"The Interior Department on Friday proposed a new rule that would allow oil and gas companies to pay less money to the government in exchange for producing energy on public lands by changing how these royalties are calculated.

The proposal would allow oil and gas companies to deduct more for transportation and processing costs from the fees they pay.

It would also use an average weekly benchmark price for the commodities rather than the highest weekly benchmark prices to assess royalty payments for certain sales."

Rachel Frazin reports for The Hill August 7, 2020. [2]