U.S. Cuts Royalty Rates For Oil Firms

The U.S. Administration has been approving royalty rate cuts for producers on federal land on a case-by-case basis, with rates cut on at least 76 leases in Utah in recent weeks, Reuters reported on Thursday, citing data from a government database. Many small oil and gas companies have been struggling with the low prices over the past two months and some have called for royalty relief to help them with costs as oil crashed to four-year lows. The U.S. Administration has dismissed the idea of an overall blanket royalty rate reduction on federal land…