Company Operating Rights in the Gulf of Mexico
OPERATING RIGHTS:
What are Aliquots?
Aliquots are geographic subdivisions of a lease that have different ownerships. Aliquots are typically expressed in quarter/quarter subdivisions of a block (Ex: SE/4 or SE1/4NE1/4SE1/4.) Click here to see a detailed image to explain how to read an aliquot description.
What are Operating Rights?
Operating Rights have different ownerships based on geographic subdivisions of a lease and/or depth limitations based on the stratigraphic equivalent on a certain well.
| Field (Abbreviated) Name | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| ASSIGN | Assignment Number | An indicator of which assignment relates to which owners in the event there is more than one operating right on a particular block/lease. |
| EFFECT. DATE | Effective Date | The effective date of the assignment of operating rights. |
| DESCRIPTION | Description | The legal description of the assignment. |
| COMPANY | Company Name | The name of the company owning the operating right. |
| INTEREST | Interest | The working (operating right) interest the company owns in that assignment number. |
| EFFECT DT. | Effective Date | That company's effective date of ownership or change in ownership for that assignment. |
PENDING ASSIGNMENTS:
| Field (Abbreviated) Name | Description |
|---|---|
| LEASE # | The number assigned to a lease by the regulatory agency having jurisdiction over mineral activity in the territory where the lease is located. |
| DATE | The date the Assignment was filed with the MMS' Adjudication Section. |
| TYPE | The type of assignment being filed. RT=Record Title; OR=Operating Rights; P=Pipeline |
| ASSIGNOR | The entity currently owning the interest that is being assigned to the new party (seller) |
| ASSIGNEE | The entity being assigned the interest in the lease (buyer) |
RECENTLY APPROVED ASSIGNMENTS:
| Field (Abbreviated) Name | Description |
|---|---|
| LEASE # | The number assigned to a lease by the regulatory agency having jurisdiction over mineral activity in the territory where the lease is located. |
| REC DATE | The date the Assignment was filed with the MMS' Adjudication Section. |
| TYPE | The type of Assignment being filed. RT=Record Title; OR=Operating Rights; P=Pipeline |
| APPROV DT | The date the Assignment was approved by the MMS' Adjudication Section. |
| ASSIGNOR | The entity currently owning the interest that is being assigned to the new party (seller) |
| ASSIGNEE | The entity being assigned the interest in the lease (buyer) |
LEASE DESCRIPTIONS:
| Field (Abbreviated) Name | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|
| AR/BLK | Area Code & Block Name | The Area Code and designated OCS Block Number of the well at the surface location. |
| AREA NAME | Protraction Area Name | The name of a Protraction as it appears on the actual document. It is either the geographic or proper name of the particular portion of the OCS, depicted on either the Official Protraction Diagram (OPD) or Leasing Map, assigned by the U.S. Board on Geographic Names (BGN), or previously, by the Bureau of Land Management, respectively, OPD's without a BGN certified name remain unnamed. |
| MAP | Map Number | The identifier of an official protraction, which can be one of two types as utilized by the MMS: an Official Protraction Diagram (OPD) or a Leasing Map. |
| LEASE DESCRIPTION | Lease Descripton | The legal description of the included lands given in terms of boundary lines of the applicable mapping system on the executed lease document. |
III. TRANSFERS PERTAINING TO OCS LEASES
A. Definitions
Prior to undertaking a discussion of the requisites of transfers relating to OCS leases, the MMS approval process, and the consequences of such transfers for the assignor and assignee, it is appropriate to review the relevant terminology. In the case of assignments of interests in oil and gas leases covering privately owned or state lands, the interests acquired by the assignee are referred to as working interests, leasehold interests, or interests in the leasehold estate created by the subject lease. The assignee of an interest in an OCS lease, on the other hand, will receive either a record title interest or an interest in the operating rights (from the Record Title/ Lease owner)attributable to the subject lease.
The term operating right is defined in the federal onshore regulations as the interest created out of a lease authorizing the holder of that right to enter upon the lease lands to conduct drilling and related operations, including production of oil or gas from such lands in accordance with the terms of the lease.30 Correspondingly, the term operating rights owner is defined as a person or entity holding operating rights in a lease issued by the United States.31 A lessee also may be an operating rights owner if the operating rights in a lease or portion thereof have not been severed from record title.32
Although the owners of both record title interests and operating rights clearly are entitled to conduct operations on an OCS lease, MMS regulations contemplate that these responsibilities may be delegated to a third party known as the operator. Once again, MMS regulations do not define the term operator. The federal onshore regulations, however, define the operator as any person or entity, including, but not limited to, the lessee or operating rights owner, who has stated in writing to the authorized officer that it is responsible under the terms and conditions of the lease for the operations conducted on the leased lands or a portion thereof.