XTO Energy Inc. has agreed to pay $16 million to resolve False Claims Act allegations that it knowingly underpaid royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Native American lands. The settlement resolves allegations that the company improperly deducted costs necessary to put the gas in marketable condition, deducted costs of transporting carbon dioxide and failed to pay royalties on carbon dioxide.
“Mineral royalties provide an important source of income for the United States, Native Americans and various states,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “This settlement demonstrates that the department will hold accountable those who knowingly take improper advantage of our public resources.”
“Taxpayers expect that every penny of these royalties gets paid,” said U.S. Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado. “Our office will make sure that energy companies pay what they owe when they take natural gas from leases on Native American and federal lands.”
“This recovery of unpaid mineral royalties is the direct result of the Department of Justice, Department of Interior (DOI)’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), DOI’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue and DOI’s Office of the Solicitor working diligently to ensure that revenues generated from resources under Federal jurisdiction are properly accounted for and collected on behalf of the mineral owners and the American public,”...
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