Expressions of Interest
An Expression of Interest (EOI) is an informal nomination to request that certain lands be included in an oil and gas competitive lease sale. This request must be made in writing or can be E-mailed to co_leasing_info@blm.gov . No filing fee or rental is required with an EOI. We are required (43 CFR 3120.4-2) to post the Notice of Competitive Sale 90 days prior to the sale. However, in accordance with Leasing Reform IM 2010-117, we are now required to post notice of Competitive Sale 90 days prior to the sale. The oil and gas plats also must be notated with the parcels 90 days prior to the sale. This is a very complicated and lengthy process. Please keep this in mind when making future plans regarding a federal oil and gas lease.
As of August 8, 1995, all BLM offices must hold as confidential the names of all parties that file an informal EOI until 2 days following the last day of the competitive sale, or in other words, until the next day following the conclusion of the noncompetitive day-after-the sale filings.
Make sure your EOI contains the following information:
- Your name or company name with mailing address and telephone number.
- Complete legal land description broken into parcels of 2560 acres or less.
- Name and address of any private surface owners.
Helpful hints when submitting an EOI:
Regulations pertaining to competitive leasing can be found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3120.
BLM cannot place for sale lands under lease, or lands where minerals ownership is not federally owned. Check plat notations on patents for mineral ownership reserved by the United States. Further information can be found at http://www.glorecords.blm.gov/.
Further lands not available to leasing are, but not limited to :
Within city limits
Withdrawn from mineral leasing
Wilderness (WSA/DWA)
Within an Indian Reservation
Lands with mineral entry applications
Patented mining claims
Expired leases: Check the serial register page (SRP) to be sure there was no diligent drilling over the expiration date which may extend the lease.
Terminated leases: Prior lessees must have been given an opportunity to reinstate the lease before the lands can be placed on the sale. Check the SRP to see if a termination notice was sent to the lessee.
We recommend that if you submit a large EOI (over 5,000 acres or several townships) that you prioritize the lands. If the EOI is large enough in scope we may not be able to work the entire EOI for inclusion in one sale. Therefore, it is to your benefit to inform us which lands are a priority for you.
We suggest that you do not mix BLM managed surface with that of another Surface Management Agency (SMA) in an EOI. Two separate EOI's would be preferable. As a policy, we will always attempt to work any land in an EOI that is BLM public domain for a sale and forward the remaining lands to the respective SMA for leasing concurrence. However, please be prepared for the situation in which responding to BLM's request for stipulations and concurrence/consent may not be high on another SMA's list of priorities. This may hold up the request for a significant amount of time. Additionally, an SMA may need to prepare or update its NEPA documentation which may require additional time.
A competitive parcel can be no more than 2,560 acres.
Lands must be entirely within 6 miles square.
A parcel cannot cover lands both inside and outside a unit agreement.
Be specific with requested lands, an EOI that is of a general nature, will be returned for clairfication.
Wilderness Study Area lands and boundaries are not shown on plats or noted in the margin. We do have a map available, called "Guide to Your Colorado Wilderness," which details the WSA's.
Learn to read information on the plats and supplemental note sheets. For example, the right margin will tell you:
When an entire township is within a withdrawal (Forest Service, coal, oil shale)
Some unit and CA boundaries
Some powersite withdrawals.
Non-Competitive Offers
Noncompetitive leases may be issued only for parcels that have been offered competitively and failed to receive a bid.
The lands in expired, terminated, relinquished, or cancelled leases will not be available for noncompetitive leasing until they have been offered competitively in a Sale Notice for an auction and failed to receive a bid. A noncompetitive presale offer may be filed on such lands if the prior lease expired or terminated or was relinquished or cancelled at least 1 year before the presale offer is submitted to the proper BLM State Office.
Following an auction, all the lands that were offered competitively but received no bids will be available for noncompetitive lease issuance for 2 years, beginning the first business day following the last day of the auction, as specified in the Sale Notice.
For noncompetitive leasing, each offer must be submitted on a separate lease offer form. From the first business day following the auction through the last day of the same month, lands must be identified only by the parcel identification number as specified in the Sale Notice. Thereafter, and until the end of the 2 years of noncompetitive availability, offers must use legal land descriptions and are not limited to the parcel configurations offered at the auction.
Offers must be made on a BLM-approved form. They must include payment of a $390 nonrefundable filing fee and the first year's advance rental of $1.50 per acre.
All noncompetitive lease offers filed on the first business day following the auction will be considered as having been filed simultaneously. The priority among any multiple offers received on this day for the same parcel will be determined by drawings open to the public. Offers received on subsequent days will receive priority according to the time of filing; for example, an offer filed at 10:15 a.m. will have priority over an offer filed at 10:16 a.m.
Noncompetitive Offer (NCO) to Lease - (Presale)
A noncompetitive offer (presale) is a formal nomination for lands to be included in an oil and gas competitive oral auction. The offeror receives priority as of the time and date the offer is filed in the proper BLM office. If no bid is received at the oral auction, the noncompetitive lease shall issue, all else being regular, to the applicant. A noncompetitive offer must be made on Form 3100-11, Offer to Lease and Lease for Oil and Gas (6/88 or later edition). You must submit at least one original plus two copies. They must be typewritten or printed in ink and manually signed in ink and dated by offeror or offeror's authorized agent. The offer must include a $390 filing fee, first years advance rental of $1.50 per acre or fraction thereof. Remember to round up your acreage when calculating rental. Executing the lease form signifies agreement to standard lease stipulations and/or any additional stipulations posted to lands on a competitive sale notice. NCO's cannot be held confidential .
Do Your Homework :
Regulations pertaining to NCO's can be found at 43 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 3110.
BLM cannot place for sale lands under lease, or lands where mineral ownership is not federally owned. Check plat notations on patents for mineral ownership reserved by the United States.
Further lands not available to leasing but not limited to:
Within city limits
Withdrawn from mineral leasing
Wilderness (WSA/DWA)
Within an Indian Reservation
Lands with mineral entry applications
Patented mining claims
Lands posted in a Notice of Competitive Lease Sale
In addition, you cannot file on lands which are in the one-year period commencing upon expiration, relinquishment, or cancellation of the prior lease.
While you cannot file a noncompetitive offer for lands which are in the one-year period from the date the prior lease died, you can file an expression of interest (EOI) for these same lands.
By mail the applicant will receive a pink copy of the accounting advice showing the serial number assigned to the offer. Please refer to this serial number should you have any questions relating to the offer.
An NCO cannot be for less than 640 acres or one full section, whichever is larger. Contiguous lands must be included when necessary to meet the 640 acres. Offers for less than 640 acres are acceptable where there is no contiguous lands available for lease. Where an offer exceeds 640 acres, the offer may contain less than all available lands within a section.
Maximum offer is 10,240 acres entirely within six mile square.
Do not mix public domain land and acquired land. These two land types cannot issue under one lease.
Do not mix acquired lands with varying ownership interest.
Do not mix BLM lands with lands of a different surface management agency (SMA). These two land types cannot issue under one lease.
Do not include lands which are both inside and outside a unit agreement.
Wilderness Study Area lands and boundaries are not shown on plats or noted in the margin. We do have a map available, called "National Landscape Conservation System," which details the WSA's and is available in the public room.
Noncompetitive Offer (NCO) to Lease - 2 Year Window Lands - (Postsale)
A noncompetitive offer on 2 window year lands is a noncompetitive offer on lands that have been through a competitive sale and receive no bids at the sale or at the day after drawing. An NCO must be made on Form 3100-11, Offer to Lease and Lease for Oil and Gas (6/88 or later edition). You must submit at least one original plus two copies. They must be typewritten or printed in ink and manually signed in ink and dated by offeror or offeror's authorized agent. The offer must include a $390 filing fee, first years advance rental of $1.50 per acre or fraction thereof. Executing the lease form signifies agreement to tandard lease stipulations and/or any additional stipulations posted to lands on a competitive sale notice. The offeror receives priority as of the time and date the offer is filed in the proper BLM office. NCO's cannot be held confidential .
Maximum offer is 10,240 acres and minimum is 640 acres. Previous stated rules regarding 640 minimum apply.
Offers Filed During Month of Sale : Offers filed from the first day following the end of the competitive sale until the end of that same month (parcel integrity period) must be made for the entire parcel included in the sale notice and must describe the lands by that single parcel number appearing in the sale notice.
Offers Filed After Parcel Integrity Period and During Remainder of 2-Year Period : Any filing made after the end of the month in which a sale is held may not be filed by he parcel number, but shall be filed by the legal land description. An offer filed after the end of the parcel integrity period may include all or a portion of a parcel or may include a combination of parcels and shall be filed in accordance with 43 CFR 31103-3 with respect to minimum lease offer size.
Withdrawal of Offer in Whole or in Part:
A presale offer may be withdrawn by the offeror at any time prior to issuance of the noncompetitive lease.
A postsale lease offer may be withdrawn by the offeror if the request to withdraw the offer is received by the proper BLM office after 60 days from the date of filing of the offer and prior to lease issuance. If a postsale offer is withdrawn after 60 days from the date of filing, the lands would continue to be available for noncompetitive leasing for the remainder of the 2 year period.
If a public domain mineral offer is partially withdrawn, the lands retained in the offer must total (in the lower 48 states) 640 acres, or one full section, or include all available lands within a section where there are no contiguous lands available.
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