(a) As specified under the provisions of the lease, the lessee shall submit all rental payments when due and shall pay in value or deliver in production all royalties and net profit shares in the amounts of value or production determined by ONRR to be due.

(b) The failure to make timely or proper payments of any monies due pursuant to leases, permits, and contracts subject to these regulations will result in the collection of the amount past due plus a late payment charge. Exceptions to this late payment charge may be granted when estimated payments on minerals production have already been made timely and otherwise in accordance with instructions provided by ONRR to the payor.

(c) Late payment charges will be assessed on any late payment or underpayment from the date that the payment was due until the date that the payment was received at the ONRR addresses specified in §1218.51. Payments received at the specified ONRR addresses after 4 p.m. mountain time are considered received the following business day.

(d) Late payment charges apply to all underpayments and payments received after the date due. These charges include production and minimum royalties; assessments for liquidated damages; administrative fees and payments by purchasers of royalty taken-in-kind; or any other payments, fees, or assessments that a lessee/operator/payor/permittee/royalty taken-in-kind purchaser is required to pay by a specified date. The failure to pay past due amounts, including late payment charges, will result in the initiation of other enforcement proceedings.

(e) An overpayment on a lease or leases, excluding rental payments, may be offset against an underpayment on a different lease or leases to determine a net underpayment on which interest is due pursuant to conditions specified in §1218.42.

[47 FR 22528, May 25, 1982. Redesignated at 48 FR 35641, Aug. 5, 1983, and amended at 49 FR 37347, Sept. 21, 1984; 52 FR 23815, June 25, 1987; 57 FR 41868, Sept. 14, 1992; 57 FR 62206, Dec. 30, 1992; 67 FR 19112, Apr. 18, 2002]