§ 206.101 - What definitions apply to this subpart?

The following definitions apply to this subpart:

Affiliate means a person who controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with another person. For purposes of this subpart:

(1) Ownership or common ownership of more than 50 percent of the voting securities, or instruments of ownership, or other forms of ownership, of another person constitutes control. Ownership of less than 10 percent constitutes a presumption of noncontrol that MMS may rebut.

(2) If there is ownership or common ownership of 10 through 50 percent of the voting securities or instruments of ownership, or other forms of ownership, of another person, MMS will consider the following factors in determining whether there is control under the circumstances of a particular case:

(i) The extent to which there are common officers or directors;

(ii) With respect to the voting securities, or instruments of ownership, or other forms of ownership: the percentage of ownership or common ownership, the relative percentage of ownership or common ownership compared to the percentage(s) of ownership by other persons, whether a person is the greatest single owner, or whether there is an opposing voting bloc of greater ownership;

(iii) Operation of a lease, plant, or other facility;

(iv) The extent of participation by other owners in operations and day-to-day management of a lease, plant, or other facility; and

(v) Other evidence of power to exercise control over or common control with another person.

(3) Regardless of any percentage of ownership or common ownership, relatives, either by blood or marriage, are affiliates.

ANS means Alaska North Slope (ANS).

Area means a geographic region at least as large as the limits of an oil field, in which oil has similar quality, economic, and legal characteristics.

Arm's-length contract means a contract or agreement between independent persons who are not affiliates and who have opposing economic interests regarding that contract. To be considered arm's length for any production month, a contract must satisfy this definition for that month, as well as when the contract was executed.

Audit means a review, conducted under generally accepted accounting and auditing standards, of royalty payment compliance activities of lessees, designees or other persons who pay royalties, rents, or bonuses on Federal leases.

BLM means the Bureau of Land Management of the Department of the Interior.

Condensate means liquid hydrocarbons (normally exceeding 40 degrees of API gravity) recovered at the surface without processing. Condensate is the mixture of liquid hydrocarbons resulting from condensation of petroleum hydrocarbons existing initially in a gaseous phase in an underground reservoir.

Contract means any oral or written agreement, including amendments or revisions, between two or more persons, that is enforceable by law and that with due consideration creates an obligation.

Designee means the person the lessee designates to report and pay the lessee's royalties for a lease.

Exchange agreement means an agreement where one person agrees to deliver oil to another person at a specified location in exchange for oil deliveries at another location. Exchange agreements may or may not specify prices for the oil involved. They frequently specify dollar amounts reflecting location, quality, or other differentials. Exchange agreements include buy/sell agreements, which specify prices to be paid at each exchange point and may appear to be two separate sales within the same agreement. Examples of other types of exchange agreements include, but are not limited to, exchanges of produced oil for specific types of crude oil (e.g., West Texas Intermediate); exchanges of produced oil for other crude oil at other locations (Location Trades); exchanges of produced oil for other grades of oil (Grade Trades); and multi-party exchanges.

Field means a geographic region situated over one or more subsurface oil and gas reservoirs and encompassing at least the outermost boundaries of all oil and gas accumulations known within those reservoirs, vertically projected to the land surface. State oil and gas regulatory agencies usually name onshore fields and designate their official boundaries. MMS names and designates boundaries of OCS fields.

Gathering means the movement of lease production to a central accumulation or treatment point on the lease, unit, or communitized area, or to a central accumulation or treatment point off the lease, unit, or communitized area that BLM or MMS approves for onshore and offshore leases, respectively.

Gross proceeds means the total monies and other consideration accruing for the disposition of oil produced. Gross proceeds also include, but are not limited to, the following examples:

(1) Payments for services such as dehydration, marketing, measurement, or gathering which the lessee must perform at no cost to the Federal Government;

(2) The value of services, such as salt water disposal, that the producer normally performs but that the buyer performs on the producer's behalf;

(3) Reimbursements for harboring or terminaling fees;

(4) Tax reimbursements, even though the Federal royalty interest may be exempt from taxation;

(5) Payments made to reduce or buy down the purchase price of oil to be produced in later periods, by allocating such payments over the production whose price the payment reduces and including the allocated amounts as proceeds for the production as it occurs; and

(6) Monies and all other consideration to which a seller is contractually or legally entitled, but does not seek to collect through reasonable efforts.

Lease means any contract, profit-share arrangement, joint venture, or other agreement issued or approved by the United States under a mineral leasing law that authorizes exploration for, development or extraction of, or removal of oil or gas—or the land area covered by that authorization, whichever the context requires.

Lessee means any person to whom the United States issues an oil and gas lease, an assignee of all or a part of the record title interest, or any person to whom operating rights in a lease have been assigned.

Location differential means an amount paid or received (whether in money or in barrels of oil) under an exchange agreement that results from differences in location between oil delivered in exchange and oil received in the exchange. A location differential may represent all or part of the difference between the price received for oil delivered and the price paid for oil received under a buy/sell exchange agreement.

Market center means a major point MMS recognizes for oil sales, refining, or transshipment. Market centers generally are locations where MMS-approved publications publish oil spot prices.

Marketable condition means oil sufficiently free from impurities and otherwise in a condition a purchaser will accept under a sales contract typical for the field or area.

MMS-approved publication means a publication MMS approves for determining ANS spot prices or WTI differentials.

Netting means reducing the reported sales value to account for transportation instead of reporting a transportation allowance as a separate entry on Form MMS-2014.

NYMEX price means the average of the New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) settlement prices for light sweet crude oil delivered at Cushing, Oklahoma, calculated as follows:

(1) Sum the prices published for each day during the calendar month of production (excluding weekends and holidays) for oil to be delivered in the prompt month corresponding to each such day; and

(2) Divide the sum by the number of days on which those prices are published (excluding weekends and holidays).

Oil means a mixture of hydrocarbons that existed in the liquid phase in natural underground reservoirs, remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities, and is marketed or used as a liquid. Condensate recovered in lease separators or field facilities is oil.

Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) means all submerged lands lying seaward and outside of the area of lands beneath navigable waters as defined in Section 2 of the Submerged Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1301) and of which the subsoil and seabed appertain to the United States and are subject to its jurisdiction and control.

Person means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium, or joint venture (when established as a separate entity).

Prompt month means the nearest month of delivery for which NYMEX futures prices are published during the trading month.

Quality differential means an amount paid or received under an exchange agreement (whether in money or in barrels of oil) that results from differences in API gravity, sulfur content, viscosity, metals content, and other quality factors between oil delivered and oil received in the exchange. A quality differential may represent all or part of the difference between the price received for oil delivered and the price paid for oil received under a buy/sell agreement.

Rocky Mountain Region means the States of Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah, and Wyoming, except for those portions of the San Juan Basin and other oil-producing fields in the “Four Corners” area that lie within Colorado and Utah.

Roll means an adjustment to the NYMEX price that is calculated as follows:

Roll = .6667 × (P0−P1) + .3333 × (P0−P2), where: P0 = the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during the prompt month that is the same as the month of production, as published for each day during the trading month for which the month of production is the prompt month; P1 = the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during the month following the month of production, published for each day during the trading month for which the month of production is the prompt month; and P2 = the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during the second month following the month of production, as published for each day during the trading month for which the month of production is the prompt month. Calculate the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices using only the days on which such prices are published (excluding weekends and holidays).

(1) Example 1. Prices in Out Months are Lower Going Forward: The month of production for which you must determine royalty value is March. March was the prompt month (for year 2003) from January 22 through February 20. April was the first month following the month of production, and May was the second month following the month of production. P0 therefore is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during March published for each business day between January 22 and February 20. P1 is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during April published for each business day between January 22 and February 20. P2 is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during May published for each business day between January 22 and February 20. In this example, assume that P0 = $28.00 per bbl, P1 = $27.70 per bbl, and P2 = $27.10 per bbl. In this example (a declining market), Roll = .6667 × ($28.00−$27.70) + .3333 × ($28.00−$27.10) = $.20 + $.30 = $.50. You add this number to the NYMEX price.

(2) Example 2. Prices in Out Months are Higher Going Forward: The month of production for which you must determine royalty value is July. July 2003 was the prompt month from May 21 through June 20. August was the first month following the month of production, and September was the second month following the month of production. P0 therefore is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during July published for each business day between May 21 and June 20. P1 is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during August published for each business day between May 21 and June 20. P2 is the average of the daily NYMEX settlement prices for deliveries during September published for each business day between May 21 and June 20. In this example, assume that P0 = $28.00 per bbl, P1 = $28.90 per bbl, and P2 = $29.50 per bbl. In this example (a rising market), Roll = .6667 × ($28.00−$28.90) + .3333 × ($28.00−$29.50) = (−$.60) + (−$.50) = −$1.10. You add this negative number to the NYMEX price (effectively a subtraction from the NYMEX price).

Sale means a contract between two persons where:

(1) The seller unconditionally transfers title to the oil to the buyer and does not retain any related rights such as the right to buy back similar quantities of oil from the buyer elsewhere;

(2) The buyer pays money or other consideration for the oil; and

(3) The parties' intent is for a sale of the oil to occur.

Spot price means the price under a spot sales contract where:

(1) A seller agrees to sell to a buyer a specified amount of oil at a specified price over a specified period of short duration;

(2) No cancellation notice is required to terminate the sales agreement; and

(3) There is no obligation or implied intent to continue to sell in subsequent periods.

Tendering program means a producer's offer of a portion of its crude oil produced from a field or area for competitive bidding, regardless of whether the production is offered or sold at or near the lease or unit or away from the lease or unit.

Trading month means the period extending from the second business day before the 25th day of the second calendar month preceding the delivery month (or, if the 25th day of that month is a non-business day, the second business day before the last business day preceding the 25th day of that month) through the third business day before the 25th day of the calendar month preceding the delivery month (or, if the 25th day of that month is a non-business day, the third business day before the last business day preceding the 25th day of that month), unless the NYMEX publishes a different definition or different dates on its official Web site, www.nymex.com, in which case the NYMEX definition will apply.

Transportation allowance means a deduction in determining royalty value for the reasonable, actual costs of moving oil to a point of sale or delivery off the lease, unit area, or communitized area. The transportation allowance does not include gathering costs.

WTI differential means the average of the daily mean differentials for location and quality between a grade of crude oil at a market center and West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil at Cushing published for each day for which price publications perform surveys for deliveries during the production month, calculated over the number of days on which those differentials are published (excluding weekends and holidays). Calculate the daily mean differentials by averaging the daily high and low differentials for the month in the selected publication. Use only the days and corresponding differentials for which such differentials are published.

(1) Example. Assume the production month was March 2003. Industry trade publications performed their price surveys and determined differentials during January 26 through February 25 for oil delivered in March. The WTI differential (for example, the West Texas Sour crude at Midland, Texas, spread versus WTI) applicable to valuing oil produced in the March 2003 production month would be determined using all the business days for which differentials were published during the period January 26 through February 25 excluding weekends and holidays (22 days). To calculate the WTI differential, add together all of the daily mean differentials published for January 26 through February 25 and divide that sum by 22.

(2) [Reserved]