We inspected BLM's onshore oil and gas management program regarding trespass and drilling without approval (DWOA). Trespass of Federal oil and gas occurs when an operator drills into unleased Federal minerals, or into Federal minerals leased to another entity without permission from the lessee to operate the lease. DWOA occurs when a lessee or a company with rights to operate on the lease drills into the leased Federal lands without approval from BLM.
We did this inspection because of industry's expansion of horizontal drilling. Since Federal lands frequently neighbor private lands, it is easier for operators of wells on private lands to drill into the Federal mineral estate, thereby increasing the potential for trespass or DWOA. The Government is at risk, therefore, of not receiving royalty payments.
We found that BLM does not have nationwide policies and procedures to detect trespass and DWOA. We also found that BLM has no nationwide policies to deter or process trespass. Finally, we found that BLM has a weak policy for processing DWOA, which may not appropriately deter cases of DWOA.