[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13442-13443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6608]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collections; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of new information collection.

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SUMMARY: As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and 
respondent burden, we invite the public and other Federal agencies to 
comment on our proposal to request Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) approval of a new information collection form for reporting 
drilling activity (Form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report). The 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA) 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.

DATES: Submit written comments by May 17, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand-carry comments to the Department of the 
Interior; Minerals Management Service; attention: Rules Processing 
Team; Mail Stop 4024; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexis London, Rules Processing Team, 
telephone (703) 787-1600. You may also contact Alexis London to obtain 
a copy of the information collection form at no cost.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title (OMB Control Number): Form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report 
(1010-NEW).
    Abstract: The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 
1331 et seq., as amended, requires the Secretary of the Interior to 
preserve, protect, and develop oil and gas resources in the OCS; make 
such resources available to meet the Nation's energy needs as rapidly 
as possible; balance orderly energy resources development with 
protection of the human, marine, and coastal environment; ensure the 
public a fair and equitable return on the resources offshore; and 
preserve and maintain free enterprise competition.
    To carry out these responsibilities, we issued rules governing oil 
and gas and sulphur operations in the OCS. Regulations requiring the 
information collection that is the subject of this notice are 30 CFR 
250, subpart D, ``Drilling Operations.'' The reporting and 
recordkeeping of information required in our regulations are mandatory. 
Specifically, Sec. 250.416(c)(3) requires respondents to submit copies 
of the daily driller's report at a frequency determined by the MMS 
District Supervisor, but in no prescribed format. Current practice in 
the Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR) allows respondents to submit these 
data on a weekly basis during drilling operations.
    In 1997, the GOMR developed an unofficial form for respondents to 
use in lieu of submitting the actual daily driller's report. This was 
an effort to standardize the reporting; identify the necessary 
information; capture the pertinent data in tabular form, rather than 
long narrative explanations; and eventually facilitate the submission 
of these data electronically. It was also

[[Page 13443]]

created to eliminate unnecessary paperwork to the benefit of 
respondents. We are proposing to make this form official and will 
request OMB approval of form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report, for 
mandatory use in submitting the required information. The submission 
frequency will be prescribed by the individual regions; most likely 
weekly in the GOMR and daily in the Pacific and Alaska Regions.
    We use this information to monitor the conditions of a well and 
status of drilling operations. Specifically, the District Office 
drilling engineers review the information to be beware of the well 
conditions and current drilling activity (i.e., well depth, drilling 
fluid weight, casing types and setting depths, completed well logs, and 
recent safety equipment tests and drills). The engineers use this 
information to determine how accurately the lessee anticipated well 
conditions and if the lessee is following the approved application for 
permit to drill (APD).
    The information is also used by the engineers and District 
Supervisor when a lessee requests to revise an APD. With this 
information at hand, they can analyze the proposed revision to the APD 
(i.e., revised grade of casing or deeper casing setting depth) and make 
a quick and informed decision on the request.
    Failure to collect this information would prevent the Director from 
carrying out the mandate of the OCS Lands Act that operations in the 
OCS be conducted in a safe and environmentally sound manner. The 
Drilling Activity Report provides direct information about how lessees 
conduct drilling operations. Without this information, we would have 
great difficulty in monitoring drilling operations to ensure that 
lessees conduct proper drilling operations. An alternative to requiring 
drilling activity reports would be for us to conduct many more onsite 
inspections to monitor drilling activities. However, the additional 
inspectors and helicopters to transport them would not be efficient or 
cost effective. Furthermore, lessees would likely experience delays in 
obtaining timely approvals to revise drilling plans because District 
Offices would not have current and complete information on these 
operations.
    We will protect proprietary information submitted according to the 
Freedom of Information Act; 30 CFR 250.118, ``Data and information to 
be made available to the public;'' and 30 CFR Part 252, ``OCS Oil and 
Gas Information Program.'' No items of a sensitive nature are 
collected.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: Approximately 130 
Federal OCS oil and gas or sulphur lessees.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: We 
estimate the average burden per form is \1/2\ hour and respondents will 
submit approximately 3,500 forms annually, for a total annual burden of 
1,750 hours.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Cost'' Burden: We 
have identified no information collection cost burdens for these 
collections of information.
    Comments: We will summarize written responses to this notice and 
address them in our submission for OMB approval. All comments will 
become a matter of public record. Based on your comments and our 
consultations with a representative sample of respondents, we will 
adjust the burden estimate as necessary in our submission to OMB. In 
calculating the burden, we assume that respondents perform many of the 
requirements and maintain records in the normal course of their 
activities. We consider these usual and customary and take that into 
account in estimating the burden.
    (1) We specifically solicit your comments on the following 
questions:
    (a) Is the proposed collection of information necessary for us to 
properly perform our functions, and will it be useful?
    (b) Are the estimates of the burden hours of the proposed 
collection reasonable?
    (c) Do you have any suggestions that would enhance the quality, 
clarity, or usefulness of the information to be collected?
    (d) Is there a way to minimize the information collection burden on 
respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology?
    (2) In addition, the PRA requires agencies to estimate the total 
annual reporting and recordkeeping ``cost'' burden to respondents or 
recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. We need to 
know if you have costs associated with the collection of this 
information for either total capital and startup cost components or 
annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. Your 
estimates should consider the costs to generate, maintain, and disclose 
or provide the information. You should describe the methods you use to 
estimate major cost factors, including system and technology 
acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, discount 
rate(s), and the period over which you incur costs. Capital and startup 
costs include, among other items, computers and software you purchase 
to prepare for collecting information; monitoring, sampling, drilling, 
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 Government; or (iv) as part 
of customary and usual business or private practices.
    MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach, 
(202) 208-7744.

    Dated: March 10, 1999.
John V. Mirabella,
Acting Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.
[FR Doc. 99-6608 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P