60-Day Federal Register Notice

57798

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 186 / Friday, September 25, 2015 / Notices

Issued in Washington, DC, on September
21, 2015.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and
Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2015–24417 Filed 9–24–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Proposed Agency Information
Collection
U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy.

AGENCY:

Agency information collection
activities: proposed extension with
changes; notice and request for
comments; correction.

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ACTION:

SUMMARY: EIA published a notice in the
Federal Register of September 15, 2015,
inviting public comment on the
proposed three-year extension of its Oil
and Gas Reserves System Surveys. This
document replaces that notice and
corrects an error in the Web site address
for the collection instruments and
instructions.
EIA invites public comment on the
proposed three-year extension of the
following Oil and Gas Reserves System
Survey Forms that EIA is developing for
submission to the Office of Management
and Budget (OMB) pursuant to the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995:
Revision of Form EIA–23L, Annual
Survey of Domestic Oil and Gas
Reserves, Field Level Report; extension
without changes of Form EIA–64A,
Annual Report of the Origin of Natural
Gas Liquids Production; and continued
suspension of Form EIA–23S, Annual
Survey of Domestic Oil and Gas
Reserves, Summary Level Report.
Comments are invited on: (a) Whether
the proposed collection of information
is necessary for the proper performance
of the functions of the agency, including
whether the information shall have
practical utility; (b) the accuracy of the
agency’s estimate of the burden of the
proposed collection of information,
including the validity of the
methodology and assumptions used; (c)
ways to enhance the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be
collected; and (d) ways to minimize the
burden of the collection of information
on respondents, including through the
use of automated collection techniques
or other forms of information
technology.

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Comments must be filed by
November 24, 2015. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments
within that period, contact the person
listed in the below ADDRESSES Section
as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Written comments may be
sent to Mr. Steven Grape, EI–24, U.S.
Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue SW.,
Washington, DC 20585, by fax at (202)
586–4420, or by email at steven.grape@
eia.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Requests for additional information
should be directed to Mr. Grape, as
listed above. The information collection
instruments and instructions are
available on the EIA Web site at:
Form EIA–23L, http://www.eia.gov/
survey/#eia-23l,
Form EIA–23S, http://www.eia.gov/
survey/#eia-23s,
Form EIA–64A, http://www.eia.gov/
survey/#eia-64a.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Comments
and feedback are requested on the
following topics directly related to the
proposed changes to Form EIA–23L:
• Field versus County Level Data
Detail—EIA currently collects data on a
field level basis, but publishes reserves
estimates on a State and State
subdivision level. Reporting burden to
respondents may be reduced, depending
on existing record keeping practices, if
operators report proved reserves and
production data aggregated at a county
level. EIA is able to make accurate State
and State subdivision level reserves
estimates if proved reserves are reported
at a county level. Abandoning fieldlevel detail will result in some loss of
detail for reserve estimates; however, it
will increase the utility of the data by
facilitating the matching of other
economic data that are only published
at the county level.
• Well Counts (by County)—EIA does
not currently collect the number of
producing wells on Form EIA–23L. EIA
proposes to collect well counts by
county on Form EIA–23L to assist data
quality validation of the production data
reported on the form. Collecting well
count data by county is consistent with
commercially-available production data
that is based on well-level reporting in
many States and will facilitate data
comparisons and data quality
evaluations.
• Type Code—EIA is considering
deleting the Type Code ‘‘CH’’ for Chalk
from Schedule B. EIA has Type Codes
for certain reservoir types: CV for
Conventional, SH for Shale, CB for
Coalbed, CH for Chalk, and LP for Other
Low Permeability Reservoirs. CH is
DATES:

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currently underutilized and EIA
proposes to delete Chalk as a reservoir
Type Code. The two codes SH and LP
have been used interchangeably by
operators for tight oil reserves estimates
and may be combined for crude oil into
a new reservoir Type Code title ‘‘Tight.’’
EIA requests comments on the proposal
to delete Type Code ‘‘CH’’ for Chalk,
and combine reservoir Type codes ‘‘SH’’
and ‘‘LP’’ into a single category ‘‘Tight’’
for crude oil only.
• Fuel Types—EIA tracks the proved
reserves of four fuel types—two types of
liquids; crude oil and lease condensate;
and two types of natural gas proved
reserves; nonassociated (aka gas well
gas) and associated-dissolved (aka
casinghead or oil well gas). EIA
proposes to continue collecting proved
reserves estimates by these four types,
instead of combining them into Total
Liquids and Total Natural Gas.
• Producing versus Nonproducing
Reserves—Currently operators report
both producing and nonproducing
proved reserves by field on Form EIA–
23L. EIA requests comments on the
ability to report these data on a county
level basis.
• Extensions, New Field Discoveries,
and New Reservoir Discoveries in Old
Fields—EIA requests comments on the
utility of collecting and publishing these
three components of Total Discoveries
or whether it is more useful to report
and publish these components under
one data category such as ‘‘County level
Discoveries.’’ EIA also requests
comments on the burden of reporting
these three components separately.
• Field Code Master List—EIA
proposes to delete the EIA Field Code
Master List that is currently used to
report data at the field level. Changing
the reporting on Form EIA–23L from
Field to County level would eliminate
the need to publish or maintain the EIA
Field Code Master List.
All of the proposed changes that are
described above are shaded the color
yellow on the draft Form EIA–23L to
illustrate and facilitate the review of the
data elements that are affected by these
proposed changes.
This information collection request
contains:
(1) OMB No.: 1905–0057;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Oil and Gas Reserves System.
(3) Type of Request: Revision of the
currently approved Form EIA–23L;
extension without changes of the
currently approved Form EIA–64A; and
continued suspension of collection of
the currently approved Form EIA–23S
(suspended).
(4) Purpose: In response to Public Law
95–91 Section 657, estimates of U.S. oil

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 186 / Friday, September 25, 2015 / Notices
and gas reserves are to be reported
annually. Many U.S. government
agencies have an interest in the
definitions of proved oil and gas
reserves and the quality, reliability, and
usefulness of estimates of reserves.
Among these are the U.S. Energy
Information Administration (EIA),
Department of Energy; Bureau of Ocean
Energy Management (BOEM),
Department of Interior; Internal Revenue
Service (IRS), Department of the
Treasury; and the Securities and
Exchange Commission (SEC). Each of
these organizations has specific
purposes for collecting, using, or
estimating proved reserves. EIA has a
congressional mandate to provide
accurate annual estimates of U.S.
proved crude oil, natural gas, and
natural gas liquids reserves, and EIA
presents annual reserves data in EIA
Web reports to meet this requirement.
The BOEM maintains estimates of
proved reserves to carry out their
responsibilities in leasing, collecting
royalty payments, and regulating the
activities of oil and gas companies on
Federal lands and water. Accurate
reserve estimates are important, as the
BOEM is second only to the IRS in
generating Federal revenue. For the IRS,
proved reserves and occasionally
probable reserves are an essential
component of calculating taxes for
companies owning or producing oil and
gas. The SEC requires publicly traded
petroleum companies to annually file a
reserves statement as part of their 10–K
filing. The basic purpose of the 10–K
filing is to provide public investors with
a clear and reliable financial basis to
assess the relative value, as a financial
asset, of a company’s reserves,
especially in comparison to other
similar oil and gas companies.
The Government also uses the
resulting information to develop
national and regional estimates of
proved reserves of domestic crude oil,
natural gas, and natural gas liquids to
facilitate national energy policy
decisions. These estimates are essential
to the development, implementation,
and evaluation of energy policy and
legislation. Data are used directly in EIA
Web reports concerning U.S. crude oil,
natural gas, and natural gas liquids
reserves, and are incorporated into a
number of other Web reports and
analyses.
EIA proposes to make the following
changes to Form EIA–23L, Annual
Survey of Domestic Oil and Gas
Reserves, Field Level Report:
• Change the title of Form EIA–23L to
Annual Survey of Domestic Oil and Gas
Reserves, County Level Report;

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• Change the title of Schedule A to
Operated Proved Reserves, Production,
and Related Data by County;
• Operators will be instructed to file
their proved reserves by county rather
than by field. Line Item 2.0 will be
named ‘‘County Data (operated basis);’’
• Line Item 2.1.4 ‘‘Field Code’’, will
be changed to ‘‘County Name;’’
• Line Item 2.1.5 ‘‘MMS Code’’ will
be changed to ‘‘Type Code;’’
• Line Item 2.1.6. ‘‘Field Name’’ will
be changed to ‘‘Field, Play, or Prospect
Name (Optional);’’
• Line Items 2.1.9 ‘‘water depth’’ and
2.1.10 ‘‘field discovery year’’ will be
replaced with 2.1.9 ‘‘# of producing
wells’’, 2.1.10 ‘‘# of wells added [in
survey year];’’ and
• Line Item 2.1.11, ‘‘Prospect Name
(optional) will be replaced with ‘‘# of
wells sold [in survey year].’’
Comments and Feedback are
requested on these proposed changes to
Form EIA–23L.
Secondary reports that use the data
include EIA’s Annual Energy Review,
Annual Energy Outlook, Petroleum
Supply Annual, and Natural Gas
Annual.
(5) Annual Estimated Number of
Respondents:
Forms EIA–23L/23S/64A: 1,450.
(6) Annual Estimated Number of
Total Responses:
Forms EIA–23L/23S/64A: 1,450.
(7) Annual Estimated Number of
Burden Hours: 41,210.
Form EIA–23L Annual Survey of
Domestic Oil and Gas Reserves, County
Level Report:
38 hours (420 intermediate-size
operators); 110 hours (160 large
operators); 15 hours (270 small
operators): 37,610 hours.
Form EIA–23S Annual Survey of
Domestic Oil and Gas Reserves,
Summary Level Report: 4 hours (small
operators): 0 hours (Currently
suspended).
Form EIA–64A Annual Report of the
Origin of Natural Gas Liquids
Production: 6 hours (600 natural gas
plant operators): 3,600 hours.
(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and
Recordkeeping Cost Burden:
Forms EIA–23L/23S/64A: EIA
estimates that there are no capital and
start-up costs associated with this data
collection. The information is
maintained in the normal course of
business. The cost of burden hours to
the respondents is estimated to be
$2,965,884 (41,210 burden hours times
$71.97 per hour). Therefore, other than
the cost of burden hours, EIA estimates
that there are no additional costs for
generating, maintaining and providing
the information.

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57799

Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the
Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974,
Pub. L. 93–275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 772(b).
Issued in Washington, DC, September 18,
2015.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and
Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2015–24422 Filed 9–24–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. EL15–101–000]

RC Cape May Holdings, LLC; Notice of
Institution of Section 206 Proceeding
and Refund Effective Date
On September 21, 2015, the
Commission issued an order in Docket
No. EL15–101–000, pursuant to section
206 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16
U.S.C. 824e (2012), instituting an
investigation into the justness and
reasonableness of RC Cape May
Holdings, LLC’s Reactive Power
Schedule. RC Cape May Holdings, LLC,
152 FERC ¶ 61,224 (2015).
The refund effective date in Docket
No. EL15–101–000, established
pursuant to section 206(b) of the FPA,
will be the date of publication of this
notice in the Federal Register.
Dated: September 21, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015–24372 Filed 9–24–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. ER15–2582–000]

Carousel Wind Farm, LLC;
Supplemental Notice That Initial
Market-Based Rate Filing Includes
Request for Blanket Section 204
Authorization
This is a supplemental notice in the
above-referenced proceeding of Carousel
Wind Farm, LLC’s application for
market-based rate authority, with an
accompanying rate tariff, noting that
such application includes a request for
blanket authorization, under 18 CFR
part 34, of future issuances of securities
and assumptions of liability.
Any person desiring to intervene or to
protest should file with the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888

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