---
kind: "section"
citation: "43 C.F.R. § 3179.41"
title: "43"
number: "3179.41"
heading: "Determining when the loss of oil or gas is avoidable or unavoidable."
url: "https://uscodex.org/cfr/43/3179.41"
---

# §3179.41. Determining when the loss of oil or gas is avoidable or unavoidable.


For purposes of this subpart:

- (a) Lost oil is “unavoidably lost” if the operator has taken reasonable steps to avoid waste, and the operator has complied fully with applicable laws, lease terms, regulations, provisions of a previously approved operating plan, and other written orders of the BLM.
- (b) Lost gas is “unavoidably lost” if the operator has taken reasonable steps to avoid waste, the operator has complied fully with applicable laws, lease terms, regulations, provisions of a previously approved operating plan, and other written orders of the BLM; and the gas is lost from the following operations or sources:
  - (1) Well drilling, subject to the limitations in [§ 3179.80](/cfr/43/3179.80.md);
  - (2) Well completion and recompletion flaring allowances in [§ 3179.81](/cfr/43/3179.81.md);
  - (3) Subsequent well tests, subject to the limitations in [§ 3179.82](/cfr/43/3179.82.md);
  - (4) Exploratory coalbed methane well dewatering;
  - (5) Emergency situations, subject to the limitations in [§ 3179.83](/cfr/43/3179.83.md);
  - (6) Normal operating losses from a natural-gas-activated pneumatic controller or pump;
  - (7) Normal operating losses from an oil storage tank or other low-pressure production vessel that is in compliance with §§ [3179.90](/cfr/43/3179.90.md) and [3174.5(b)](/cfr/43/3174.5.md?p=b);
  - (8) Well venting in the course of downhole well maintenance and/or liquids unloading performed in compliance with [§ 3179.91](/cfr/43/3179.91.md);
  - (9) Leaks, when the operator has complied with the LDAR requirements in §§ [3179.100](/cfr/43/3179.100.md) and [3179.101](/cfr/43/3179.101.md);
  - (10) Facility and pipeline maintenance, such as when an operator must blow-down and depressurize equipment to perform maintenance or repairs;
  - (11) Pipeline capacity constraints, midstream processing failures, or other similar events that prevent oil-well gas from being transported through the connected pipeline, subject to the limitations in the WMP or self-certification for Applications for Permit to Drill approved after June 10, 2024 or [§ 3179.70](/cfr/43/3179.70.md), as applicable;
  - (12) Flaring of gas from which at least 50 percent of natural gas liquids have been removed on-lease and captured for market, if the operator has notified the BLM through a Sundry Notices and Report on Wells, Form 3160-5 (Sundry Notice) that the operator is conducting such capture and the inlet of the equipment used to remove the natural gas liquids will be a Facility Measurement Point (FMP); or
  - (13) Flaring of gas from a well that is not connected to a gas pipeline, to the extent that such flaring was authorized by the BLM in the approval of the APD.
- (c) Lost oil or gas that is not “unavoidably lost” as defined in paragraphs [(a)](#a) and [(b)](#b) of this section is “avoidably lost.”

## Notes

### Source

Source: 89 FR 25426, Apr. 10, 2024, unless otherwise noted.

### Authority

Authority: 25 U.S.C. 396d and 2107; 30 U.S.C. 189, 306, 359, and 1751; and 43 U.S.C. 1732(b), 1733, and 1740.

### Source

Source: 81 FR 81421, Nov. 17, 2016, unless otherwise noted.