77 FR 63 pgs. 19704-19711 - Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection, Comment Request
Type: NOTICEVolume: 77Number: 63Pages: 19704 - 19711
Docket number: [Docket No. ONRR-2011-0020]
FR document: [FR Doc. 2012-7786 Filed 3-30-12; 8:45 am]
Agency: Interior Department
Sub Agency: Office of Natural Resources Revenue
Official PDF Version: PDF Version
DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Natural Resources Revenue
[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0020]
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection, Comment Request
AGENCY:
Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), Interior.
ACTION:
Notice of an extension of a currently approved information collection.
SUMMARY:
To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we are inviting comments on a collection of information requests that we will submit to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review and approval. OMB formerly approved this information collection request (ICR) under OMB Control Number 1010-0139. After the Secretary of the Department of the Interior established ONRR (the former Minerals Revenue Management, a program under the Minerals Management Service) on October 1, 2010, OMB approved a new series number for ONRR and renumbered our ICRs. This ICR covers the paperwork requirements in the regulations under title 30, Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), parts 1210 and 1212 (previously 30 CFR parts 210 and 212). Also, this ICR pertains to onshore and offshore royalty and production reporting on oil, gas, and geothermal leases on Federal and Indian lands. The revised title of this ICR is "30 CFR Parts 1210 and 1212, Royalty and Production Reporting." There are three forms associated with this information collection.
DATES:
Submit written comments on or before June 1, 2012.
ADDRESSES:
You may submit comments on this ICR to ONRR by any of the following methods (please use "ICR 1012-0004" as an identifier in your comment):
• Electronically go to http://www.regulations.gov. In the entry titled "Enter Keyword or ID," enter "ONRR-2011-0020," then click "Search." Follow the instructions to submit public comments. ONRR will post all comments.
• Mail comments to Armand Southall, Regulatory Specialist, ONRR, P.O. Box 25165, MS 64000A, Denver, Colorado 80225-0165.
• Hand-carry comments, or use an overnight courier service to ONRR. Our courier address is Building 85, Room A-614, Denver Federal Center, West 6th Ave. and Kipling St., Denver, Colorado 80225.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Armand Southall, Regulatory Specialist, at (303) 231-3221, or email to armand.southall@onrr.gov. You may also contact Mr. Southall to obtain copies, at no cost, of (1) the ICR, (2) any associated forms, and (3) the regulations that require the subject collection of information. You may also review the information collection online at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/PRAMain.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: 30 CFR Parts 1210 and 1212, Royalty and Production Reporting.
OMB Control Number: 1012-0004.
Bureau Form Number: Forms MMS-2014, MMS-4054, and MMS-4058.
Note:
ONRR will publish a rule updating our form numbers to Forms ONRR-2014, ONRR-4054, and ONRR-4058.
Abstract: The Secretary of the United States Department of the Interior is responsible for mineral resource development on Federal and Indian lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary is required, by various laws, to manage mineral resource production from Federal and Indian lands and the OCS, collect the royalties and other mineral revenues due, and distribute the funds collected under those laws. We have posted those laws pertaining to mineral leases on Federal and Indian lands and the OCS at http://www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/PublicLawsAMR.htm.
The Secretary also has a trust responsibility to manage Indian lands and seek advice and information from Indian beneficiaries. ONRR performs the minerals revenue management functions and assists the Secretary in carrying out the Department's trust responsibility for Indian lands.
Effective October 1, 2010, ONRR reorganized and transferred their regulations from chapter II to chapter XII in title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), resulting in a change to our citations. You can find the information collections covered in this ICR at 30 CFR part 1210, subparts B, C, and D, which pertain to production and royalty reports; and part 1212, subpart B, which pertains to recordkeeping of reports and files. All data reported is subject to subsequent audit and adjustment.
General Information
When a company or an individual enters into a lease to explore, develop, produce, and dispose of minerals from Federal or Indian lands, that company or individual agrees to pay the lessor a share in an amount or value of production from the leased lands. The lessee, or his designee, is required to report various kinds of information to the lessor relative to the disposition of the leased minerals.
The ONRR financial accounting system is an integrated computer system that includes royalty, rental, bonus, and other payments; sales volumes and values; and royalty values as submitted by reporters. In the system, ONRR compares production volumes with royalty volumes to verify that reporters reported and paid proper royalties for the minerals produced. Additionally, we share the data electronically with the Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of Indian Affairs, and Tribal and State governments so they can perform their lease management responsibilities.
We use the information collected in this ICR to ensure that royalty is appropriately paid, based on accurate production accounting on oil, gas, and geothermal resources produced from Federal and Indian leases. The requirement to report accurately and timely is mandatory. Please refer to the chart for all reporting requirements and associated burden hours.
Royalty Reporting
The regulations require payors (reporters) to report and to remit royalties on oil, gas, and geothermal resources produced from leases on Federal and Indian lands. The following form is used for royalty reporting:
Form MMS-2014, Report of Sales and Royalty Remittance. Reporters submit this form monthly to report royalties on oil, gas, and geothermal leases, certain rents, and other lease-related transactions (e.g., transportation and processing allowances, lease adjustments, and quality and location differentials).
Production Reporting
The regulations require operators (reporters) to submit production reports if they operate a Federal or Indian onshore or offshore oil and gas lease, or federally approved unit or communitization agreement. The ONRR financial accounting system tracks minerals produced from Federal and Indian lands, from the point of production to the point of disposition, or royalty determination, and/or point of sale. The reporters use the following forms for production accounting and reporting:
Form MMS-4054, Oil and Gas Operations Report (OGOR). Reporters submit this form monthly for all production reporting for Outer Continental Shelf, Federal, and Indian leases. ONRR compares the production information with sales and royalty data that reporters submit on Form MMS-2014 to ensure that the latter reported and paid the proper royalties on the oil and gas production to ONRR. ONRR uses the information from OGOR parts A, B, and C to track all oil and gas from the point of production to the point of first sale, or other disposition.
Form MMS-4058, Production Allocation Schedule Report (PASR). Reporters submit this form monthly. The facility operators manage the facilities and measurement points where they commingle the production from an offshore Federal lease or metering point with production from other sources before they measure it for royalty determination. ONRR uses the data to determine if the payors reported reasonable sales.
OMB Approval
We will request OMB approval to continue to collect this information. If ONRR does not collect this information, this would limit the Secretary's ability to discharge fiduciary duties and may also result in loss of royalty payments. We protect the proprietary information that it receives and do not collect items of a sensitive nature. It is mandatory that the reporters submit Forms MMS-2014, MMS-4054, and MMS-4058.
Frequency: Monthly.
Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: 3,870 oil, gas, and geothermal reporters.
Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping "Hour" Burden: 337,933 hours.
We have changed our estimates of the number of respondents due to updated data.
We have not included in our estimates certain requirements performed in the normal course of business, considered as usual and customary. We display the estimated annual burden hours by CFR section and paragraph in the following chart.
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Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping "Non-hour" Cost Burden: We have not identified a "non-hour" cost burden associated with the collection of information.
Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq.) provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor, and a person is not required to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number.
Comments: Before submitting an ICR to OMB, PRA Section 3506(c)(2)(A) requires each agency to "* * * provide 60-day notice in the Federal Register * * * and otherwise consult with members of the public and affected agencies concerning each proposed collection of information * * *." Agencies must specifically solicit comments to: (a) Evaluate whether the proposed collection of information is necessary for the agency to perform its duties, including whether the information is useful; (b) evaluate the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of information; (c) enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the information collected; and (d) minimize the burden on the respondents, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.
The PRA also requires agencies to estimate the total annual reporting "non-hour cost" burden to respondents or recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. If you have costs to generate, maintain, and disclose this information, you should comment and provide your total capital and startup cost components or annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. You should describe the methods that you use to estimate (1) major cost factors, including system and technology acquisition, (2) expected useful life of capital equipment, (3) discount rate(s), and (4) the period over which you incur costs. Capital and startup costs include, among other items, computers and software that you purchase to prepare for collecting information and monitoring, sampling, and testing equipment, and record storage facilities. Generally, your estimates should not include equipment or services purchased: (i) Before October 1, 1995; (ii) to comply with requirements not associated with the information collection; (iii) for reasons other than to provide information or keep records for the Federal Government; or (iv) as part of customary and usual business, or private practices.
We will summarize written responses to this notice and address them in our ICR submission for OMB approval, including appropriate adjustments to the estimated burden. We will provide a copy of the ICR to you, without charge, upon request. We also will post the ICR at http://www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/FRNotices/FRInfColl.htm.
Public Comment Policy: We will post all comments, including names and addresses of respondents, at http://www.regulations.gov. Before including your address, phone number, email address, or other personal identifying information in your comment, be advised that your entire comment-including your personal identifying information-may be made publicly available at any time. While you can ask us in your comment to withhold from public view your personal identifying information, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
Office of the Secretary, Information Collection Clearance Officer: Laura Dorey (202) 208-2654.
Dated: March 23, 2012.
Gregory J. Gould,
Director, Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
[FR Doc. 2012-7786 Filed 3-30-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-T2-P