Onrr

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has been fined more than $2.1 million by the U.S. Department of Interior for repeatedly underreporting natural gas production volumes in Oklahoma.

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) has finalized its Indian Oil Valuation Amendments, which expand and clarify a major component of tribal oil and natural gas leases pertaining to how royalty payments are calculated.

The U.S. Department of Interior has finalized its Indian Oil Valuation Amendments, which expand and clarify a major component of tribal oil and natural gas leases pertaining to how royalty payments are calculated.

The U.S. Department of Interior (DOI) has proposed amending its regulations over how it determines the value, for royalty purposes, of oil produced on American Indian leases. If enacted, the department said the change could boost tribal royalties by $20 million annually.

Due to the recent shutdown of the federal government, the Galveston District of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it could not give a time frame for when the agency would issue a permitting decision on the expansions of the Sabine Pass Liquefaction LLC terminal, a Cheniere Energy Inc. affiliate, and the associated Cheniere Creole Trail Pipeline. [CP13-553]. The processing of permits will take approximately 120 days. The projects then will be put out for public notice, the agency said. The plant and pipeline expansion projects would add trains 5 and 6, representing additional liquefaction capacity of about 1.3 Bcf/d.

Royalties withheld by the U.S. Department of Interior for fiscal year (FY) 2013, estimated at $109 million to date, will be returned to the states in FY 2014, but when that happens remains a question, according to a spokesman for Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR).

The Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) said it has assessed civil penalties on a Utah produce for “knowing or willful” maintenance of false, inaccurate or misleading royalty information on ONRR’s financial system.