[Federal Register Volume 77, Number 200 (Tuesday, October 16, 2012)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63329-63336]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2012-25290]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Natural Resources Revenue

[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0020]


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

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Office of Natural Resources Revenue 
(ONRR).

ACTION: Notice of an extension of a currently approved information 
collection.

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SUMMARY: To comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the 
Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is notifying the public that 
we have submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) an 
information collection request (ICR) to renew approval of the paperwork 
requirements in the regulations under title 30, Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR), parts 1210 and 1212. There are three forms 
associated with this information collection. This notice also provides 
the public with a second opportunity to comment on the paperwork burden 
of these regulatory requirements.

DATES: OMB has up to 60 days to approve or disapprove the information 
collection request, but may respond after 30 days; therefore, public

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comments should be submitted to OMB by November 15, 2012, in order to 
be assured of consideration.

ADDRESSES: Submit comments to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Attention: Desk Officer for 
the Department of Interior (1012-0004), by telefax at (202) 395-5806 or 
via e-mail to [email protected]. Also, please send a copy of 
your comments to Stephen Chubb, Regulatory Specialist, Office of 
Natural Resources Revenue, P.O. Box 25165, MS 64000A, Denver, Colorado 
80225. Please reference ICR 1012-0004 in your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stephen Chubb, Regulatory Specialist, 
email [email protected]. You may also contact Mr. Chubb to obtain 
copies, at no cost, of (1) the ICR, (2) any associated forms, and (3) 
the regulations that require us to collect the information. To see a 
copy of the entire ICR submitted to OMB, go to: http://www.reginfo.gov 
and select Information Collection Review, Currently Under Review.

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's 
responsibility, according to various laws, is 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 in accordance with applicable laws. 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 for the Secretary and assists the 
Secretary in carrying out the Department's trust responsibility for 
Indian lands. Public laws pertaining to mineral leases on Federal 
Indian lands are available on our Web site at www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/PublicLawsAMR.htm.
    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 the 
designee, must report various kinds of information to the lessor 
relative to the disposition of the leased minerals. Such information is 
generally available within the records of the lessee or others involved 
in developing, transporting, processing, purchasing, or selling of such 
minerals. The information that ONRR collects includes data necessary to 
ensure that the lessee accurately values and appropriately pays all 
royalties and other mineral revenues due.
    Reporters submit information into the ONRR financial accounting 
system that includes royalty, rental, bonus, and other payment 
information; sales volumes and values; and other royalty values. ONRR 
uses the accounting system to compare production volumes with royalty 
volumes to verify that companies 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 
companies properly pay royalties based on accurate production 
accounting on oil, gas, and geothermal resources that they produce 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

    Payors (Reporters) must report, according to various regulations, 
and remit royalties on oil, gas, and geothermal resources that they 
produced from leases on Federal and Indian lands. ONRR uses the 
following form 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 
such as transportation and processing allowances, lease adjustments, 
and quality and location differentials.

Production Reporting

    Operators (Reporters) must submit, according to various 
regulations, production reports if they operate a Federal or Indian 
onshore or offshore oil and gas lease or federally approved unit or 
communitization agreement. We use the ONRR financial accounting system 
to track 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.
    We will request OMB approval to continue to collect this 
information. If ONRR does not collect this information, it would limit 
the Secretary's ability to discharge fiduciary duties and may also 
result in the 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 not included in our estimates certain requirements that 
companies perform in the normal course of business, and that ONRR 
considers usual and customary. We display the estimated annual burden 
hours by CFR section and paragraph in the following chart.
BILLING CODE 4310-T2-P

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    Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Non-hour'' Cost 
Burden: We have identified no ``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 does 
not have to respond to, a collection of information unless it displays 
a currently valid OMB control number.
    Comments: Section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the PRA 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

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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 that ONRR collects; 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, we published a 
notice in the Federal Register on April 2, 2012 (77 FR 19704), 
announcing that we would submit this ICR to OMB for approval. The 
notice provided the required 60-day comment period. We received no 
unsolicited comments in response to the notice.
    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 they may respond after 30 days. Therefore, in order to 
ensure maximum consideration, OMB should receive public comments by 
November 15, 2012.
    Public Comment Policy: We will post all comments, including names 
and addresses of respondents, at www.regulations.gov. Before including 
your address, phone number, e-mail address, or other personal 
identifying information in your comment, you should be aware 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 your personal identifying information from public 
view, we cannot guarantee that we will be able to do so.
    Information Collection Clearance Officer: Dave Alspach (202) 219-
8526.

    Dated: October 2, 2012.
Gregory J. Gould,
Director, Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
 [FR Doc. 2012-25290 Filed 10-15-12; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-T2-C