The Federal Leased Lands Program
Is all extracted helium reserved to the United States?
Helium produced from Federal acreage is reserved to the Federal Government. State owned or privately owned minerals are not reserved to the United States. But, if fee lands are included in an area that produces Federal helium, then a percentage (commensurate with Federal mineral ownership) of all the helium is deemed to be Federal.
Can anyone obtain rights to the helium produced from their own Federal oil and gas leasehold?
According to your Federal oil and gas lease, helium is reserved to the Federal Government. Special provisions to allow recovery of helium are allowed under the conditions outlined below. Rights to Federal helium are not granted on a lease-by-lease basis.
What is the process to extract helium when building a natural gas processing plant?
The steps you must take are as follows:
- Contact the BLM Amarillo Field Office Federal Leased Lands Team.
- Express your plans in writing, and provide a map or listing of legal descriptions of acreage you plan to feed into the plant. (You will need to own the gas rights or obtain rights to process the gas stream using agreements with the oil and gas lessees.)
- Request rights to the Federal helium in the identified area.
- Negotiate an extracted Federal helium sales contract with the BLM.
How is the percentage of extracted Federal helium production determined?
Currently, the government ownership percentage is determined by using acreage and mineral ownership. The BLM uses acreage from Federal oil and gas leases and from agreement areas. The formula is as follows:
(Gov't acreage/Total acreage) x Gov't mineral interest = Gov't ownership %
How are extracted helium production volumes and sales revenues allocated?
Both helium production and sales revenues are allocated based upon the helium content of the metered wellhead volumes.
Where are extracted helium sales and royalties payments sent to be processed?
Helium payments are sent to the following address:
Amarillo Field Office, BLM
Attn: Federal Leased Lands
801 S. Fillmore, Suite 500
Amarillo, TX 79101-3545
blm_nm_amfo_fll@blm.gov