[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 4731-4732]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-2270]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service


Agency Information Collection Activities: Submitted for Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) Review; Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of a revision of a currently approved information 
collection (OMB Control Number 1010-0095).

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) of 1995, we 
are submitting to OMB for review and approval an information collection 
request (ICR) titled ``Request to Exceed Regulatory Allowance 
Limitation.'' We are also soliciting comments from the public on this 
ICR.

DATES: Submit written comments on or before March 4, 2002.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for the Department of 
the Interior (OMB Control Number 1010-0095), 725 17th Street, NW, 
Washington, DC 20503. Also, submit copies of your written comments to 
Carol Shelby, Regulatory Specialist, Minerals Management Service, MS 
320B2, P.O. Box 25165, Denver, Colorado 80225. If you use an overnight 
courier service, MMS's courier address is Building 85, Room A-614, 
Denver Federal Center, Denver, Colorado 80225.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Carol Shelby, Regulatory Specialist, 
phone (303) 231-3151 or FAX (303) 231-3385.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: Request to Exceed Regulatory Allowance Limitation.
    OMB Control Number: 1010-0095.
    Bureau Form Number: Form MMS-4393.
    Abstract: The Department of the Interior (DOI) is responsible for 
matters relevant to mineral resource development on Federal and Indian 
lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS). The Secretary of the 
Interior (Secretary) is responsible for managing the production of 
minerals from Federal and Indian lands and the OCS, collecting 
royalties from lessees who produce minerals, and distributing the funds 
collected in accordance with applicable laws. The Secretary also has an 
Indian trust responsibility to manage Indian lands and seek advice and 
information from Indian beneficiaries. MMS performs the royalty 
management functions for the Secretary.
    Under certain circumstances, lessees are authorized to deduct from 
royalty payments the reasonable actual costs of transporting the 
royalty portion of produced oil and gas from the lease to a processing 
or sales point not in the immediate lease area. When gas is processed 
for the recovery of gas plant products, lessees may claim a processing 
allowance. Transportation and processing allowances are a part of the 
product valuation process that MMS uses to determine if the lessee is 
reporting and paying the proper royalty amount.
    Regulations at 30 CFR 206.54(b)(1), 206.109(c)(1), 206.156(c)(1), 
and 206.177(c)(1) establish the limit on transportation allowance 
deductions for oil and gas at 50 percent of the value of the oil or gas 
at the point of sale. Regulations at 30 CFR 206.54(b)(2), 
206.109(c)(2), 206.156(c)(3), and 206.177(c)(2)-(3) provide that MMS 
may approve a transportation allowance in excess of 50 percent upon 
proper application from the royalty payor.
    Similar regulations at 30 CFR 206.158(c)(2) establish 66\2/3\ 
percent of the value of each gas plant product as the limit on the 
allowable gas processing deduction. Regulations at 30 CFR 206.158(c)(3) 
provide for the approval of a gas processing allowance in excess of 
66\2/3\ percent when properly requested by a Federal gas royalty payor. 
Effective January 2000, Indian gas regulations do not contain any 
provisions to exceed the 66\2/3\ percent processing allowance limit.
    To request permission to exceed an allowance limit, royalty payors 
must write a letter to MMS providing the reasons why a higher allowance 
limit is necessary. MMS developed Form MMS-4393 to be included with the 
payor's request because in previous unstructured requests some 
necessary information was frequently omitted.
    MMS is seeking approval to revise Form MMS-4393. These revisions 
are necessary to make Form MMS-4393 compatible with other recently 
revised forms such as the Form MMS-2014, Report of Sales and Royalty 
Remittance (OMB control number 1010-0140). These revisions are the 
result of a major reengineering of MMS's financial and compliance 
processes and the procurement of a new computer system. For example, 
during the reengineering process, MMS decided to eliminate the 
reporting of an accounting identification (AID) number and selling 
arrangement number on all existing forms. In their place, MMS is 
requiring a combination of lease and agreement numbers and sales type 
codes. Since the existing Form MMS-4393 contains columns for AID and 
selling arrangement numbers, these columns must be removed and new 
columns for lease and agreement numbers must be added. The revised form 
requires similar types of information to be provided by the payor so we 
do not anticipate any changes in burden hours. The revised form will 
become effective and replace the existing form when our new financial 
and compliance system is fully operational.

[[Page 4732]]

    Responses to this information collection are required to obtain or 
retain a benefit. Proprietary information is requested and protected, 
and there are no questions of a sensitive nature involved in this 
collection of information.
    Frequency: Annually.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: 75 royalty payors.
    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden:
37 hours. See the following chart for a breakdown of the burden 
estimate by CFR section and paragraph.

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                                                                 Burden hours    Annual number    Annual burden
           30 CFR section              Reporting requirement     per response     of responses        hours
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206.54(b)(2), 206.109(c)(2),          An application for                   .5               75               37
 206.156(c)(3), 206.158(c)(3),         exception (using Form
 206.177(c)(3).                        MMS-4393 . . .) shall
                                       contain all relevant
                                       and supporting
                                       documentation
                                       necessary for MMS to
                                       make a determination.
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    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-hour'' Burden: 
We have identified no ``non-hour cost'' burden.
    Comments: Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et 
seq.) requires each agency ``* * * to provide notice * * * 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 to be collected; and (d) minimize the burden 
on the respondents, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    To comply with the public consultation process, on August 15, 2001, 
we published a Federal Register notice (66 FR 42875) with the required 
60-day comment period announcing that we would submit this ICR to OMB 
for approval. We received comments from one company. We responded to 
the comments in our ICR submission for OMB approval. We will provide a 
copy of the ICR to you without charge upon request.
    If you wish to comment in response to this notice, please send your 
comments directly to the offices listed under the ADDRESSES section of 
this notice. OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the 
information collection but may respond after 30 days. Therefore, to 
ensure maximum consideration, OMB should receive your comments by March 
4, 2002. The 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.
    Public Comment Policy: We will make copies of these comments, 
including names and home addresses of respondents, available for public 
review during regular business hours at our offices in Lakewood, 
Colorado.
    Individual respondents may request that we withhold their home 
address from the record, which we will honor to the extent allowable by 
law. There may be circumstances in which we would withhold from the 
record a respondent's identity, as allowable by the law. If you wish us 
to withhold your name and/or address, you must state this prominently 
at the beginning of your comments. However, we will not consider 
anonymous comments. We will make all submissions from organizations or 
businesses, and from individuals identifying themselves as 
representatives or officials of organizations or businesses, available 
for public inspection in their entirety.
    MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach, 
telephone (202) 208-7744

    Dated: January 15, 2002.
Milton K. Dial,
Acting Associate Director for Minerals Revenue Management.
[FR Doc. 02-2270 Filed 1-30-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P