I believe a lease occurs ahead of a permit to drill.
A lease is like an offer to sell a house. Now, let’s get some bids.
After that, AFTER, yah have to get a license to actually drill. The Feds can drag the license out for years. So, leases are meaningless.
You are correct. Also, there are permits for roads and any kind of construction. This is just meaningless word games that most people won’t understand.