A handbook for mineral owners to understand all aspects of owning minerals rights, including: leasing, calculating royalties, tracking activity, etc. The book empowers mineral owners to manage their mineral rights and maximize their value.

In FY 2007, domestic and foreign co. received over $75 billion from the sale of oil and gas produced from fed. lands and waters. These co. paid the fed. gov¿t. $9 billion in royalties for this dev¿t. The gov¿t. also collects other revenues, and the sum of all revenues received is referred to as the ¿gov¿t. take (GT).¿ The terms and conditions under which the gov¿t. collects these revenues are referred to as the ¿oil and gas fiscal system (OGFS).¿ This report: (1) evaluates GT and the attractiveness for investors of the fed. oil and gas fiscal system; (2) evaluates how the absence of flexibility in this system has led to large foregone revenues; and (3) assesses what has been done to monitor the performance and appropriateness of the OGFS. Illustrations.

Amid rising oil & gas prices & reports of record oil industry profits, a number of gov'ts., such as the State of Alaska, have taken steps to reevaluate &, in some cases, increase the share of oil & gas revenues they receive for the rights to develop oil & gas on their lands & waters. In FY 2006, oil & gas co. received over $77 billion from the sale of oil & gas produced from fed. lands & waters, & the Dept. of the Interior reported that these co. paid the fed. gov¿t. $10 billion in oil & gas royalties. This report documents the U.S. gov¿ts. take & implications assoc. with increasing royalty rates. It discusses: the U.S. gov¿ts. take relative to that of other gov¿t. resource owners; & the potential revenue implications of raising royalty rates on fed. oil & gas leases going forward. Illus.

Every 5 years, the fed. gov¿t. decides the areas in the offshore waters of the U.S. it will offer for leasing and establishes a schedule for individual lease sales, conducted by the Minerals Mgmt. Service. It¿s failure to include price thresholds on leases issued in 1998 and 1999 would likely cost the fed. gov¿t. billions of dollars in forgone royalties. This report: illustrates the potential loss of royalties because of the absence of price thresholds in leases issued in 1998 and 1999; and provides an update of the possible consequences of Kerr-McGee¿s legal challenge on royalties already collected and evaluates the potential for additional forgone royalties if price thresholds no longer apply to future production from the 1996, 1997, and 2000 DWRRA leases.

Mexico has large extractive industries and it traditionally has raised sizable fiscal revenues from the oil and gas sector. A confluence of factors—elevated commodity prices, financial challenges of the state-owned oil company Pemex, and revenue needs for financing social and public investment spending over the medium term—suggest that a review of Mexico’s taxation regimes for natural resources would be opportune, against the backdrop of a comprehensive approach to tackling Mexico’s challenges. This paper identifies opportunities for redesigning mining taxation to increase somewhat the revenue intake while maintaining the favorable investment profile of the sector. It also discusses recent reforms to the oil and gas fiscal regime and future reform considerations, with attention to the attractiveness of investment on commercial terms—an issue that should be placed in the context of an overall reform of Pemex’s business strategy and possibly of the energy sector more generally.

Oil and gas operations have some of the most unique accounting issues found in any industry. Oil & Gas Accounting delves into acquisition, exploration, development, and production activities, covering many industry-specific accounting issues. Topics covered include the successful efforts method, full cost method, reserve reporting, the unit of production method, severance taxes, take-or-pay arrangements, transfers of mineral interests, and joint interest accounting, as well as industry-specific controls that should be installed. In short, this is the essential oil and gas desk reference for the accountant.