[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 239 (Friday, December 11, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 80147-80148]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-27267]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Natural Resources Revenue

[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0002; DS63644000 DRT000000.CH7000 201D1113RT]


States' Decisions on Participating in Accounting and Auditing 
Relief for Federal Oil and Gas Marginal Properties

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

ACTION: Notice.

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[[Page 80148]]

SUMMARY: Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) regulations provide 
two types of accounting and auditing relief for Federal onshore or 
Outer Continental Shelf lease production from marginal properties. Each 
year, ONRR provides a list of qualifying marginal Federal oil and gas 
properties to States that receive a portion of Federal royalties from 
those properties. Each State then decides whether to participate in 
relief, and if so, whether to allow one or both relief options. For 
calendar year 2020, ONRR provides this notice of the affected States' 
decision regarding whether relief should be allowed and, if so, which 
type of relief will be allowed.

DATES: Effective January 1, 2021.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Mr. Robert Sudar, Market and Spatial 
Analytics, Coordination, Enforcement, Valuations, and Appeals Division, 
ONRR, at (303) 231-3511; or email to [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations, codified under 30 CFR part 
1204, subpart C, implement certain provisions of section 7 of the 
Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Simplification and Fairness Act of 1996 (30 
U.S.C. 1726), which allows States to relieve the lessees of marginal 
properties from certain reporting, accounting, and auditing 
requirements. Each State makes an annual determination as to whether to 
allow relief, and if so, what types. Two relief options are authorized: 
(1) Notification-based royalty report and payment relief which, if 
selected, allows lessees or designees to forgo filing monthly reports 
and making monthly royalty payments and, instead, to file one annual 
royalty report and make one annual royalty payment, and (2) other 
requested appropriate accounting and auditing relief, as proposed by 
lessees or designees and approved by ONRR, after consultation with the 
affected State(s). The regulations require ONRR to publish, no later 
than 30 days before the beginning of the calendar year, a list of the 
States and their decisions regarding marginal property relief.
    To qualify for the first relief option (notification-based relief) 
for calendar year 2021, properties must produce less than 1,000 
barrels-of-oil-equivalent (BOE) per year for the base period (July 1, 
2019 through June 30, 2020). Annual reporting relief will begin January 
1, 2021, with the annual report and royalty payment due February 28, 
2022, or March 31, 2022, if you have an estimated payment on file. To 
qualify for the second relief option (other requested relief), the 
combined equivalent production of the marginal properties during the 
base period must equal an average daily well production of less than 15 
BOE per well per day, as calculated under 30 CFR 1204.4(c).
    The following table lists the States with qualifying marginal 
properties and each State's decision as to the relief options it will 
allow in calendar year 2021. An ``N/A'' means that the State did not 
provide ONRR its decision and, accordingly, no relief will be allowed 
to lessees in that State.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                               Notification-based   Request-based relief
            State               relief (less than     (less than 15 BOE
                               1,000 BOE per year)    per well per day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.....................  No..................  No.
Arkansas....................  N/A.................  Yes.
California..................  No..................  No.
Colorado....................  No..................  No.
Kansas......................  No..................  No.
Louisiana...................  Yes.................  Yes.
Michigan....................  Yes.................  Yes.
Mississippi.................  No..................  No.
Montana.....................  No..................  No.
Nebraska....................  N/A.................  No.
Nevada......................  N/A.................  Yes.
New Mexico..................  No..................  Yes.
North Dakota................  N/A.................  Yes.
Oklahoma....................  No..................  No.
South Dakota................  Yes.................  Yes.
Utah........................  No..................  No.
Wyoming.....................  Yes.................  No
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    A Federal oil and gas property located in a State where ONRR does 
not share a portion of Federal royalties with the State is eligible for 
relief if the property qualifies as marginal under 30 U.S.C. 1726(c). 
For information on how to obtain relief, please refer to 30 CFR 
1204.205, viewable at https://www.ecfr.gov/.
    Unless the information ONRR receives is proprietary data, all 
correspondence, records, or information that ONRR receives in response 
to this notice may be subject to disclosure under the Freedom of 
Information Act (FOIA) (5 U.S.C. 552 et seq.). If applicable, please 
highlight any proprietary portions, including any supporting 
documentation, or mark the page(s) containing proprietary data. We 
protect proprietary information under the Trade Secrets Act (18 U.S.C. 
1905), FOIA Exemption 4 (5 U.S.C. 552(b)(4)), and the Department of the 
Interior's FOIA regulations (43 CFR part 2).

    Authority: Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982, 
30 U.S.C. 1701 et seq., as amended by Federal Oil and Gas Royalty 
Simplification and Fairness Act of 1996 (RSFA, Pub. L. 104-185--Aug. 
13, 1996, as corrected by Pub. L. 104-200--Sept. 22, 1996).

Kimbra G. Davis,
Director for the Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
    [States' Decisions on Participating in Accounting and Auditing 
Relief for Federal Oil and Gas Marginal Properties]
[FR Doc. 2020-27267 Filed 12-10-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4335-30-P