Public land oil and gas leases up 20% in 2011

Oil and gas lease sales on public lands grew 20% in 2011, a top official tells The Houston Chronicle, and the Interior Department has plans for more sales in 2012 and is mulling a boost to the royalty rate. In 32 lease sales, the Bureau of Land Management brought in $256 million on sales of 1,296 parcels of land, up from $213 million in 2010 on sales of 1,090 parcels, the Interior Department reports. Deputy Interior Secretary David Hayes says the numbers for 2011 include a lease sale in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve-Alaska in December. BLM has scheduled 32 additional lease sales on U.S. public lands in 2012, according to the agency. The department will “soon” propose a rule that could increase the 12.5% royalty rate for onshore oil and gas leases on public lands, Hayes says. He declined to elaborate on the timetable or what the proposed rule will contain. A report by the Government Accountability Office, the government watchdog agency housed in Congress, says the federal government’s royalty rate is less than what states and private landowners get paid. “It is not a trivial exercise to identify what particular royalty rates might make sense,” Hayes says. “Our intent is to make sure the American taxpayer is getting appropriate value for oil and gas development on our public lands.”