The Minerals Management Service of the Department of the Interior, charged with administering leasing of the Outer Continental Shelf for oil and gas and other minerals, is proposing four new lease forms and will hold a forum to introduce these forms. The public notice, published in the Federal Register on December 24, 2003 (pp. 74647-8), contains a notice of the forum on February 11^th, and requests comments from the public on the proposed forms.

The forum, to explain the use of the new forms and provide instruction on how to fill them out, will be held at the Gulf of Mexico Regional Office, 1201 Elmwood Park Blvd., New Orleans, Louisiana, on Wednesday, February 11th, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. There is no charge, but reservations should be made because of the small seating capacity (175 people) in the conference room. To make reservations, e-mail your request and give the number attending to Sandra.Pavlas@boemre.gov.

The proposed forms, which require approval of the Office of Management and Budget, will guarantee accuracy of the information required by MMS under 30 CFR256. Additional benefits will be a streamlined and quick reporting system, reduction of time needed by industry to prepare the reports, and reduction of analytical time by MMS staff, thus hastening approvals.

The new forms are
Assignment of Interest in Federal Pipeline Right-of-way
Assignment of Record Title Interest in Federal OCS Oil & Gas Lease
Assignment of Operating Rights Interest in Federal OCS Oil & Gas Lease
Relinquishment of Federal OCS Oil & Gas Lease
 

The information in such forms is used by MMS to track ownership of all offshore leases as to record title, operating rights, and pipeline ownership, and whether or not the lease has been relinquished and is available for the next lease sale. The information is also entered into the Agency’s database, which is available to the public.

All written comments must be submitted by February 24, 2004, to the Rules Processing Team, Mail Stop 4024, 381 Elden Street, Herndon, VA 20170-4817, or email at rules.comments@boemre.gov.