Deepwater Lease Royalty Case
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit recently upheld a lower court decision finding that the federal government could not collect royalties on certain deepwater leases held by Anadarko in the Gulf of Mexico. The issue involved whether the Department of Interior had the authority to suspend royalty relief established by Congress under the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water Royalty Relief Act for production volumes that were less than the volume thresholds established in the Act itself. The court held that it did not.
A copy of the court's decision can be found here.
