Congress wants oil industry to pay royalties that error let it avoid

WASHINGTON (AP)

“To force companies to renegotiate under the threat of … punishment that is to be imposed through legislation … is an attack on the sanctity of contracts,” Red Cavaney, president of the American Petroleum Institute, wrote lawmakers recently.

The issue is to be the focus of two House hearings Wednesday at which oil company executives were to be questioned on why they should get a mistake-generated holiday from paying royalties when oil prices and industry profits have soared.

USA Today