ments including the OCS. This part also governs the reporting of other operational information associated with production from Federal and Indian leases or federally approved agreements when such operations occur prior to the point of sale or royalty determination, whichever is applicable. Reporters are required to continue to submit existing production reports (3160-6 (formerly 9-329 and 9329-1), 9-152, 9-373A, 9-128, 9-128a, 9128b, 9-128c, 9-128d, 9-368, 9-1146, etc.) until conversion to PAAS. The appropriate MMS official will notify reporters being converted to PAAS of the proper schedules for start-up of reporting under PAAS and for discontinuing reporting using the existing production report forms.

For purposes of this part:

(a) Agreement means a binding arrangement between two or more parties purporting to the act of agreeing or of coming to a mutual arrangement that is accepted by all parties to a transaction (e.g., communitizations, unitization, gas storage, or compensatory royalty agreements.).

(b) Alaska Native Corporation means a corporation created pursuant to the provisions of the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (43 U.S.C. 1601 et seq.).

(c) Approved mining plan as used in this part means an approved resource recovery and protection plan (43 CFR 3480.5) or approved mining plan (43 CFR 3572.1).

(d) Associate Director means the Associate Director for Royalty Management of the MMS.

(e) Conversion period means that period of time between the date an operator not subject to the rules of this part is notified that the rules are to be made applicable to that operator, and the effective date of applicability. The conversion period will not be less than one year unless the operator requests a shorter period.

(f) Facility means a structure(s) used to store or process Federal or Indian mineral production prior to or at the point of royalty determination.

(g) Federal lease means a lease concerning minerals owned by the United

States and includes a lease where an Alaska Native Corporation receives all or part of the royalties accruing from that lease, and the MMS has not waived administration of that lease.

(h) First purchaser means any entity receiving the lease production in a first transfer for value transaction.

(i) Gas means any fluid, either combustible or noncombustible, which is extracted from a reservoir and which has neither independent shape nor volume, but tends to expand indefinitely; a substance that exists in a gaseous or rarefied state under standard temperature and pressure conditions.

(j) Indian lease means a lease concerning lands or interest in lands of an Indian Tribe or an Indian allottee, his heirs or devisees, held in trust by the United States or which is subject to Federal restriction against alienation, including mineral resources and mineral estates reserved to an Indian Tribe or an Indian allottee, his heirs or devisees thereto in the conveyance of a surface or non-mineral estate, except that such term does not include any lands subject to the provisions of section 3 of the Act of June 28, 1906 (34 Stat. 539).

(k) Lease means any contract, profitshare arrangement, joint venture, permit, or other agreement issued or approved by the United States under a mineral leasing law that authorizes exploration for, extraction of, or removal of oil, gas, or solid minerals-or the land area covered by that authorization, whichever is covered by the context.

(1) Lessee means any person to whom the United States, an Indian Tribe, or an Indian allottee, issues a lease, or any person who has been assigned an obligation to make royalty or other payments required by the lease.

(m) MMS/RMP means the Royalty Management Program of the Minerals Management Service.

(n) Measurement device means a mechanical or electrical device that is used to measure production of oil, gas, or solid minerals for sales, transfers, and/or royalty determination.

(0) Mine means an underground or surface excavation or series of excavations and the surface or underground support facilities that contribute di

rectly or indirectly to mining, production, preparation, and handling of coal or other solid minerals.

(p) Mineral Leasing Law means any Federal law administered by the Secretary authorizing the disposition under lease of oil, gas, or solid minerals.

(q) Oil means any fluid hydrocarbon substance other than gas which is extracted in a fluid state from a reservoir and which exists in a fluid state under the existing temperature and pressure conditions of the reservoir. Oil includes liquefiable hydrocarbon substances such as drip gasoline or other natural condensates recovered in a liquid state from gas.

(r) Operator means any person, including a lessee who has control of, or who manages operations on, any oil and gas or solid minerals lease site on Federal (including the OCS) or Indian lands. "Operator" also means any entity engaged in the business of developing, drilling for, producing, transporting, purchasing, selling, or processing oil, gas or solid minerals and/or which has the responsibility of reporting production from a lease or a portion thereof.

(s) Outer Continental Shelf (OCS) has the same meaning as provided in section 2 of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1331.

(t) Person means any individual, firm, corporation, association, partnership, consortium or joint venture.

(u) Production Accounting and Auditing System (PAAS) means an integrated system of manual and automated processes for minerals production reporting, accounting, and auditing. Based upon production reports submitted by reporters, the PAAS will track oil, gas, and solid minerals produced from or allocated to Federal and Indian leases, including the OCS, from the source of production to the point of disposition with emphasis on the point of royalty determination, or point of sale, whichever is applicable.

(v) Raw make means natural gas liquids (NGL's) that are extracted from the wet gas stream at a gas plant (e.g., ethane through natural gasoline) which sometimes is transferred to a fractionation plant for further processing.

(w) Reporter means any reporting entity required to submit a PAAS report or form to the MMS.

(x) Secretary means the Secretary of the Interior or his/her designee.

(y) Solid minerals means those minerals including but not limited to coal, potash, sodium, phosphate, sulfur, lead, zinc, copper, silica sands, sand and gravel, and other minerals under mineral leasing laws originating from or allocated to Federal or Indian leases, excluding oil or gas, oil shale, and geothermal resources.

§ 216.10 Information collection.

The information collection requirements contained in this part have been approved by OMB under 44 U.S.C. 3501 et seq. The forms, filing date, and approved OMB clearance numbers are identified in 30 CFR 210.10.

[57 FR 41867, Sept. 14, 1992]

$216.15 Reporting instructions.

(a) Specific guidance on how to prepare and submit required information collection reports and forms to MMS is contained in a "PAAS Reporter Handbook" and a "Paas Onshore Oil and Gas Reporter Handbook." The Reporter Handbooks are available from the Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, Production Accounting Division, P.O. Box 17110, Denver, Colorado 802170110.

(b) Production reporters should refer to these handbooks for specific guidance with respect to production reporting requirements. If additional information is required, the reporter should contact the MMS Reporter Contact Branch at the above address. The telephone number is listed in the handbooks.

[53 FR 16412, May 9, 1988, as amended at 57 FR 41867, Sept. 14, 1992]

§ 216.16 Where to report.

(a) All reporting forms listed in this part that are mailed or sent by U.S. Postal Service express mail should be mailed to the Mineral Management Service, Royalty Management Program, Production Accounting Division,

P.O. Box 17110, Denver, Colorado 80217-0110.

(b) Reports delivered to MMS by special couriers or overnight mail, except U.S. Postal Service express mail, shall be addressed as follows: Minerals Management Service, Royalty Management Program, Building 85, Denver Federal Center, room A-212, Revenue and Document Processing, Denver, Colorado 80225.

(c) A report is considered received when it is delivered to MMS at the addresses specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section. Reports received at the MMS addresses specified in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section after 4 p.m. mountain time are considered received the following business day.

[56 FR 20127, May 2, 1991, as amended at 57 FR 41867, Sept. 14, 1992]

§ 216.20 Applicability.

(a) The requirements of this part shall apply to all operators already reporting to the PAAS on April 7, 1986.

(b) The requirements of this part shall not apply to any operator not included in subsection (a) until MMS notifies the operator in writing, certified mail, return receipt requested, at least one year in advance of the date the rules are to be applicable to that operator, except such operators shall be required during the conversion period to file the reports required by § 216.51, § 216.52a, § 216.201, or § 216.202 as applicable.

(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b), any operator may request and MMS may approve a conversion period of less than one year.

(d) Notwithstanding any of the provisions of this section, operators on all offshore leases and all solid mineral leases issued on or after April 7, 1986, shall be subject to the requirements of this part without any conversion period.

§ 216.21 General obligations of the report

er.

The reporter shall submit accurately, completely and timely, pursuant to the requirements of this part, all information forms and other information required by MMS. Specific guidance on the use of the required forms is contained in the Production Ac

counting and Auditing System Reporters Handbook. Copies of the handbook are available from the MMS.

§ 216.25 Confidentiality.

(a) Information obtained by MMS pursuant to the rules of this part shall be open for public inspection and copying during regular office hours upon a written request, pursuant to rules at 43 CFR part 2, except that:

(1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this part, information obtained from a reporter under this part relating to a minerals agreement approved pursuant to the Indian Mineral Development Act of 1982, 25 U.S.C. 2101 et seq., the Tribal Leasing Act of 1938 (25 U.S.C. 396a et seq.), or the Allotted Indian Mineral Development Act of 1909 (25 U.S.C. 396), shall not be released without the written consent of the Indian Tribe(s) or individual Indian(s) who are parties to the mineral agreement.

(2) Information obtained from a reporter pursuant to this part that constitutes a trade secret and/or commercial or financial information which is privileged or confidential, or other information that may be withheld under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552(b)), such as geologic and geophysical data concerning wells, shall be available for public inspection in accordance with 43 CFR part 2. When such information is related to Indian lands, consent to release the information must also be obtained from the cognizant Tribe or allottee.

(b) If any geologic and/or geophysical data is submitted under this part, these shall be made available to the public only in accordance with the provisions of 30 CFR 250.3, 250.4 and 252.7, if these relate to an offshore lease, and in accordance with 43 CFR 3162.8 if these relate to an onshore Federal or Indian lease.

§ 216.30 Special forms and reports.

When special forms or reports other than those referred to in the regulations in this part are necessary, instructions for the filing of such forms or reports will be provided by the Associate Director. Such requests will be made in conformity with the require

ments of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1980, and are expected to involve less than 10 respondents annually.

§ 216.40 Assessments for incorrect or late reports and failure to report.

(a) An assessment of an amount not to exceed $10 per day may be charged for each report not received by MMS by the designated due date.

(b) An assessment of an amount not to exceed $10 may be charged for each report received by the designated due date but which is incorrectly completed.

(c) For purposes of oil and gas reporting under the PAAS, a report is defined as each line of production information required on the Monthly Report of Operations (Form MMS3160), Oil and Gas Operations Report (Form MMS-4054), Gas Analysis Report (Form MMS-4055), Gas Plant Operations Report (Form MMS-4056), Fractionation Plant Operations Report (Form MMS-4057), and Production Allocation Schedule Report (Form MMS-4058).

(d) For purposes of solid minerals reporting under PAAS, a report is defined as each line of production information required on the Solid Minerals Operation Report (Form MMS-4059) and Solid Minerals Facility Report (Form MMS-4060).

(e) The MMS will not make assessments for reporting problems which are beyond the control of the reporter (e.g., reports received late because of bad weather). The reporter shall have the burden of proving that a reporting problem was unavoidable.

(f) An assessment under this section shall not be shared with a State, Indian tribe, Indian allottee, or Alaska Native Corporation.

(g) The amount of the assessment to be imposed pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section shall be established periodically by MMS. The assessment amount for each violation will be based on MMS's experience with costs and improper reporting. The MMS will publish a Notice of the assessment amount to be applied in the FEDERAL REGISTER.

[51 FR 8175, Mar. 7, 1986, as amended at 52 FR 27546, July 22, 1987; 53 FR 16412, May 9, 1988]

Subpart B-Oil and Gas, General

§ 216.50 Monthly report of operations.

(a) Notwithstanding the provisions of §§ 216.6(e) and 216.20 of this part, an operator will be required to comply with the requirements of this section at the beginning of the production month that is more than 60 days after MMS notifies the operator that it is subject to the requirements of this section. Until this section is applicable, operators shall continue to be subject to the reporting requirements of 43 CFR part 3160.

(b) A Monthly Report of Operations (Form MMS-3160) must be filed by each operator of each onshore Federal or Indian lease or agreement containing at least one well not permanently plugged and abandoned unless production data is authorized to be reported on Form MMS-4054. This requirement does not apply to reporting of operations of gas storage agreements, which will continue to be reported to the appropriate BLM Office. A completed Form MMS-3160 must be filed for each calendar month, beginning with the month in which drilling operations are initiated, and must be filed or before the 15th day of the second month following the month being reported until the lease or agreement is terminated, or the last well is approved as permanently plugged or abandoned by BLM, or until monthly omission of the report is authorized by the MMS. The MMS may grant time extensions for filing Form MMS-3160 on a case-by-case basis upon written request to the Chief, Production Accounting Division, Royalty Management Program, MMS.

on

(c) Specific and detailed guidance on how to prepare and submit the required production data on the Form MMS-3160 are contained in the MMS PAAS Onshore Oil and Gas Reporter Handbook. See § 216.15 of this part.

(d)(1) Operators already reporting onshore lease production data to MMS in accordance with § 216.54 of this part on the effective date of this rule may request to change to the provi

sions of this section. Any request to change to the requirements of this section must be made by advance written notice to MMS and have MMS approval.

(2) An operator who reports production data to MMS for offshore leases in accordance with § 216.54 of this part may request to report for its onshore leases in accordance with the requirements of that section. Any such request must be made by advance written notice to MMS and have MMS approval.

(e)(1) Except where disclosure is required by law, information submitted on Form MMS-3160 that MMS classifies as confidential will be protected as such by both MMS and BLM for the period of 1 year. Operators must petition MMS for each lease or agreement to obtain a confidential classification and to extend the classification period beyond 1 year.

(2) Except as provided by statute, information submitted on Form MMS3160 in regard to Federal leases and Indian leases which are part of a unit containing non-Indian leases is not considered to be confidential.

(3) Except where disclosure is required by law, all information submitted on Form MMS-3160 in regard to Indian leases, other than those included in paragraph (e)(2) of this section, will be considered to be confidential.

(4) Except as provided in this subsection, all other information will be released.

[53 FR 16412, May 9, 1988]

§ 216.51 Facility and Measurement Information Form and Supplement.

(a) The Facility and Measurement Information Form (Form MMS-4051) must be filed for each facility or measurement device which handles production from any Federal or Indian lease, or federally approved agreement, through the point of first sale or the point of royalty computation, whichever is later. The completed form must be filed by the operator of the facility or measurement device initially at the request of MMS during the conversion of facility and measurement device operators to the PAAS. After conversion, Form MMS-4051 must be filed with MMS/RMP no later than 30 days

after establishment of a new facility or measurement device, or a change to an existing facility or measurement device which is not approved by the MMS/OCS.

(b) The Facility and Measurement Information Form-Supplement (Form MMS-4051 Supplement) must be filed for each facility or measurement device that handles production from any Federal or Indian lease, or federally approved agreement, through the point of first sale or the point of royalty computation, whichever is later, when such facility or measurement device is operated by any party other than the operator(s) of the lease(s) or approved agreement(s) served by said facility or measurement device. The completed form must be filed by each operator of the lease(s) or federally approved agreement(s) served by said facility or measurement device if that operator is not the same person that operates said facility or measurement device. Form MMS-4051 Supplement must be filed at the request of the MMS initially during the conversion of lease and agreement operators to PAAS.

§ 216.52 Well Information Form.

The Well Information Form (Form MMS-4052) must be filed at the request of MMS for each Federal or Indian lease, or federally approved agreement, on which there exists at least one well that is not permanently plugged and abandoned. The completed form must be filed by the operator of the lease or agreement initially during the conversion of lease and agreement operators to the PAAS.

§ 216.53 First Purchaser Report.

The First Purchaser Report (Form MMS-4053) must be filed by first purchasers only upon the specific request of MMS.

§ 216.54 Oil and Gas Operations Report.

The Oil and Gas Operations Report (Form MMS-4054) must be filed by every operator of the lease or agreement for each Federal or Indian lease, or federally approved agreement, on which there exists at least one well that is not permanently plugged and