Show Definitions Sought On Bituminous Sand Senator Wallace F Bennett R Utah has urged the Interior Department to define the ques ques- question tion of rights between federal bituminous sand leases and the oil and gas leases on the same parcel of land In a letter to John A A Carver newly named Under Secretary of the Interior he said the de de- de development of the vast ous sand deposits in Utah con con- continues to be delayed in the ab ab- ab absence sence of a clear legal distine tion between these two types of leases Industry is confused as to just what it would be getting in ina ina a bituminous sand lease he said A company might take a bituminous sand leasehold only to find that an oil and gas lease on the same property is fire fire- flooding his bituminous sands and recovering oil from them The resulting con f 1 11 i c t is ob ob- ob obvious Continued on page 8 Bit Sand Continued from page 1 The senator said that unless the matter is cleared up there can be no active competitive bid on lands offered for lease since most of the oil firms are unwilling to bid on an unknown In your last letter to me on thIs subject dated May 25 1964 you said you were unable to gl give ve a definite answer but that you had asked the Solicitor of the Department to interpret the law he said Senator Bennett said that in inan inan an opinion rendered by Mr Car Car- Carver ver in November 1963 Mr Car Car- Carver ver said It is the position of the Department that oil and gas leases cover and are limited to the extraction of deposits of mo mo- mobile bile oil and gas fluids where reo re- recovery covery is contemplated and a n d made by the movement of oil or orgas orgas gas through the reservoir rock to wells and the t h e n to the sur- sur surface fac face SENATOR BENNETT point point- pointed ed out the letter continued how how- however however ever and said The em p I 1 o 0 y y- ment of pressure maintenance fluid injection flooding fire or other artificial means to In- In Increase Increase crease recovery by stimulating flow to the well bore is within I the purview of an oil and gas lease the leases being entitled to tomake tomake make maximum recovery from the leasehold II Senator Bennett said That has confused virtually the en en- en entire tire industry and a clarification is needed quickly The Solicitor has been looking at the matter for almost a year surely the department s h o 0 u l I d come up with an answer before too long |