30 CFR § 203.54 - How does my relief arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply?

---
identifier: "/us/cfr/t30/s203.54"
source: "ecfr"
legal_status: "authoritative_unofficial"
title: "30 CFR § 203.54 - How does my relief arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply?"
title_number: 30
title_name: "Mineral Resources"
section_number: "203.54"
section_name: "How does my relief arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply?"
chapter_name: "BUREAU OF SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ENFORCEMENT, DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR"
subchapter_number: "A"
subchapter_name: "MINERALS REVENUE MANAGEMENT"
part_number: "203"
part_name: "RELIEF OR REDUCTION IN ROYALTY RATES"
positive_law: false
currency: "2026-03-24"
last_updated: "2026-03-24"
format_version: "1.1.0"
generator: "[email protected]"
authority: "25 U.S.C. 396  25 U.S.C. 396a  25 U.S.C. 2101  30 U.S.C. 181  30 U.S.C. 351  30 U.S.C. 1001  30 U.S.C. 1701  31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 U.S.C. 15903-15906; 43 U.S.C. 1301  43 U.S.C. 1331  and 43 U.S.C. 1801"
regulatory_source: "76 FR 64462, Oct. 18, 2011, unless otherwise noted."
cfr_part: "203"
---


# 203.54 How does my relief arrangement for an oil and gas lease operate if prices rise sharply?

In those months when your current reference price rises by at least 25 percent above your base reference price, you must pay the effective royalty rate on all monthly production.

(a) Your current reference price is a weighted average of daily closing prices on the NYMEX for light sweet crude oil and natural gas over the most recent full 12 calendar months;

(b) Your base reference price is a weighted average of daily closing prices on the NYMEX for light sweet crude oil and natural gas during the qualifying months; and

(c) Your weighting factors are the proportions of your total production volume (in BOE) provided by oil and gas during the qualifying months.