AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties Act

Summary: Accounting for Methane in Production through Loophole Elimination with Oil and Gas Royalties or the AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties Act This bill amends the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982 to require, with respect to federal oil and gas leases, a lessee or its designee of a lease in a unit or communitization agreement that contains only federal leases with the same royalty rate and funds distribution, or a lessee or its designee of a lease that is not contained in a unit or communitization agreement, to report and pay royalties on oil and gas production each month based on the actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir by or on behalf of that lessee, including all oil and gas not sold by or on behalf of that lessee. (Currently, such lessees pay royalties on oil and gas production based on only the actual volume of production sold by or on behalf of that lessee.) &quot;Oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir&quot; is defined as any oil and gas that is produced, sold, vented, flared, used for beneficial purposes, leaked, or otherwise emitted during production.    

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Accounting for Methane in Production 
through Loophole Elimination with Oil and Gas Royalties'' or the 
``AMPLE Oil and Gas Royalties Act''.

SEC. 2. FINDINGS.

    The Congress finds the following:
            (1) Some of the mineral resources owned by the Federal 
        Government on behalf of United States taxpayers are being 
        developed inefficiently, costing taxpayers millions of dollars 
        in lost royalties, especially with respect to vented, flared, 
        and leaked natural gas. The Government Accountability Office 
        estimates that approximately 40 percent of natural gas could be 
        economically captured from Federal onshore leases, which would 
        increase Federal royalty payments by approximately $23,000,000 
        and reduce greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to up to 16.5 
        million metric tons of carbon dioxide, which is equivalent to 
        annual emissions from 3.1 million cars.
            (2) Significant emissions of natural gas are associated 
        with oil and gas production and transportation, including oil 
        and gas produced on Federal lands. According to a University of 
        Maryland study, these emissions can negatively impact air 
        quality hundreds of miles away.
            (3) Methane has a much greater impact on climate change 
        than carbon dioxide, and the methane emissions from oil and gas 
        production can greatly diminish the benefit of using natural 
        gas to help reduce the carbon intensity of the United States 
        fuel mix.
            (4) Available control technologies exist to economically 
        capture a considerable amount of natural gas and resulting in 
        taxpayers being delivered the royalties they deserve.
            (5) Requiring royalty payments on natural gas that is 
        currently flared, vented, unavoidably lost, and used for 
        beneficial purposes will lead to more efficient use of Federal 
        resources, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and increase 
        royalty payments to the Federal Government.

SEC. 3. VOLUME ALLOCATION OF OIL AND GAS PRODUCTION.

    (a) In General.--Section 111(k) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty 
Management Act of 1982 (30 U.S.C. 1721(k)) is amended to read as 
follows:
    ``(k) Volume Allocation of Oil and Gas Production.--
            ``(1) In general.--Except as otherwise provided by this 
        subsection--
                    ``(A) a lessee or its designee of a lease in a unit 
                or communitization agreement that contains only Federal 
                leases with the same royalty rate and funds 
                distribution shall report and pay royalties on oil and 
                gas production for each production month based on the 
                actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn from the 
                reservoir by or on behalf of that lessee, including all 
                oil and gas not sold by or on behalf of that lessee;
                    ``(B) a lessee or its designee of a lease in any 
                other unit or communitization agreement shall report 
                and pay royalties on oil and gas production for each 
                production month based on the volume of oil and gas 
                produced from such agreement and allocated to the lease 
                in accordance with the terms of the agreement; and
                    ``(C) a lessee or its designee of a lease that is 
                not contained in a unit or communitization agreement 
                shall report and pay royalties on oil and gas 
                production for each production month based on the 
                actual volume of oil and gas withdrawn from the 
                reservoir by or on behalf of that lessee, including all 
                oil and gas not sold by or on behalf of that lessee.
            ``(2) Definition.--In this subsection the term `oil and gas 
        withdrawn from the reservoir' means any oil and gas that is 
        produced, sold, vented, flared, used for beneficial purposes, 
        leaked, or otherwise emitted during production.''.
    (b) Conforming Amendments.--The Mineral Leasing Act is amended--
            (1) in section 17(b)(1)(A) (30 U.S.C. 226(b)(1)(A)), by 
        striking ``the production removed or sold from the lease'' and 
        inserting ``oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir in 
        accordance with section 111(k) of the Federal Oil and Gas 
        Royalty Management Act of 1982'';
            (2) in section 17(c)(1) (30 U.S.C. 226(c)(1)), by striking 
        ``the production removed or sold from the lease'' and inserting 
        ``oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir in accordance with 
        section 111(k) of the Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management 
        Act of 1982'';
            (3) in section 31(e)(3) (30 U.S.C. 188(e)(3))--
                    (A) in subparagraph (A), by striking ``production 
                per well per day'' and inserting ``oil and gas 
                withdrawn from the reservoir per well per day in 
                accordance with section 111(k) of the Federal Oil and 
                Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982''; and
                    (B) in subparagraph (B), by striking ``all 
                production removed or sold from such lease'' and 
                inserting ``all oil and gas withdrawn from the 
                reservoir in accordance with section 111(k) of the 
                Federal Oil and Gas Royalty Management Act of 1982''; 
                and
            (4) in section 31(f)(4) (30 U.S.C. 188(f)(4)), by striking 
        ``production removed or sold from the oil placer mining claim'' 
        and inserting ``oil and gas withdrawn from the reservoir in 
        accordance with section 111(k) of the Federal Oil and Gas 
        Royalty Management Act of 1982''.
    (c) Application.--This section, including the amendments made by 
this section, shall not apply with respect to any lease issued before 
the date of the enactment of this Act.