Govt Allowing Oil Companies To Avoid Tens Of Billions In Royalties Owed To US Taxpayers...

NY Times EDMUND L. ANDREWS December 22, 2006 09:02 AM

The United States offers some of the most lucrative incentives in the world to companies that drill for oil in publicly owned coastal waters, but a newly released study suggests that the government is getting very little for its money.

The study, which the Interior Department refused to release for more than a year, estimates that current inducements could allow drilling companies in the Gulf of Mexico to escape tens of billions of dollars in royalties that they would otherwise pay the government for oil and gas produced in areas that belong to American taxpayers.

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