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 new information collection.

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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 request Office of Management and Budget

(OMB) approval of a new information collection form for reporting

drilling activity (Form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report). 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 OMB

control number.

DATES: Submit written comments by May 17, 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 form at no cost.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title (OMB Control Number): Form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report

(1010-NEW).

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; and

preserve and maintain free enterprise competition.

To carry out these responsibilities, we issued rules governing oil

and gas and sulphur operations in the OCS. Regulations requiring the

information collection that is the subject of this notice are 30 CFR

250, subpart D, ``Drilling Operations.'' The reporting and

recordkeeping of information required in our regulations are mandatory.

Specifically, Sec. 250.416(c)(3) requires respondents to submit copies

of the daily driller's report at a frequency determined by the MMS

District Supervisor, but in no prescribed format. Current practice in

the Gulf of Mexico Region (GOMR) allows respondents to submit these

data on a weekly basis during drilling operations.

In 1997, the GOMR developed an unofficial form for respondents to

use in lieu of submitting the actual daily driller's report. This was

an effort to standardize the reporting; identify the necessary

information; capture the pertinent data in tabular form, rather than

long narrative explanations; and eventually facilitate the submission

of these data electronically. It was also

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created to eliminate unnecessary paperwork to the benefit of

respondents. We are proposing to make this form official and will

request OMB approval of form MMS-133, Drilling Activity Report, for

mandatory use in submitting the required information. The submission

frequency will be prescribed by the individual regions; most likely

weekly in the GOMR and daily in the Pacific and Alaska Regions.

We use this information to monitor the conditions of a well and

status of drilling operations. Specifically, the District Office

drilling engineers review the information to be beware of the well

conditions and current drilling activity (i.e., well depth, drilling

fluid weight, casing types and setting depths, completed well logs, and

recent safety equipment tests and drills). The engineers use this

information to determine how accurately the lessee anticipated well

conditions and if the lessee is following the approved application for

permit to drill (APD).

The information is also used by the engineers and District

Supervisor when a lessee requests to revise an APD. With this

information at hand, they can analyze the proposed revision to the APD

(i.e., revised grade of casing or deeper casing setting depth) and make

a quick and informed decision on the request.

Failure to collect this information would prevent the Director from

carrying out the mandate of the OCS Lands Act that operations in the

OCS be conducted in a safe and environmentally sound manner. The

Drilling Activity Report provides direct information about how lessees

conduct drilling operations. Without this information, we would have

great difficulty in monitoring drilling operations to ensure that

lessees conduct proper drilling operations. An alternative to requiring

drilling activity reports would be for us to conduct many more onsite

inspections to monitor drilling activities. However, the additional

inspectors and helicopters to transport them would not be efficient or

cost effective. Furthermore, lessees would likely experience delays in

obtaining timely approvals to revise drilling plans because District

Offices would not have current and complete information on these

operations.

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.

Estimated Number and Description of Respondents: Approximately 130

Federal OCS oil and gas or sulphur lessees.

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

estimate the average burden per form is \1/2\ hour and respondents will

submit approximately 3,500 forms annually, for a total annual burden of

1,750 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 estimate as necessary in our submission 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: March 10, 1999.

John V. Mirabella,

Acting Chief, Engineering and Operations Division.

[FR Doc. 99-6608 Filed 3-17-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P