(a) Under 30 U.S.C. 188(f), you, as an oil placer mining claimant, may seek to convert an oil placer mining claim to a noncompetitive oil and gas lease under section 17(e) of the Mineral Leasing Act (30 U.S.C. 226(e)), if:

(1) The BLM declared your oil placer mining claim abandoned and void under section 314 of FLPMA;

(2) Your failure to comply with section 314 of FLPMA was inadvertent, justifiable, or not due to lack of reasonable diligence;

(3) You or your predecessors in interest validly located the unpatented oil placer mining claim before February 24, 1920;

(4) The claim has been or is currently producing or is capable of producing oil or gas; and

(5) You have submitted a petition asking the BLM to issue a noncompetitive oil and gas lease. Your petition must include the required rental and royalty payments, including back rental and royalty accruing from the statutory date of abandonment of the oil placer mining claim.

(b) If the BLM chooses to issue a noncompetitive oil and gas lease, the lease will be effective from the statutory date the claim was deemed conclusively abandoned. See 43 CFR 3108.2-4 Conversion of unpatented oil placer mining claims: Class III reinstatements.