The Bush administration has taken steps to shore up its policy limiting the number of acres of public lands that any company, association or individual may lease for oil and natural gas activity.

The Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) sent out a memorandum on July 27 to all state directors, instructing them to enforce regulations stating that no company, association or individual can own or control more than 246,080 acres of public lands in any one state at any one time, and that no more than 200,000 acres can be held under option. The exception is Alaska, where limits are 300,000 acres for both the northern and southern leasing districts.

Depending on the circumstances, companies will have anywhere from 90 to 180 days to “get below the acreage limit,” according to the memorandum, which took effect immediately. The period may be extended if a company provides sufficient justification, it said.

A producer or other entity who is over the acreage limit will be barred by the BLM from bidding on new leases or transferring record title or operating rights on existing leases, until it complies with the acreage limitation, according to the BLM memorandum.

If a producer with excessive acreage tries to participate in a competitive oil and gas lease sale, the BLM state offices were ordered to reject the bid. In addition, the memo said the bidder would be required to forfeit the bonus bid, first year’s rental and administrative fee paid on the day of the sale.

The BLM offices also were reminded to perform an annual acreage review during the first two weeks of each January. “If any of [the] reports show an entity that has chargeable acres equal to or greater than 200,000 acres, then each such entity is subject to a full audit of its oil and gas lease interest holdings for that type of land in that geographic area,” the memorandum said.

The crackdown by the BLM comes after The Associated Press reported that a half-dozen companies since 1997 have exceeded the limit of 246,080 acres in any state, except Alaska, according the Congressional Green Sheets.

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