary of the Interior, and the lands leased shall be conformed to and be taken in accordance with the legal subdivisions of such surveys; deposits made to cover expense of surveys shall be deemed appropriated for that purpose, and any excess deposits may be repaid to the person or persons making such deposit or their legal representatives. Such leases shall be for a term of twenty years upon a royalty of 5 per centum in amount or value of the production and the annual payment in advance of a rental of $1 per acre, the rental paid for any one year to be credited against the royalties as they accrue for that year, and shall continue in force otherwise as prescribed in section 17 hereof [30 U. S. C., sec. 226] for leases issued prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act. The permittee shall also be entitled to a preference right to a lease for the remainder of the land in his prospecting permit at a royalty of not less than 122 per centum in amount or value of the production nor more than the royalty rate prescribed by regulation in force on January 1, 1935, for secondary leases issued under this section, and under such other conditions as are fixed for oil or gas leases issued under section 17 of this Act the royalty to be determined by competitive bidding or fixed by such other method as the Secretary may by regulations prescribe: Provided further, That the Secretary shall have the right to reject any or all bids. (Feb. 25, 1920, sec. 14, 41 Stat. 442; Aug. 21, 1935, Public 2972, 74th Cong.; 30 U. S. C., séc. 223.)

1600. Secretary of Interior authorized to issue new leases; validity of prospecting permits and leases under Act of Feb. 25, 1920, not affected.— (a) That the Secretary of the Interior is authorized to issue new leases to lessees holding oil or gas leases under any of the provisions

of this Act [30 U. S. C., secs. 181-194, 201, 202–208, 211–214, 221, 223-229, 241, 251, 261-263] at the time this amendatory Act becomes effective, such new leases to be in lieu of the leases then held by such lessees and to be at a royalty rate of not less than 122 per centum in amount or value of the production and upon such other terms and conditions as the Secretary of the Interior shall by general rule prescribe: Provided, That no limitation of acreage not provided for under the law or regulations under which any such old lease was issued shall be applicable to any such new lease.

(b) Nothing contained in this amendatory Act shall be construed to affect the validity of oil and gas prospecting permits or leases previously issued under the authority of the said Act of February 25, 1920, as amended, and in existence at the time this amendatory Act becomes effective, or impair any rights or privileges which have accrued under such permits or leases. (Aug. 21, 1935, sec. 2, Public 2972, 74th Cong.)

1601. Payment for products before applying for lease.-That until the permittee shall apply for lease to the one-quarter of the permit area heretofore provided for he shall pay to the United States 20 per centum of the gross value of all oil or gas secured by him from the lands embraced within his permit and sold or otherwise disposed of or held by him for sale or other disposition. (Feb. 25, 1920, sec. 15, 41 Stat. 442; 30 U. S. C., sec. 224.)

1602. Conditions of permit or lease; forfeiture for violation of.-—That all permits and leases of lands containing oil or gas, made or issued under the provisions of this Act, shall be subject to the condition that no wells shall be drilled within two hundred feet of any of the outer boundaries of the lands so permitted or leased, unless the adjoining lands have been patented or the title thereto otherwise vested in private owners, and to the further condition that the permittee or 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 permit or lease, to be enforced through appropriate proceedings in courts of competent jurisdiction. (Feb. 25, 1920, sec. 16, 41 Stat. 443; 30 U. S. C., sec. 225.)

1603. Leases of unappropriated deposits of oil or gas in producing fields; royalties and annual rentals. All lands subject to disposition under this Act which are known or believed to contain oil or gas deposits, except as herein otherwise provided, may be leased by the Secretary of the Interior after the effective date of this amendatory Act, to the highest responsible qualified bidder by competitive bidding under general regulations. Such lands shall be leased in units of not exceeding six hundred and forty acres, which shall be as nearly compact in form as possible. Such leases shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee of such bonus as may be accepted and of such royalty as may be fixed in the lease, which shall be not less than 1212 per centum in amount or value of the production and the payment in advance of a rental to be fixed in the lease of not less than 25 cents per acre per annum, which rental except as other

wise herein provided shall not be waived, suspended, or reduced unless and until a valuable deposit of oil or gas shall have been discovered within the lands leased: Provided, That the rental paid for any one year shall be credited against the royalties as they accrue for that year: Provided further, That in the event the Secretary of the Interior shall direct or shall assent to the suspension of operations or of production of oil or gas under any such lease, any payment of acreage rental as herein provided shall likewise be suspended during such period of suspension of operations or production: And provided further, That in the case of leases valuable only for the production of gas the Secretary of the Interior upon showing by the lessee that the lease cannot be successfully operated upon such rental or upon the royalty provided in the lease, may waive, suspend, or reduce such rental or reduce such royalty.

The Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of more properly conserving the oil or gas resources of any area, field, or pool, may require that leases hereafter issued under any section of this Act be conditioned upon an agreement by the lessee to operate, under such reasonable cooperative or unit plan for the development and operation of any such area, field, or pool as said Secretary may determine to be practicable and necessary or advisable, which plan shall adequately protect the rights of all parties in interest, including the Ünited States: Provided, That all leases operated under such plan approved or prescribed by said Secretary shall be excepted in determining holdings or control under the provisions of any section of this Act.

Leases hereafter issued under this section shall be for a period of five years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities when the lands to be leased are not within any known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field, and for a period of ten years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities when the lands to be leased are within any known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field: Provided, That no such lease shall be deemed to expire by reasons of suspension of prospecting, drilling, or production pursuant to any order or consent of the said Secretary: Provided further, That the person first making application for the lease of any lands not within any known geologic structure of a producing oil or gas field who is qualified to hold a lease under this Act, including applicants for permits whose applications were filed after ninety days prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act shall be entitled to a preference right over others to a lease of such lands without competitive bidding at a royalty in the case of oil, of 122 per centum in amount or value of the production when the said production does not exceed fifty barrels per well per day for the calendar month and of not less than 121⁄2 per centum in amount or value of the production when the said production exceeds fifty barrels per well per day for the calendar month, and, in the case of gas, at a royalty of 121/2 per centum in amount or value of the production when the said production does not exceed five million cubic feet per well per day for the calendar month and, when the said production exceeds five million cubic feet per well per day for the calendar month, at a royalty of not less than 122 per centum in amount or value of the production.

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Leases issued prior to the effective date of this amendatory Act shall continue in force and effect in accordance with the terms of such leases and the laws under which issued: Provided, That any such lease that has become the subject of a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation, or other plan for the conservation of the oil and gas of a single area, field, or pool, which plan has the approval of the Secretary of the Department or Departments having jurisdiction over the Government lands included in said plan as necessary or convenient in the public interest, shall continue in force beyond said period of twenty years until the termination of such plan: And provided further, That said Secretary or Secretaries shall report all leases so continued to Congress at the beginning of its next regular session after the date of such continuance.

Any cooperative or unit plan of development and operation, which includes lands owned by the United States, shall contain a provision whereby authority, limited as therein provided, is vested in the Secretary of the department or departments having jurisdiction over such land to alter or modify from time to time in his discretion the rate of prospecting and development and the quantity and rate of production under said plan. The Secretary of the Interior is authorized whenever he shall deem such action necessary or in the public interest, with the consent of lessee, by order to suspend or modify the drilling or producing requirements of any oil and gas lease not subject to such a cooperative or unit plan, and no lease shall be deemed to expire by reason of the suspension of production pursuant to any such order.

Whenever it appears to the Secretary of the Interior that wells drilled upon lands not owned by the United States are draining oil or gas from lands or deposits owned in whole or in part by the United States, the Secretary of the Interior is hereby authorized and empowered to negotiate agreements whereby the United States or the United States and its permittees, lessees, or grantees shall be compensated for such drainage, such agreements to be made with the consent of the permittees and lessees affected thereby.

Whenever the average daily production of the oil wells on an entire leasehold or on any tract or portion thereof segregated for royalty purposes shall not exceed ten barrels per well per day, or where the cost of production of oil or gas is such as to render further production economically impracticable the Secretary of the Interior, for the purpose of encouraging the greatest ultimate recovery of oil and in the interest of conservation of natural resources, is authorized to reduce the royalty on future production when in his judgment the wells cannot be successfully operated upon the royalty fixed in the lease. The provision of this paragraph shall apply to all oil and gas leases issued under this Act, including those within an approved cooperative or unit plan of development and operation.

Any lease issued after the effective date of this amendatory Act under the provisions of this section, except those earned as a preference right as provided in section 14 hereof [30 U. S. C., sec. 223], shall be subject to cancelation by the Secretary of the Interior after thirty days' notice upon the failure of the lessee to comply with any of the provisions of the lease, unless or until the land covered by any such lease is known to contain valuable deposits of oil or gas. Such notice in advance of cancelation shall be sent the lease owner

by registered letter directed to the lease owner's record post-office address, and in case such letter shall be returned as undelivered, such notice shall also be posted for a period of thirty days in the United States Land Office for the district in which the land covered by such lease is situated, or in the event that there is no district land office for such leased land, then in the post office nearest such land. Leases covering lands known to contain valuable deposits of oil or gas shall be canceled only in the manner provided in section 31 of this Act [30 U. S. C., sec. 188]. (Feb. 25, 1920, sec. 17, 41 Stat. 443; July 3, 1930, 46 Stat. 1007; Mar. 4, 1931, 46 Stat. 1523; Aug. 21, 1935, Public 29712, 74th Cong., 30 U. S. C., sec. 226.)

1604. Naval petroleum reserve and naval oil-shale reserve lands not affected. That nothing in this amendatory Act shall be construed as affecting any lands within the borders of the naval petroleum reserves and naval oil-shale reserves or agreements concerning operations thereunder or in relation to the same, but the Secretary of the Navy is hereby authorized, with the consent of the President, to enter into agreements such as those provided for under the Act of March 4, 1931 (46 Stat. 1523), which agreement shall not, unless expressed therein, operate to extend the terms of any lease affected thereby. (Aug. 21, 1935, sec. 3, Public 2972, 74th Cong.)

1605. Leases to persons relinquishing rights under prior claims on withdrawn lands under preexisting placer mining law; naval petroleum reserves; fraud adjustment. That upon relinquishment to the United States, filed in the General Land Office within six months after the approval of this Act, of all right, title, and interest claimed and possessed prior to July 3, 1910, and continuously since by the claimant or his predecessor in interest under the preexisting placer mining law to any oil or gas-bearing land upon which there has been drilled one or more oil or gas wells to discovery embraced in the Executive order of withdrawal issued September 27, 1909, and not within any naval petroleum reserve, and upon payment as royalty to the United States of an amount equal to the value at the time of production of one-eighth of all the oil or gas already produced except oil or gas used for production purposes on the claim, or unavoidably lost, from such land, the claimant, or his successor, if in possession of such land, undisputed by any other claimant prior to July 1, 1919, shall be entitled to a lease thereon from the United States for a period of twenty years, at a royalty of not less than 122 per centum of all the oil or gas produced except oil or gas used for production purposes on the claim, or unavoidably lost: Provided, That not more than one-half of the area, but in no case to exceed three thousand two hundred acres, within the geologic oil or gas structure of a producing oil or gas field shall be leased to any one claimant under the provision of this section when the area of such geologic oil structure exceeds six hundred and forty acres. Any claimant or his successor, subject to this limitation, shall, however, have the right to select and receive the lease as in this section provided for that portion of his claim or claims equal to, but not in excess of, said one-half of the area of such geologic oil structure, but not more than three thousand two hundred acres.

All such leases shall be made and the amount of royalty to be paid for oil and gas produced, except oil or gas used for production