The federal government could raise an additional $1.2 billion over the next decade through higher fees and royalties on crude oil and natural gas drillers and revamped oil and gas lease auctions, according to areport from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). While CBO offered no recommendations, it analyzed several options to increase federal income from oil and gas on federal lands. Those options included increasing production by opening new federal lands; repealing tax preferences for companies producing oil or gas on federal lands; imposing fees on non-producing parcels; increasing the royalty rate for onshore production to 18.75% from the current 12.5%; increasing the royalty rate for offshore leases when oil or gas prices reach certain thresholds, and a series of revisions to the Bureau of Land Management’s lease auction process. Gross income from onshore oil and gas resources averaged $3 billion annually from 2005 to 2014, and $8 billion came from offshore resources during the same period, CBO said. Last year, the Department of Interior launched a plan to adjust royalty rates on federal lands (see Daily GPI,April 17, 2015).
Kinney
Articles from Kinney
Briefs — CBO Report, PennEast Pipeline
The federal government could raise an additional $1.2 billion over the next decade through higher fees and royalties on crude oil and natural gas drillers and revamped oil and gas lease auctions, according to areport from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). While CBO offered no recommendations, it analyzed several options to increase federal income from oil and gas on federal lands. Those options included increasing production by opening new federal lands; repealing tax preferences for companies producing oil or gas on federal lands; imposing fees on non-producing parcels; increasing the royalty rate for onshore production to 18.75% from the current 12.5%; increasing the royalty rate for offshore leases when oil or gas prices reach certain thresholds, and a series of revisions to the Bureau of Land Management’s lease auction process. Gross income from onshore oil and gas resources averaged $3 billion annually from 2005 to 2014, and $8 billion came from offshore resources during the same period, CBO said. Last year, the Department of Interior launched a plan to adjust royalty rates on federal lands (see Daily GPI,April 17, 2015).
