The Interior Department, which last spring allowed oil and natural gas producers to sharply reduce royalty payments because of Covid-19, failed to evaluate the policy to determine how much relief was needed or how much it would cost, according to the federal government watchdog.

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) in a report issued to Congress on Tuesday said Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM) needed a better analysis of costs and benefits to ensure there were uniform decisions in exploration and production (E&P) requests.

BLM’s temporary policy came in reaction to falling domestic oil prices related in part to the pandemic, noted GAO’s Frank Rusco, director of Natural Resources and Environment. He discussed the findings before the House Subcommittee on...