30 U.S.C. § 1711 — Duties of Secretary
submitted 43 years ago by Pub. L. 97-451 to r/title-30-MINERAL-LANDS-AND-MINING · 443 words · no verdicts yet
The Secretary must establish systems to calculate, collect, and audit oil and gas payments. The section requires annual inspections, training, lease-account audits, competitive accounting contracts, and access to records.
(a) The Secretary must establish a comprehensive inspection, collection, fiscal and production accounting, and auditing system. It must accurately determine royalties, interest, fines, penalties, fees, deposits, and other amounts owed and collect and account for them promptly. (b) The Secretary must (1) create procedures for authorized, properly identified representatives to inspect at least once each year every lease site producing or expected to produce significant oil or gas in a year, or with a history of noncompliance; and (2) maintain adequate training programs for those representatives on the inspection and accounting methods used under this chapter. (c)(1) To the extent practicable, the Secretary must audit and reconcile all current and past oil and gas lease accounts, and collect or refund amounts as appropriate. Audits must follow the business practices and recordkeeping systems the Secretary required of the lessee during the audited period. The Secretary must prioritize accounts a State or Indian tribe identifies as having significant underpayment potential and may audit selected lessees’ and operators’ accounts and records. (2) The Secretary may contract with independent certified public accountants to audit a lessee’s or operator’s oil or gas lease accounts and records. Selection must use competitive bidding under the listed title 40 and title 41 provisions. The Secretary may not hire an accountant whose firm has that lessee or operator as a primary audit client. (3) All Secretary records reasonably needed for audits under this section must be available to any person or government entity conducting those audits.
The Secretary shall establish a comprehensive inspection, collection and fiscal and production accounting and auditing system to provide the capability to accurately determine oil and gas royalties, interest, fines, penalties, fees, deposits, and other payments owed, and to collect and account for such amounts in a timely manner.
The Secretary shall—
establish procedures to ensure that authorized and properly identified representatives of the Secretary will inspect at least once annually each lease site producing or expected to produce significant quantities of oil or gas in any year or which has a history of noncompliance with applicable provisions of law or regulations; and
establish and maintain adequate programs providing for the training of all such authorized representatives in methods and techniques of inspection and accounting that will be used in the implementation of this chapter.
The Secretary shall audit and reconcile, to the extent practicable, all current and past lease accounts for leases of oil or gas and take appropriate actions to make additional collections or refunds as warranted. The Secretary shall conduct audits and reconciliations of lease accounts in conformity with the business practices and recordkeeping systems which were required of the lessee by the Secretary for the period covered by the audit. The Secretary shall give priority to auditing those lease accounts identified by a State or Indian tribe as having significant potential for underpayment. The Secretary may also audit accounts and records of selected lessees and operators.
The Secretary may enter into contracts or other appropriate arrangements with independent certified public accountants to undertake audits of accounts and records of any lessee or operator relating to the lease of oil or gas. Selection of such independent certified public accountants shall be by competitive bidding in accordance with chapters 1 to 11 of title 40 and division C (except sections 3302, 3307(e), 3501(b), 3509, 3906, 4710, and 4711) of subtitle I of title 41, except that the Secretary may not enter into a contract or other arrangement with any independent certified public accountant to audit any lessee or operator where such lessee or operator is a primary audit client of such certified public accountant.
All books, accounts, financial records, reports, files, and other papers of the Secretary, or used by the Secretary, which are reasonably necessary to facilitate the audits required under this section shall be made available to any person or governmental entity conducting audits under this chapter.
Source credit: (Pub. L. 97–451, title I, § 101, Jan. 12, 1983, 96 Stat. 2449.)
- 1983Enacted · Pub. L. 97-451 · 96 Stat. 2449
A history note hasn’t been published yet. The record shows enactment by Pub. L. 97-451 on 1983-01-12.
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