Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 60 Part 1.djvu/979

 PUBLIC LAWS-CH. 916-AUG. 8, 1946 Payment ( and royalty. Waiver of r Compensat drainage. Extension mary term. Issuance leases. which drilling operations are being diligently prosecuted on such expiration date, shall continue in effect for a period of two years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities. Ofrental "All leases issued under this section shall be conditioned upon the payment by the lessee in advance of a rental of not less than 25 cents per acre per annum. A minimum royalty of $1 per acre in lieu of rental shall be payable at the expiration of each lease year beginning on or after a discovery of oil or gas in paying quantities on the lands entais. leased: Provided, That in the case of lands not within any known geological structure of a producing oil or gas field, the rentals for the second and third lease years shall be waived unless a valuable deposit of oil or gas be sooner discovered. ion for "Whenever it appears to the Secretary of the Interior that lands owned by the United States are being drained of oil or gas by wells drilled on adjacent lands, he is hereby authorized and empowered to negotiate agreements whereby the United States, or the United States and its lessees, shall be compensated for such drainage, such agreements of pr to be made with the consent of the lessees affected thereby and the primary term of any lease for which compensatory royalty is being paid shall be extended by adding thereto a period equal to the period during which such compensatory royalty is paid." SEC. 4. The Act is hereby amended by adding a new section to read as follows: of new "SEC. 17. (a) The Secretary of the Interior shall, upon timely application therefor, issue a new lease in exchange for any lease issued for a term of twenty years, or any renewal thereof, or any lease here- tofore issued in exchange for a twenty-year lease, such new lease to be for a primary term of five years and so long thereafter as oil or gas is produced in paying quantities and at a royalty rate of not less than 121/2 per centum in amount or value of the production removed or sold from such leases, except that the royalty rate shall be 12/2 per centum in amount or value of the production removed or sold from said leases, as to (1) such leases, or such part of the lands subject thereto, and the deposits underlying the same, as are not believed to be within the productive limits of any producing oil or gas deposit, as such productive limits are found by the Secretary to exist on the effective date of this Act, and (2) any production on a lease from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27 1941, by a well or wells drilled within the boundaries of the lease, and which is deter- mined by the Secretary to be a new deposit; and (3) any production on or allocated to a lease pursuant to an approved unit or cooperative agreement from an oil or gas deposit which was discovered after May 27, 1941, on land committed to such agreement, and which is determined by the Secretary to be a new deposit, where such lease, or a lease for which it is exchanged, was included in such agreement at the time of discovery, or was included in a duly executed and filed application for the approval of such agreement at the time of dis- covery." SEC. 5. The Act is hereby amended by adding a new section to read as follows: planfor "SEC. 17. (b) For the purpose of more properly conserving the natural resources of any oil or gas pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof (whether or not any part of said oil or gas pool, field, or like area, is then subject to any cooperative or unit plan of development or operation), lessees thereof and their representatives may unite with each other, or jointly or separately with others, in collectively adopting and operating under a cooperative or unit plan of development or operation of such pool, field, or like area, or any part thereof, when- Cooperative conservation. 952 [60 STAT.

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