[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 159 (Friday, August 16, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 53609-53618]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-20787]


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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 extension and revision of information collection 
forms.

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), we 
are notifying the public that we have submitted to OMB for review and 
approval the revised forms MMS-123 and MMS-123S, and the revised and 
renamed forms MMS-124, MMS-125, and MMS-133. The modifications are an 
integral part of the new ``E-Forms Permit Process'' that we are 
developing to provide an electronic option for drilling and well 
permitting and information submission.

DATE: Submit written comments by September 16, 2002.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments directly to the Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, OMB, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of the Interior (reference appropriate OMB control 
number for the form you are commenting on), 725 17th Street, NW., 
Washington, DC 20503. Mail or hand-carry a copy of your comments to the 
Department of the Interior; Minerals Management Service; Attention: 
Rules Processing Team; Mail Stop 4024; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, 
Virginia 20170-

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4817. If you wish to E-mail comments to MMS, the address is: 
[email protected]. Reference the appropriate OMB control number in 
your subject line. Include your name and return address in your message 
and mark it for return receipt.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexis London, Rules Processing Team, 
Engineering and Operations Division, telephone (703) 787-1600.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Titles--OMB Control Numbers: For the renamed forms, the new titles 
are listed and the current titles are shown in parenthesis.
    Form MMS-123, Application for Permit to Drill (APD)--1010-0044.
    Form MMS-123S, Supplemental APD Information Sheet--1010-0131.
    Form MMS-124, Application for Permit to Modify (APM) (replaces 
Sundry Notices and Reports on Wells)--1010-0045.
    Form MMS-125, End of Operations Report (replaces Well Summary 
Report)--1010-0046.
    Form MMS-133, Well Activity Report (replaces Weekly Activity 
Report)--1010-0132.
    Abstract: The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act, as amended 
(43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq. and 43 U.S.C. 1801 et seq.), authorizes the 
Secretary of the Interior to prescribe rules and regulations to 
administer leasing of the OCS. Such rules and regulations will apply to 
all operations conducted under a lease. Operations on the OCS must 
preserve, protect, and develop oil and natural gas resources in a 
manner which is consistent with the need to make such resources 
available to meet the Nation's energy needs as rapidly as possible; to 
balance orderly energy resource development with protection of human, 
marine, and coastal environments; to ensure the public a fair and 
equitable return on the resources of the OCS; and to preserve and 
maintain free enterprise competition.
    This notice pertains to the previously listed MMS forms that are 
used to submit information required under 30 CFR part 250, subpart D, 
Drilling Operations; subpart E, Well-Completion Operations; subpart F, 
Well-Workover Operations; subpart P, Sulphur Operations; and the new 
subpart Q, Decommissioning Activities. Responses are mandatory. No 
questions of a ``sensitive'' nature are asked. MMS will protect 
proprietary information according to 30 CFR 250.196 (Data and 
information to be made available to the public), 30 CFR part 252 (OCS 
Oil and Gas Information Program), and the Freedom of Information Act (5 
U.S.C. 552) and its implementing regulations (43 CFR part 2).
    On May 1, 2002, we published a Federal Register notice (67 FR 
21718) announcing that we were renaming and revising the forms. As 
required by the PRA, the notice explained why we collect and how we use 
the information on each form. The notice provided the required 60-day 
comment period, detailed the changes to the forms, and published the 
draft forms as appendices.
    We explained that to implement the Government Paperwork Elimination 
Act and to streamline data collection, MMS must develop systems to 
provide electronic options for lessees and operators to use in 
submitting information and requesting approvals. This year, we expect 
to begin pilot testing the electronic submission of drilling and well 
information in a new ``E-Forms Permit Process.'' In developing this 
system, we have determined that some revisions are needed to the 
drilling and well information forms discussed in this notice. The new 
names on three of the forms and changes to the paper forms are intended 
to acquaint the users with, and duplicate as closely as possible, the 
E-Forms Permit Process, which we anticipate will be fully implemented 
in FY 2003. Although initially the E-Forms Permit Process will be an 
alternative to submitting the paper forms, we expect that eventually it 
will eliminate the paper forms.
    In response to the May 1 Federal Register notice, we received 
comments from the Offshore Operators Committee (OOC) which represents 
107 member companies, both large and small, involved in the 
exploration, drilling, and production of oil and gas on the OCS. In 
addition, to resolve some of the issues and address concerns, we held 
discussions with the OOC committee members who reviewed the forms and 
who will most likely be involved in pilot testing the E-Forms Permit 
Process. We received no comments from individual oil and gas companies. 
We did receive comments from three service companies that do business 
with the offshore oil and gas companies: Energy Graphics, Inc., IHS 
Energy Group Information Services, and E & P Datasmith. Energy Graphics 
and IHS Energy had minimal comments. E & P Datasmith provided several 
comments and suggestions but also requested clarification of some data 
elements or posed questions. We have sent a separate response to this 
company to provide clarification and respond to the questions. The 
following discusses the general comments and our responses.
    Many of the comments from the OOC and E & P Datasmith were more in 
the form of requesting clarification on some of the data elements. It 
was suggested that definitions be supplied on the forms or in 
instructions for completing the forms. Based on the comments, where 
appropriate, we did clarify data elements on the forms. To accommodate 
other clarifications that did not lend themselves to making changes to 
the forms, MMS is revising the ``Field Operations Reporters Handbook,'' 
which is the instructional guide to filling out the current forms. It 
will be updated to reflect the changes to these forms and available 
concurrent with issuing the new forms.
    Both OOC and E & P Datasmith commented on the proposed change to 
reporting in North American Datum (NAD) 83 versus NAD 27 values. The 
OOC commented that reporting in NAD 83 format for well location 
coordinates should be optional in order to maintain consistency between 
well permitting forms and other required documents that reference NAD 
27 coordinates. E & P Datasmith was not opposed to reporting in NAD 83 
reference values but suggested some guidance to avoid potential 
database problems and misrepresentations. MMS will require NAD 83 
information only in the case of drilling a new well or sidetrack. For 
any drilling operation, directional information is normally provided 
and the respondent should be able to provide that information in NAD 83 
format with little difficulty. Information in NAD 27 format will be 
required on the location plat submitted with the form MMS-123. The MMS 
will do the conversion internally and verify the location. To 
accommodate the comments and further eliminate duplicate data elements 
among the forms, we eliminated directional information data elements on 
form MMS-124 and provided the option for reporting in either NAD 27 or 
NAD 83 on form MMS-125.
    Energy Graphics and IHS Energy commented that certain data elements 
that were eliminated from the form MMS-123 as duplicative with form 
MMS-123S, previously contained information available to the general 
public. They were concerned that the information would no longer be 
available. To accommodate this concern, a ``public information'' copy 
of the form MMS-123S will be available the same as with form MMS-123.
    IHS Energy wanted MMS to retain the eliminated data element for 
``field name'' on the forms so that they can tell whether or not the 
well is a ``wildcat'' and what the new field name will be if

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there is a new discovery. We did not retain this data element as it is 
not used in the permit approval process. However, the information is 
available to the public. MMS assigns field names and enters the results 
into a data base. The list is updated monthly and the public can access 
the data base from the MMS internet site or from the MMS regional 
Public Information Office.
    Based on our review of the comments, we have finalized the forms 
for submission to OMB for approval. The changes between the final 
versions and the proposed versions published for comment are minimal. 
Both the proposed versions and the final forms include changes to 
renumber the data fields on all forms, eliminate some data fields that 
were either duplicative or no longer needed, rename some sections and 
data fields, relocate data fields from one form to another, and add 
some data fields. The final forms are attached as appendices 1-5 to 
this notice.
    Frequency: Forms MMS-123, MMS-123S, MMS-124, and MMS-125 are on 
occasion; form MMS-133 is daily or weekly by region.
    Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: Approximately 130 
Federal OCS oil and gas lessees.
    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: We estimate 
the following burdens for submitting the paper copies of these revised 
forms. It should be recognized that when the new E-Forms Permit Process 
is fully implemented, we expect it will reduce burden hours. However, 
these anticipated burden reductions are not yet determined, as they 
will depend on the upcoming pilot testing.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                 Estimated      Total
             Form No.              Hour burden   annual No.     annual
                                     per form     of forms      burden
------------------------------------------------------------------------
MMS-123..........................       2\1/2\        1,315        3,288
MMS-123S.........................       1\1/2\        1,315        1,973
MMS-124..........................       1\1/4\       13,570       16,963
MMS-125..........................            1        3,230        3,230
MMS-133..........................            1       10,000       10,000
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-Hour Cost'' Burden: We 
have identified no ``non-hour cost'' burdens associated with the 
subject forms.
    Public Disclosure Statement: The PRA (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.) 
provides that an agency may not conduct or sponsor a collection of 
information unless it displays a currently valid OMB control number. 
Until OMB approves a collection of information, you are not obligated 
to respond.
    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.
    In addition to publishing the required Federal Register notice 
previously discussed to comply with the public consultation process, 
the PRA statement on the current forms and at 30 CFR 250.199 explain 
that MMS will accept comments at any time on the information collection 
burden of our regulations and associated forms. We display the OMB 
control number and provide the address for sending comments to MMS.
    If you wish to comment in response to this notice, you may send 
your comments 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 public comments by September 16, 
2002.
    Public Comment Policy: Our practice is to make comments, including 
names and home addresses of respondents, available for public review 
during regular business hours. 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 comment. 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, 
(202) 208-7744.

    Dated: August 8, 2002.
John V. Mirabella,
Acting Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.

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[FR Doc. 02-20787 Filed 8-15-02; 8:45 am]
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