[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 52 (Thursday, March 18, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13442-13443]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-6608]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
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
[[Page 13443]]
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
