§ 203.69. If my application is approved, what royalty relief will I receive?

654 words·~3 min read·/us/cfr/t30/s§ 203.69·

A research copy — for the controlling text, always check the official state or federal source. Not legal advice.

If we approve your application, subject to certain conditions, we will not collect royalties on a specified suspension volume for your field, development project, or expansion project. Suspension volumes include volumes allocated to a lease under an approved unit agreement, but exclude any volumes of production that are not normally royalty-bearing under the lease or the regulations of this chapter (e.g., fuel gas).

(a)For authorized fields, the minimum royalty-suspension volumes are:

(1)17.5 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMBOE) for fields in 200 to 400 meters of water;

(2)52.5 MMBOE for fields in 400 to 800 meters of water; and

(3)87.5 MMBOE for fields in more than 800 meters of water.

(b)For development projects, any relief we grant applies only to project wells and replaces the royalty relief, if any, with which we issued your lease.

(c)If your project is economic given the royalty relief with which we issued your lease, we will reject the application.

(d)If the lease has earned or may earn deep gas royalty relief under §§ 203.40 through 203.49 or ultra-deep gas royalty relief under §§ 203.30 through 203.36, we will take the deep gas royalty relief or ultra-deep gas royalty relief into account in determining whether further royalty relief for a development project is necessary for production to be economic.

(e)If neither paragraph

(c)nor

(d)of this section apply, the minimum royalty suspension volumes are as shown in the following table: For . . . The minimum royalty suspension volume is . . . Plus . . .

(1)RS leases in the GOA or leases offshore Alaska, ``` ``` A volume equal to the combined royalty suspension volumes (or the volume equivalent based on the data in your approved application for other forms of royalty suspension) with which BSEE issued the leases participating in the application that have or plan a well into a reservoir identified in the application, ``` ``` 10 percent of the median of the distribution of known recoverable resources upon which BSEE based approval of your application from all reservoirs included in the project.

(2)Leases offshore Alaska or other deep water GOA leases issued in sales after November 28, 2000, ``` ``` A volume equal to 10 percent of the median of the distribution of known recoverable resources upon which BSEE based approval of your application from all reservoirs included in the project. ``` ``` ``` ``` ``` ``` ```

(f)If your application includes pre-Act leases in different categories of water depth, we apply the minimum royalty suspension volume for the deepest such lease then assigned to the field. We base the water depth and makeup of a field on the water-depth delineations in the "Lease Terms and Economic Conditions" map and the "Fields Directory" documents and updates in effect at the time your application is deemed complete. These publications are available from the BSEE Gulf of America Regional Office.

(g)You will get a royalty suspension volume above the minimum if we determine that you need more to make the field or development project economic.

(h)For expansion projects, the minimum royalty suspension volume equals 10 percent of the median of the distribution of known recoverable resources upon which we based approval of your application from all reservoirs included in your project plus any suspension volumes required under § 203.66. If we determine that your expansion project may be economic only with more relief, we will determine and grant you the royalty suspension volume necessary to make the project economic.

(i)The royalty suspension volume applicable to specific leases will continue through the end of the month in which cumulative production reaches that volume. You must calculate cumulative production from all the leases in the authorized field or project that are entitled to share the royalty suspension volume. \[76 FR 64462, Oct. 18, 2011, as amended at 90 FR 44325, Sept. 15, 2025\]