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Notable/Quotable: Federal and State oil royalties

6/23/2022, 12:43 pm
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Biden's latest political ploy makes a big deal out of the federal gas tax. The federal gas tax is nothing compared to the money the federal and state governments rake in from oil royalties.

From ABC News, April 15 2022 Biden increases oil royalty rate, scales back lease sales:

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The Interior Department on Friday said it’s moving forward with the first onshore sales of public oil and natural gas drilling leases under President Joe Biden, but will sharply increase royalty rates for companies as federal officials weigh efforts to fight climate change against pressure to bring down high gasoline prices.

The royalty rate for new leases will increase to 18.75% from 12.5%. That’s a 50% jump and marks the first increase to royalties for the federal government since they were imposed in the 1920s.

Biden suspended new leasing just a week after taking office in January 2021. A federal judge in Louisiana ordered the sales to resume, saying Interior officials had offered no “rational explanation” for canceling them.

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American Petroleum Institute Vice President Frank Macchiarola said officials had removed some of the most significant parcels that companies wanted to drill while adding “new barriers" that would discourage companies from investing in drilling on public lands.

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Most states and many private landowners require companies to pay royalty rates higher than 12.5%, with some states charging 20% or more, according to federal officials.

The Biden administration increased the federal oil royalty rate 50%.
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6/23/2022, 1:12 pm
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Though not gas taxes or oil royalties this is another thing the Biden administration is subjecting the oil industry (and America) to:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/biden-ener ... lead_pos10

To begin, Mr. Biden should stop the Environmental Protection Agency’s assault on small U.S. refineries, which produce roughly 30% of America’s gasoline and diesel. Longstanding EPA regulations require them to blend renewable fuel into their product or purchase special credits in a marketplace, but most can’t blend in ethanol because it’s too corrosive to be moved through pipelines. The EPA has long solved this problem by routinely granting these refiners exemptions if no credits are available, as provided by law.

Earlier this month, the EPA announced it is essentially ending exemptions and punishing refiners by retroactively denying exemptions back to 2016, requiring the industry to pay billions. Even the EPA admits consumers will have to cover these costs. Industry leaders fear some refineries won’t be able to operate under the new regime and will instead shut down, reducing the supply of gasoline and diesel still further.
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