WASHINGTON, Feb. 2, 2017 - Revenues from energy production on federal and American Indian lands dipped to the lowest level since at least fiscal year 2004, according to the Interior Department’s Office of Natural Resource Revenue.
Federal royalties collected from energy production are distributed among federal, state and other funds.
From FY2010 to FY2013, federal revenues increased, driven by growth in offshore and onshore revenue during a time of relatively high oil prices, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) reports.
Revenues in FY2013 exceeded $14 billion and have since decreased in each successive year, EIA says.
In FY2016, the data show the government collected nearly $6 billion in revenues from royalties, rental costs and other fees from activities related to energy production on federal and American Indian lands. These activities include the production of coal, oil, natural gas and hydrocarbon gas liquids (HGLs) as well as, more recently, renewables.
Royalties accounted for 86 percent of total FY2016 revenue ($5.1 billion) from energy production on federal lands, the agency says. Royalties are based on the amount of a resource produced and its value. As prices change, royalty revenue also fluctuates.
The data show royalties from crude oil accounted for 55 percent of the total revenue collected by the government from activities related to energy production on federal lands from FY2010 to FY2016.
Despite growing oil production, EIA says the revenue has decreased since FY2014 as the price of oil has fallen along with the valuation used to determine royalties.
Natural gas, including hydrocarbon gas liquids in the raw natural gas stream, made up an additional 20 percent of total revenue since 2010, the agency says, and decreases in the price of natural gas since early 2014 also affected total royalties.
Royalties from coal production contributed an average of 7 percent of total revenues over this period, the data show.
EIA notes that most of the remaining revenue came from rent on leases of public land (paid annually), fees and bonuses (a one-time payment paid upon winning a bid), mostly from production of fossil fuels.
Royalties and rents from other resources, which includes renewables like geothermal generation and wind energy, were about 1 percent of total revenue from 2010 through 2016, the agency says.
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