[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 60 (Thursday, March 28, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 11827-11834]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05927]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Natural Resources Revenue

[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0020; DS63644000 DR2000000.CH7000 190D1113RT; OMB 
Control Number 1012-0004]


Agency Information Collection Activities; Submission to the 
Office of Management and Budget for Review and Approval; Royalty and 
Production Reporting

AGENCY: Office of the Secretary, Office of Natural Resources Revenue, 
Interior.

ACTION: Notice of information collection; request for comment.

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SUMMARY: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the 
Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is proposing to renew an 
information collection with revisions. ONRR seeks renewed authority to 
collect information by which lessees use three forms necessary to 
report the production and royalties on minerals produced from Federal 
and Indian lands and the Outer Continental Shelf (OCS).

DATES: Interested persons are invited to submit written comments on or 
before April 29, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on this information collection request 
(ICR) to the Office of Management and Budget's Desk Officer for the 
Department of the Interior by email to [email protected]; or 
by facsimile to (202) 395-5806. Please provide a copy of your comments 
to Mr. Armand Southall, Regulatory Specialist, ONRR, P.O. Box 25165, MS 
64400B, Denver, Colorado 80225-0165; or by email to 
[email protected]. Please reference ``OMB Control Number 1012-
0004'' in the subject line of your comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ms. Lee-Ann Martin at (303) 231-3313, 
or email to [email protected]. You may also view the ICR at http://www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, we provide the general public and other Federal agencies 
with an opportunity to comment on new, proposed, revised, and 
continuing collections of information. This helps us assess the impact 
of our information collection requirements and minimize the public's 
reporting burden. It also helps that the public understand our 
information collection requirements and provide the requested data in 
the desired format.
    We published a notice, with a 60-day public comment period 
soliciting comments on this collection of information, in the Federal 
Register on August 31, 2018 (83 FR 44662). During the 60-day period, we 
specifically reached out to seven companies impacted by this 
information collection renewal (ICR) to request input. In response to 
the outreach, we received seven responsive comments.
    The first comment that we received stated the following:

    ``I've looked at the FRN material and the amount of time in the 
document is pretty accurate with the amount of time it takes me to 
submit my monthly OGORS and PASRs.

648 lines submit monthly
7,776 lines submit yearly
25% lines require manual intervention
3 minutes:
1,944 lines done manually
5,832 minutes per year on manual lines
97.2 hours per year on manual lines''

    The second comment that we received stated the following:

    ``I have read the attached FRN 44662 and have no comments at 
this time.''

    The third comment that we received stated the following:

    ``Hope all is well. I reviewed the FRN and I currently have no 
questions.''

    The fourth comment that we received stated the following:

    ``[We] reviewed the highlighted (pink) paragraphs and we agree 
that we are currently submitting Form 4054 Oil and Gas Operations 
Report and Form 4058 Production Allocation Schedule Report. We have 
no problems submitting these reports each month to ONRR. Let me know 
if you need anything else.''

    The fifth comment that we received stated the following:

    ``Because of the size of our reporting, we spend more time on 
both OGORs and 2014 reporting and I entered the estimated burden 
hours and sent it back. I don't have no other comments or questions 
at this time.''

    The sixth comment that we received stated the following:

    ``I have surveyed the royalty reporting group and the only 
comments offered is listed below.''
    Suggested improvement for the Data Warehouse.
    The analysts would like to be able to have Product Code as one 
of the selection criteria on the first screen of the `Basic Royalty 
Report'.
    No comments related to the 2014 royalty reports.''

    The seventh comment that we received stated the following:

    ``Thank you for reaching out to us. We have no additional 
updates/comments that we see fit to be made at this time.''

    Once again, we are soliciting comments on this proposed ICR that is

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described below. We are especially interested in public comment 
addressing the following issues: (1) Is the collection necessary to the 
proper functions of ONRR; (2) will this information be processed and 
used in a timely manner; (3) is the estimate of burden accurate; (4) 
how might ONRR enhance the quality, usefulness, and clarity of the 
information collected; and (5) how might ONRR minimize the burden of 
this collection on the respondents, including through the use of 
information technology.
    Comments that you submit in response to this notice are a matter of 
public record. Before including your Personally Identifiable 
Information (PII), such as your address, phone number, email address, 
or other personal identifying information in your comment(s), you 
should be aware that your entire comment, including PII, may be made 
available to the public at any time. While you can ask us, in your 
comment, to withhold your PII from public view, we cannot guarantee 
that we will be able to do so.
    Abstract: The Secretary of the United States Department of the 
Interior is responsible for collecting royalties from lessees who 
produce minerals from Federal and Indian lands and the OCS. Under 
various laws, the Secretary's responsibility is to manage mineral 
resources production on Federal and Indian lands and the OCS, collect 
the royalties and other mineral revenues due, and distribute the funds 
collected.
    The Secretary also has 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.
    When a company or an individual enters into a lease to explore, 
develop, produce, and sell or otherwise 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 its 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 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.
    Public laws pertaining to mineral leases on Federal and Indian 
lands and the OCS are available at http://www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/PubLaws/index.htm. Information collections that we cover in this ICR 
are found at title 30 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 
1210, subparts B, C, and D, which pertain to reporting oil, gas, and 
geothermal resources royalties and oil and gas production; and part 
1212, subpart B, which pertains to recordkeeping.
    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 financial 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 Ocean Energy Management, Bureau of Land Management, Bureau of 
Indian Affairs, and Tribal and State governments so that they can 
perform their land and 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. Production data is also used to determine 
whether a lease is producing in paying quantities and therefore has not 
expired, and to track total production from Federal and Indian lands by 
lease, communitization agreement, unit, field or area, State, 
reservation, and nationally. 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. The reporters use the 
following form for royalty reporting:
    Form ONRR-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 
(for example, transportation and processing allowances, lease 
adjustments, and quality and location differentials). On a royalty 
report, reporters submit a line of data for each type of product 
produced from each Federal or Indian property. Each line contains the 
royalty owed and the basic elements necessary to calculate the royalty. 
For example, each line of a royalty report will include the volume 
produced from the lease, the value of that production, and any 
allowances claimed by the reporter which reduced the royalty owed.

Production Reporting

    Operators (Reporters) must submit, according to various 
regulations, production reports to the ONRR financial accounting system 
if they operate a Federal or Indian onshore or offshore oil and gas 
lease or federally approved unit or communitization agreement. ONRR 
uses the 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 ONRR-4054, Oil and Gas Operations Report (OGOR). Reporters 
submit this form monthly for all production reporting for the Outer 
Continental Shelf, onshore Federal, and Indian leases. On part A of the 
OGOR production report, reporters submit a line of data indicating the 
volumes produced from each Federal or Indian well. On part B, reporters 
submit a line of data for each commodity, indicating the disposition of 
the volumes. On part C, reporters submit a line of data for each 
Federal or Indian property indicating any change in the volume of the 
inventory remaining on the property. ONRR compares the production 
information with the sales and royalty data that reporters submit on 
form ONRR-2014 to ensure that the reporters paid and reported the 
proper royalties on the oil and gas production reported 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. Other Federal government agencies use the monthly data to 
monitor and inspect lease operations.
    Form ONRR-4058, Production Allocation Schedule Report (PASR). 
Reporters submit this form monthly to provide allocation information 
for Federal offshore production. This reporting is required when a 
facility operator manages a measurement point where they commingle the 
production from an offshore Federal lease or metering point with 
production from other sources (such as State lease production) before 
the production is

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measured for a royalty determination. On each PASR, the reporter 
submits a line of data containing the volume of commingled oil or gas. 
ONRR uses the data to determine if the payors reported accurate sales 
volumes on the OGOR. Reporters also use the PASR to corroborate data 
reflected on the OGOR that the OCS lease operators submit.

OMB Approval

    We are requesting OMB's approval to continue to collect this 
information. Not collecting this information would limit the 
Secretary's ability to discharge fiduciary duties and may also result 
in the loss of royalty payments. ONRR protects the proprietary 
information that it receives, and does not collect items of a sensitive 
nature. It is mandatory that the reporters submit forms ONRR-2014, 
ONRR-4054, and ONRR-4058.

Data

    Title of Collection: Royalty and Production Reporting, 30 CFR parts 
1210 and 1212.
    OMB Control Number: 1012-0004.
    Form Numbers: ONRR-2014, ONRR-4054, and ONRR-4058.
    Type of Review: Revision of a currently approved collection.
    Respondents/Affected Public: Businesses.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Respondents: 3,870 oil, gas, and 
geothermal reporters.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Responses: 12,873,046 lines of 
data.
    Estimated Completion Time per Response: Varies between 1 and 7 
minutes per line, depending on the activity. The average completion 
time is 1.96 minutes per line. The average completion time is 
calculated by first multiplying the estimated annual burden hours from 
the table below (420,241) by 60 to obtain the total annual burden 
minutes. Then the total annual burden minutes (25,214,460) divided by 
the estimated annual number of data lines submitted from the table 
below (12,873,046) equals the average completion time.
    Total Estimated Number of Annual Burden Hours: 420,241 hours.
    Respondent's Obligation: Mandatory.
    Frequency of Collection: Monthly.
    Total Estimated Annual Non-hour Burden Cost: We have identified no 
``non-hour cost'' burden associated with this collection of 
information.
    We have not included in our estimates certain requirements that 
companies perform in the normal course of business that ONRR considers 
usual and customary. We display the estimated annual burden hours by 
CFR section and paragraph in the following chart.
BILLING CODE 4335-30-P

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    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.

    Authority: Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501 et 
seq).

Gregory J. Gould,
Director for Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
[FR Doc. 2019-05927 Filed 3-27-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4335-30-C