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Show ' COMMISSIONER OF INDIAN AFFAIRS. 59 OSAGE OIL AND GAS LEASES. March 16, 1896, the Osage ~ i i boef Indians leased to Mr. Edwin E. Foster the Osage Indian Reservation for oil and gas mining pur-poses. This lease expired in 1906. However, by the act of Congress of March 3, 1905, it was renewed as to 680,000 acres for a period of 10 years, which expired March 16, 1916. It then became necessary to provide new regulations to govern the leasing of the lands for oil and gas mining purposes. Conferences were heid, both with the oil andgas men interested and the Osage - tribal council, and on June 17, 1915, the latter passed a resolution , containing recommendations as to the manner -in which new leases should be made, which resolution is set forth at length in my report for the fiseal year ended June 30, 1915. August 26, 1915, the Secre-tary of the Interior promulgated regulations to govern the l6asing of theseand other lands in the Osage Reservation, for oil and gas mining purposes The Osage Tribe will receive considerably more revenue under the new leases than they received under the Foster lease. The old lease covered 680,000 acres, whereas the new oil leases cover about 190,000, of khich 120,000 acres is subject to a rental of $1 per acre per year until wells are drilled, leaving 500,000 acres out of the . 680,000 acres of the old lease to be leased for oil in the future. ,New gas leases have been made to cover about 900,000 acres, a little more ' than that formerly covered by the Foster lease. Under the old oil lease the tribe received onedighth royalty, but did not receive any rental on undeveloped lands. The tribe will receive under the new , oil leases one-sixth royalty from each quarter-section unit producing less than 100 barrels per well per day, and one-fifth royalty from such units producing 100 barrels or lnore per well per day; also a rental of $1 per acre on each quarter section (160 acres) of unde-veloped lands. The tribe received $2,057,600 from the sale of leases on April 20, 1916, and has received from the sale held on June 20 approximately ' , $1,175,000; these amounts being in addition to the stipulated. royal-tie, s heretofore mentioned. The properties which were sold were tho& produoing tracts where the wells averaged over 25 barrels per well and producing lands in excess of 4,800 acres held 'by former sublessees The. tribe received $100 per yexr for each gas well in service on the old lease, and the amount realized last year aggregated about $12,000, but, under the new lease, the tribe will receive a minimum royalty of 3 cents per thousand cubic feet, measured at or near the wells, which should amount, during the first year to at least $700,000. |
