Royalty

The Department of Interior (DOI) followed through on its promise last month to begin taking public comments over a proposal to empower the Bureau of Land Management (BLM) to adjust royalty rates for drilling on public lands.

A group of Pennsylvania landowners has filed a lawsuit asserting that Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Access Midstream Partners LP, now part of Williams, conspired to constrain trade for natural gas market services in Bradford County, in violation of federal antitrust laws.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has agreed to pay $119 million to settle a lawsuit in Oklahoma that alleges the producer underpaid natural gas royalties on nearly 12,000 wells over a 10-year period.

In their first meeting of Pennsylvania’s 2015-2016 legislative session, members of the state Senate Environmental Resources and Energy Committee voted unanimously to advance a pair of bills that would give landowners more transparency and protection when making inquiries about their lease agreements.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has received subpoenas from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and state agencies in connection with leasehold purchases and royalty underpayments, according to a regulatory filing.

Pennsylvania Attorney General (AG) Kathleen Kane’s office appears to be pressing ahead with a far-reaching investigation into the royalty deductions by Chesapeake Energy Corp. from landowner’s checks, most recently issuing administrative subpoenas to multiple companies operating in the state.

Chesapeake Energy Corp. has agreed to pay the North Texas city of Arlington $700,000 to settle a dispute over Barnett Shale-related natural gas royalties.

A top Republican state senator confirmed Thursday that the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s office is reviewing landowner complaints about unfair post-production costs that Chesapeake Energy Corp. has allegedly been deducting from royalty checks.

A study commissioned by the Alaska Department of Natural Resources (DNR) on the commercial aspects of the Alaska liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project that the three major North Slope oil producers (ExxonMobil Corp., BP plc, ConocoPhillips and TransCanada Corp.) are pursuing says the state would benefit from having an equity stake in the pipeline and LNG project.