81 FR 94414 - States' Decisions on Participating in Accounting and Auditing Relief for Federal Oil and Gas Marginal Properties

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Office of Natural Resources Revenue

Federal Register Volume 81, Issue 247 (December 23, 2016)

Final regulations that ONRR published on September 13, 2004 (69 FR 55076) provide two types of accounting and auditing relief for Federal onshore or Outer Continental Shelf lease production from marginal properties. As the regulations require, for each calendar year ONRR provides, by October 31 preceding the calendar year, a list of qualifying marginal Federal oil and gas properties to States that receive a portion of Federal royalties. Each State then decides whether to participate in one or both relief options. For calendar year 2017, we provide in this notice the affected States' decisions to allow one or both types of relief.

[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 247 (Friday, December 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 94414-94415]
From the Federal Register Online  [www.thefederalregister.org]
[FR Doc No: 2016-30925]


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DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR

Office of Natural Resources Revenue

[Docket No. ONRR-2011-0002; DS63610000 DR2000000.CH7000 178D0102R2]


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

AGENCY: Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR), Interior.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: Final regulations that ONRR published on September 13, 2004 
(69 FR 55076) provide two types of accounting and auditing relief for 
Federal onshore or Outer Continental Shelf lease production from 
marginal properties. As the regulations require, for each calendar year 
ONRR provides, by October 31 preceding the calendar year, a list of 
qualifying marginal Federal oil and gas properties to States that 
receive a portion of Federal royalties. Each State then decides whether 
to participate in one or both relief options. For calendar year 2017, 
we provide in this notice the affected States' decisions to allow one 
or both types of relief.

DATES:  Effective January 1, 2017.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Lindsay Goldstein, Economic and Market 
Analysis Office, at (303) 231-3301; or email at 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The regulations, codified at 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 
(RSFA) (30 U.S.C. 1726), which allows States to relieve the lessees of 
marginal properties from certain reporting, accounting, and auditing 
requirements. States make an annual determination of whether or not to 
allow relief. Two options for relief are provided: (1) Notification-
based relief

[[Page 94415]]

for annual reporting and (2) other requested relief, as industry 
proposed and ONRR and the affected State approved. The regulations 
require ONRR to publish by December 1 of each 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 2016, properties must produce less than 1,000 
barrels-of-oil-equivalent (BOE) per year for the base period (July 1, 
2014, through June 30, 2015). Annual reporting relief will begin 
January 1, 2017, with the annual report and payment due February 28, 
2018, or March 31, 2018, 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 calculated under 30 CFR 1204.4(c).
    The following table shows the States that have qualifying marginal 
properties and the States' decisions to allow one or both forms of 
relief.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                  Notification-based     Request-based
                                   relief (less than   relief (less than
              State                  1,000 BOE per      15 BOE per well
                                         year)             per day)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Alabama.........................  No................  No.
Arkansas........................  Yes...............  Yes.
California......................  No................  No.
Colorado........................  No................  No.
Kansas..........................  No................  No.
Louisiana.......................  Yes...............  Yes.
Michigan........................  Yes...............  Yes.
Mississippi.....................  No................  No.
Montana.........................  No................  No.
Nebraska........................  No................  No.
Nevada..........................  No................  No.
New Mexico......................  No................  Yes.
North Dakota....................  No................  No.
Oklahoma........................  Yes...............  Yes.
South Dakota....................  No................  No.
Utah............................  No................  No.
Wyoming.........................  Yes...............  No.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Federal oil and gas properties located in all other States where 
ONRR does not share a portion of Federal royalties with the State are 
eligible for relief if they qualify as marginal under the regulations 
(see section 117(c) of RSFA, 30 U.S.C. 1726(c)). For information on how 
to obtain relief, please refer to 30 CFR 1204.205 or to the published 
rule, which you may view at http://www.onrr.gov/Laws_R_D/FRNotices/PDFDocs/55076.pdf.
    Unless the information that ONRR received is proprietary data, all 
correspondence, records, or information that we receive 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 the proprietary portions, including any supporting 
documentation, or mark the page(s) that contain proprietary data. We 
protect the 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).

    Dated: December 13, 2016.
Gregory J. Gould,
Director, Office of Natural Resources Revenue.
[FR Doc. 2016-30925 Filed 12-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 4335-30-P