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The
NewsRoom
Release: #3357
Date: September 26, 2005
MMS Delays Effective Date of Fee Adjustments
for Offshore Energy Activities
WASHINGTON- In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, the
Minerals Management Service is delaying until January 1, 2006, the
effective date of a
final rule that will adjust some existing fees and implement
several new fees for services the agency currently provides to the
offshore oil and gas industry.
The
final rule, published in the
Federal Register on August 25 and originally slated to
become effective today, requires MMS to develop additional procedures
that will be provided to the oil and gas industry in the form of a
Notice to Lessees. The primary office responsible for developing those
procedures, the MMS Gulf of Mexico Regional Office in New Orleans,
Louisiana, has been closed since Hurricane Katrina hit on August 29,
2005.
Additionally, lessees and operators will need to
make changes in their own procedures to comply with the rule. Many of
those companies are currently engaged in the restoration of normal
operations following Hurricane Katrina and may not be able to make the
required changes until normal operations resume. The delay will
provide relief to the government and the oil and gas industry as they
recover from this disaster.
MMS, part of the U.S. Department of the Interior,
oversees 1.76 billion acres of the Outer Continental Shelf, managing
offshore energy and minerals while protecting the human, marine, and
coastal environments. The OCS provides 29 percent of oil and 19
percent of natural gas produced domestically, as well as sand used for
coastal restoration. MMS collects, accounts for, and disburses mineral
revenues from Federal and American Indian lands, and contributes to
the Land and Water Conservation Fund and other special use funds, with
Fiscal Year 2004 disbursements of about $8 billion and more than $143
billion since 1982.
Contact: Nicolette Nye
(703) 787-1011
Securing Ocean Energy & Economic Value for
America
U.S. Department of the Interior
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