More of the same, do whatever it takes to increase the profitability of oil/gas companies while our country goes deeper into debt.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/23/politics/23leases.html?hp&ex=1138078800&en=01638062a5dc8e2b&ei=5094&partner=homepage
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'A')t a time when energy prices and industry profits are soaring, the federal government collected little more money last year than it did five years ago from the companies that extracted more than $60 billion in oil and gas from publicly owned lands and coastal waters.
If royalty payments in fiscal 2005 for natural gas had risen in step with market prices, the government would have received about $700 million more than it actually did, a three-month investigation by The New York Times has found.
PeakOil is You
NYT: As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas Right
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NYT: As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas Right
by LadyRuby » Mon 23 Jan 2006, 09:33:31
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LadyRuby - Heavy Crude
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Re: NYT: As Profits Soar, Companies Pay U.S. Less for Gas R
by thorn » Mon 23 Jan 2006, 12:29:40
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')Because much of the information about specific transactions is kept secret, it remains unclear to what extent, if at all, the weakness in royalty payments stems from deliberate cheating or from issues with the rules themselves.
')Because much of the information about specific transactions is kept secret, it remains unclear to what extent, if at all, the weakness in royalty payments stems from deliberate cheating or from issues with the rules themselves.
Seems like they should have it open to the public.
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')The disparities in gas prices parallel those uncovered just five years ago in a wave of scandals involving royalty payments for oil. From 1998 to 2001, a dozen major companies, while admitting no wrongdoing, paid a total of $438 million to settle charges that they had fraudulently understated their sale prices for oil.
Since then, the government has tightened its rules for oil payments. But with natural gas, the Bush administration recently loosened the rules and eased its audits intended to uncover cheating.
I forgot, oil people are in charge...
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', '
')The Bush administration also took a much more relaxed approach to auditing and fraud prevention. In 2003, the Interior Department's inspector general declared that the auditing process was "ineffective" and "lacked accountability" and that many of the auditors were unqualified.
In one instance, inspectors discovered that auditors had lost the working papers for an important audit and tried to cover up their blunder by creating and back-dating false documents. Rather than punish anybody, the inspector general recounted, the minerals service gave the employee who produced the new documents a financial bonus for "creativity."
Administration officials said last week that they had addressed most of the criticisms and that the inspector general had since said its corrective actions were "sufficient."
The Interior Department also fired two of its most aggressive and successful auditors. One of them was Bobby L. Maxwell, a veteran auditor who had recovered hundreds of millions of dollars in underpayments over a 22-year career and received an award for meritorious service in 2003 from Interior Secretary Gale A. Norton.
Mr. Maxwell was fired in early 2005 after clashing with superiors over his belief that Kerr-McGee had shortchanged the government $12 million. Mr. Maxwell charged that he had been wrongfully fired, and the government paid him an undisclosed amount of money to settle out of court.
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