Code of Federal Regulations Title 30. Mineral Resources § 30.203.80 When can I get royalty relief if I am not eligible for royalty relief under other sections in the subpart?

(a) The lease has produced for a substantial period and the lessee can recover significant additional resources. Significant additional resources mean enough to allow production for at least a year more than would be profitable without royalty relief.

(b) Valuable facilities (e.g., a platform or pipeline that would be removed upon lease relinquishment) exist that we do not expect a successor lessee to use. If the facilities are located off the lease, their preservation must depend on continued production from the lease applying for royalty relief. We will only consider an allocable share of costs for off-lease facilities in the relief application.

(c) A substantial risk exists that no new lessee will recover the resources.

(d) The lessee made major efforts to reduce operating costs too recently to use the formal program for royalty relief (e.g., recent significant change in operations).

(e) Circumstances beyond the lessee's control, other than water depth, preclude reliance on one of the existing royalty relief programs.