Pa. House Bill Calls for Transparency of Deductions from Royalty Checks
On May 16th, Pennsylvania House Bill 1414 was referred to the Environmental Resources and Energy House Committee. If passed into law, the bill would require Pennsylvania oil and gas operators to share certain information concerning production, wells and royalties with lessors. The bill would require operators to include the following, among other items, on a check stub or on an attachment accompanying a royalty payment: (i) the name and/or number of the lease, property, unit or well for which the payment is being made; (ii) the month and the year of production; (iii) the total barrels of crude oil or total Mcf of gas sold; (iv) the price received per barrel or Mcf; (v) the total amount of severance and other production taxes and other permitted deductions; (vi) the net value of total sales from property, less taxes and deductions; (vii) the interest owner’s interest in production; (viii) the interest owner’s share of the total value of sales prior to deduction of taxes and other expenses; and (ix) interest owner’s share of sale value less the interest owner’s share of taxes and deductions.