[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 80 (Wednesday, April 26, 1995)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20504-20505]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-10196]



-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
Minerals Management Service


De Minimis Amount for Recoupments on Federal Offshore Mineral 
Leases

AGENCY: Minerals Management Service, Interior.

ACTION: Notice of amount.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: This notice establishes the amounts below which a royalty 
payor is not required to follow the statutory recoupment procedures. 
The Minerals Management Service (MMS) recently issued regulations 
governing recoupment of overpayments on Federal offshore mineral 
leases. Those regulations provide that MMS will publish a notice 
establishing de minimis amounts where it is not cost effective to 
process the recoupment request.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Paul A. Knueven, Financial Compliance 
Branch, Compliance Verification Division, Minerals Management Service, 
Royalty Management Program, P.O. Box 25165, MS-3670, Denver, Colorado, 
80225-3165, telephone number (303) 231-3316, fax number (303) 231-3760.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Royalty Management Program of the 
[[Page 20505]] Minerals Management Service (MMS) established 
regulations at 30 CFR part 230 (59 FR 38365, July 28, 1994, effective 
August 29, 1994) implementing Section 10 of the Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act, 43 U.S.C. 1339.
    Section 10 requires that requests for refunds or credits of excess 
payments on Federal offshore leases be authorized only if (1) a request 
for refund or credit is filed within 2 years after the making of the 
payment, and (2) 30 days expire after both Houses of Congress are 
notified of the refund request.
    In the regulations, MMS identified certain transactions not subject 
to Section 10. Under one of those exceptions, the regulations at 30 CFR 
230.461(h) permit payors to file credit adjustments for de minimis 
amounts without filing requests for refunds with MMS. Those rules 
provide that MMS periodically will publish in the Federal Register what 
the de minimis threshold is. Based on the cost experience for fiscal 
year 1994, MMS is establishing $250 as this amount. MMS will re-
calculate the amount whenever costs to process a Section 10 refund 
request change significantly.
    Under these procedures, payors may make credit adjustments for $250 
or less for each OCS lease and report month without filing a request 
with MMS. A credit adjustment for a lease within a unit may exceed $250 
of credits during one report month, provided the net credit adjustment 
for that month considering all positive and negative adjustments for 
leases in the unit is less than $250. For example, if leases A and B 
are part of a unit, a payor may submit a credit adjustment of $10,000 
for lease A and a payment of $9,800 for lease B within the same report 
month. Since the two leases within the unit net to a credit of $200, 
the payor is within the de minimis amount. As provided by the 
regulations, the overpayment recoupments must be made within 2 years of 
the date MMS received the payment.

    Dated: April 20, 1995.
Connie G. Bartram,
Acting Associate Director for Royalty Management.
[FR Doc. 95-10196 Filed 4-25-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4310-MR-P