SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

                             WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

                                    FORM 8-K

                                 CURRENT REPORT

                     Pursuant to Section 13 and 15(d) of the
                         Securities Exchange Act of 1934


Date of Report (date of earliest event reported): April 9, 2003 (April 1, 2003)


                               U.S. ENERGY CORP.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Exact Name of Registrant as Specified in its Charter)

             Wyoming                      0-6814                 83-0205516
--------------------------------     ----------------     ----------------------
  (State or other jurisdiction          (Commission           (I.R.S. Employer
        of incorporation)                File No.)           Identification No.)


   Glen L. Larsen Building
   877 North 8th West
   Riverton, WY                                                  82501
-----------------------------------------------------     ----------------------
   (Address of Principal Executive Offices)                    (Zip Code)


       Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (307) 856-9271


                                 Not Applicable
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
               (Former Name, Former Address or Former Fiscal Year,
                          if Changed From Last Report)






ITEM 5.  OTHER EVENTS


1.   EXTENSION OF OPTION AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE CERTAIN COALBED METHANE PROPERTIES

     U.S. Energy Corp. and Crested Corp., d/b/a USECC, announced on April 1,
2003 that their Rocky Mountain Gas, Inc. ("RMG") subsidiary has signed an
extension to the Option Agreement to acquire certain coalbed methane (CBM)
properties and assets in the Powder River Basin near Gillette, Wyoming. The
extension gives RMG until April 15, 2003 to complete its due diligence, obtain a
commitment to raise sufficient capital to exercise the option and enter into a
definitive Agreement for Purchase and Sale of the subject assets.

     RMG just recently received the reserve reports on the subject properties
from Ryder Scott Company Petroleum Consultants of Houston, TX and is completing
its evaluation of the reports and other pertinent data. Additionally, RMG and
their investment banker, Sanders Morris Harris of Houston, TX, have been working
on financing efforts for this and other potential acquisitions.

2.   EXTENSION FOR  SPECIAL MASTER TO FILE FINAL ACCOUNTING REPORT

     U.S. Energy Corp. and its subsidiary Crested Corp., d/b/a USECC, reported
that on April 1, 2003, USECC received an Order from U.S. District Judge Lewis T.
Babcock granting a motion filed by the Special Master to seek an additional
extension of time to file his final accounting report. The accounting is being
conducted on the trades of uranium from three former republics of the Soviet
Union (Commonwealth of Independent States, "CIS") by RWE Nukem, Inc. and its
affiliates. The extension being granted is from April 4, 2003 to May 1, 2003.
RWE Nukem, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of German utility conglomerate RWE AG
(OTC Bulletin Board: "RWEOY" and DAX: "RWE GR"), is the Trustee for the Sheep
Mountain Partners (SMP/partnership) Constructive Trust. SMP is 50% owned by
USECC and 50% by RWE Nukem.

     At a status hearing held in August 2002, the Court set December 6, 2002 as
the deadline for the Special Master to file his report. In November 2002, the
Special Master received an order from the Court extending the deadline to March
3, 2003. On February 20, 2003 an additional extension was ordered by the Court
pursuant to a request of the Special Master that called for the final accounting
to be filed by April 4, 2003.

     The Special Master's motion requesting an extension to May 1, 2003 notes:
"The final accounting has been completed and the final report written, and
according to Cordes & Company ("Cordes") will be delivered to the Special Master
on April 1, 2003. Additionally, as a result of questions that arose during the
Special Master's review of matters pertaining to the accounting, the Special
Master instructed Cordes to provide additional information to the Special
Master. It is anticipated that the compilation of this information will take a
short period of time. Consequently, the Special Master believes he will be able
to file his report by Thursday, May 1, 2003. The Honorable Lewis T. Babcock
granted the Special Master's request to file his report by May 1, 2003 and set a
status hearing on the report for April 16, 2003."


                                       2




FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENTS

     This Report on Form 8-K includes "forward-looking statements" within the
meaning of Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the
"Exchange Act"). All statements other than statements of historical fact
included in this Report, are forward-looking statements. In addition, whenever
words like "expect," "anticipate" or "believe" are used, we are making
forward-looking statements.



                                   SIGNATURES

     Pursuant to the requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, the
Registrant has duly caused this report to be signed on its behalf by the
undersigned hereunto duly authorized.


                                                 U.S. ENERGY CORP.


Dated:  April 9, 2003                       By:   /s/  Daniel P. Svilar
                                                 -------------------------------
                                                 DANIEL P. SVILAR, Secretary




                                       3