Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collections; Comment Request

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Minerals Management Service

Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collections;

Comment Request

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service (MMS), Interior.

ACTION: Notice of extension of four currently approved information

collections.

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SUMMARY: As part of our continuing effort to reduce paperwork and

respondent burden, we invite the public and other Federal agencies to

comment on our proposal to extend four currently approved information

collection forms discussed below. The Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995

(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 Office of Management and Budget (OMB)

control number.

DATES: Submit written comments by April 12, 1999.

ADDRESSES: Mail or hand-carry comments to the Department of the

Interior; Minerals Management Service; attention: Rules Processing

Team; Mail Stop 4024; 381 Elden Street; Herndon, Virginia 20170-4817.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Alexis London, Rules Processing Team,

telephone (703) 787-1600. You may also contact Alexis London to obtain

a copy of the information collection forms at no cost.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Titles (OMB Control Numbers):

Form MMS-124, Sundry Notices and Reports on Wells (1010-0045)

Form MMS-125, Well Summary Report (1010-0046)

Form MMS-126, Well Potential Test Report and Request for Maximum

Production Rate (MPR) (1010-0039)

Form MMS-128, Semiannual Well Test Report (1010-0017)

Abstract: The Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) Lands Act, 43 U.S.C.

1331 et seq., as amended, requires the Secretary of the Interior to

preserve, protect, and develop oil and gas resources in the OCS; make

such resources available to meet the Nation's energy needs as rapidly

as possible; balance orderly energy resources development with

protection of the human, marine, and coastal environment; ensure the

public a fair and equitable return on the resources offshore; preserve

and maintain free enterprise competition, and ensure that the extent of

oil and natural gas resources of the OCS is assessed at the earliest

practicable time. To carry out these responsibilities, we issue rules

governing oil and gas and sulphur operations in the OCS. The

regulations requiring the information collection forms that are the

subject of this notice are 30 CFR Part 250, Subpart D, Drilling

Operations; Subpart E, Well-Completion Operations; Subpart F, Well-

Workover Operations; Subpart G, Abandonment of Wells; Subpart K,

Production Rates; and Subpart P, Sulphur Operations.

Failure to collect this information would prevent the Director from

carrying out the mandate of the OCS Lands Act. The following explains

how we use the information collected and the consequences if we did not

collect the information.

a. Form MMS-124. MMS District Supervisors use the information to

evaluate the adequacy of the equipment, materials, and/or procedures

that the lessee plans to use for drilling, production, well-completion,

well-workover, and well-abandonment operations. If we did not collect

this information, we could not review lessee

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plans to require changes to drilling procedures or equipment to ensure

that levels of safety and environmental protection are maintained. Nor

could we review information concerning requests for approval or

subsequent reporting of well-completion or well-workover operations to

ensure that procedures and equipment are appropriate for the

anticipated conditions.

b. Form MMS-125. District Supervisors use the information to ensure

that they have accurate data on the wells under their jurisdiction and

to ensure compliance with approved plans. It is also used to evaluate

remedial action in well-equipment failure or well-control loss

situations.

c. Form MMS-126. MMS Regional Supervisors use the information to

determine the MPR for an oil or gas well. The form contains information

concerning the conditions and results of a well potential test. This

requirement carries out the conservation provisions of the OCS Lands

Act. Failure to collect this information could result in waste of

energy resources in the OCS by production at imprudent rates,

jeopardizing the ultimate full recovery of hydrocarbons.

d. Form MMS-128. Regional Supervisors use this information to

evaluate the results of well tests to find out if reservoirs are being

depleted in a way that will lead to the greatest ultimate recovery of

hydrocarbons. We designed the form to present current well data on a

semiannual basis to allow the updating of permissible producing rates

and to provide the basis for estimates of currently remaining

recoverable gas reserves.

We will protect proprietary information submitted according to the

Freedom of Information Act; 30 CFR 250.118, ``Data and information to

be made available to the public'; and 30 CFR Part 252, ``OCS Oil and

Gas Information Program.'' No items of a sensitive nature are

collected. Responses are mandatory.

Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: Approximately 130

Federal OCS oil and gas or sulphur lessees.

Frequency: Forms MMS-124, MMS-125, and MMS-126, are on occasion;

Form MMS-128 is semiannual.

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Hour'' Burden: We

previously estimated the following burdens for these forms:

Form MMS-124: 9,950 responses @ 1 hr per response = 9,950 hours

Form MMS-125: 2,118 responses @ 1 hr per response = 2,118 hours

Form MMS-126: 4,043 responses @ 1\1/4\ hr per response = 5,656 hours

Form MMS-128: 1,716 responses @ 2 hrs per response = 3,432 hours

Estimated Annual Reporting and Recordkeeping ``Cost'' Burden: We

have identified no information collection cost burdens for these

collections of information.

Comments: We will summarize written responses to this notice and

address them in our submission for OMB approval. All comments will

become a matter of public record. Based on your comments and our

consultations with a representative sample of respondents, we will

adjust the burden estimates as necessary in our submissions to OMB. In

calculating the burden, we assume that respondents perform many of the

requirements and maintain records in the normal course of their

activities. We consider these usual and customary and take that into

account in estimating the burden.

(1) We specifically solicit your comments on the following

questions:

(a) Is the proposed collection of information necessary for us to

properly perform our functions, and will it be useful?

(b) Are the estimates of the burden hours of the proposed

collection reasonable?

(c) Do you have any suggestions that would enhance the quality,

clarity, or usefulness of the information to be collected?

(d) Is there a way to minimize the information collection burden on

respondents, including through the use of appropriate automated

electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology?

(2) In addition, the PRA requires agencies to estimate the total

annual reporting and recordkeeping ``cost'' burden to respondents or

recordkeepers resulting from the collection of information. We need to

know if you have costs associated with the collection of this

information for either total capital and startup cost components or

annual operation, maintenance, and purchase of service components. Your

estimates should consider the costs to generate, maintain, and disclose

or provide the information. You should describe the methods you use to

estimate major cost factors, including system and technology

acquisition, expected useful life of capital equipment, discount

rate(s), and the period over which you incur costs. Capital and startup

costs include, among other items, computers and software you purchase

to prepare for collecting information; monitoring, sampling, drilling,

and testing equipment; and record storage facilities. Generally, your

estimates should not include equipment or services purchased: (i)

before October 1, 1995; (ii) to comply with requirements not associated

with the information collection; (iii) for reasons other than to

provide information or keep records for the Government; or (iv) as part

of customary and usual business or private practices.

MMS Information Collection Clearance Officer: Jo Ann Lauterbach,

(202) 208-7744.

Dated. February 3, 1999.

E.P. Danenberger,

Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.

[FR Doc. 99-3397 Filed 2-10-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P