DENVER – Amended regulations regarding the reporting of production and royalties on oil, gas, coal and geothermal resources produced on Federal and American Indian lands were published today in the Federal Register.

The amended regulations, published by the Department of the Interior’s Minerals Management Service (MMS), are designed to align the rules with current MMS business practices. These amendments reflect changes that were originally implemented as a result of a major re-engineering of MMS’s financial systems in 2001. That re-engineering, as well as other changes required by law, resulted in changes to, or elimination of, some forms and requirements. The amended regulations published today align the regulations with current reporting requirements.

Among other provisions, the amendments align the regulations with updated reporting forms; eliminate references to certain report forms and codes that are no longer applicable; move up the due date for production reports submitted electronically; update certain references; clarify the requirement for reporting production inventory; eliminate references to some electronic reporting options that no longer exist; and clarify the reporting requirement for taxpayer identification numbers.