Oil, gas companies could pay higher royalties under proposed rule

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Oil and gas companies would have to pay more to drill on public lands and satisfy stronger requirements to clean up old or abandoned wells under a new rule proposed last week by the Biden administration, reports The Associated Press.

The Interior Department rule would raise royalty rates for oil drilling by more than one-third, to 16.67%. The previous rate of 12.5% paid by oil and gas companies for federal drilling rights had remained unchanged for a century. Read more.