Interim Guidance for New Application for Permit to Drill (APD) Filing Fee

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR
BUREAU OF LAND MANAGEMENT
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20240
http://www.blm.gov

December 27, 2007

In Reply Refer To:
3100 /310 P

EMS TRANSMISSION 12/27/2007
Instruction Memorandum No. 2008-043
Expires: 09/30/2009

To: All Field Officials

From: Assistant Director, Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection

Subject: Interim Guidance for New Application for Permit to Drill (APD) Filing Fee

Program Area: Oil and gas operations.

Purpose: The Fiscal_Year (FY) 2008 Consolidated Appropriations Act (Act) requires a $4,000 filing fee for APDs. This Instruction Memorandum is intended to provide interim guidance on how this fee is to be collected and handled, until more expansive guidance can be developed and issued.

Policy/Action: Beginning on December 26, 2007, every new APD (including those on Indian Minerals) is to be accompanied by a filing fee in the amount of $4,000, payable by certified check or credit card. Any APD not accompanied by this filing fee is to be returned to the operator. Operators who file their APDs electronically are to be contacted and must provide information for a credit card payment, or their APDs are not acceptable.

Collected funds are to be held in a suspense account, until further guidance is issued on how to handle the filing fees. The Act directs that revenue derived from APDs will be credited to the Management of Lands and Resources Appropriation. A new Commodity, Subject, Action (CSA) has been set up in CBS for these collections:

Commodity – OIL & GAS
Subject – APPLICATION FOR PERMIT TO DRILL (APD)
Action – APD FILING FEE – INTERIM (455)

Timeframe: This guidance is effective for the remainder of this FY.

Budget Impact: There is no impact on the budget.

Background: The Act establishes funding for the Bureau of Land Management, as well as direction from Congress on our activities for FY 2008. The requirement in the Act for an APD filing fee takes effect immediately, thus requiring interim guidance to implement the filing fee and how to handle the monies. Final guidance will be developed over the next several weeks, and can be expected to address how to handle multiple APDs filed as part of a Plan of Operation and other issues that may be identified by this new requirement.

Manual /Handbook Sections Affected: At this time, the filing fee is only required for APDs filed this FY. Changes to Manuals or handbooks will be considered only if the fee is instituted on a more permanent basis.

Coordination: This guidance has been developed by Fluid Minerals (WO-310), and coordinated with the National Operations Center.

Contact: If you have questions or concerns, please contact me at 202-208-4201, or your staff may contact Tim Spisak (WO-310), at 202-452-5061 or Greg Shoop (WO-310), at 202-452-0334.

Signed by:
Authenticated by:
Michael D. Nedd
Barbara J. Brown
Assistant Director
Division of IRM Governance
Minerals, Realty and Resource Protection