The US Department of Interior’s Office of Natural Resources Revenue issued a final regulation that broadens revenue sharing with four US Gulf Coast states and their counties and parishes under the 2006 Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act (GOMESA). The rule, which is scheduled to appear in the Dec. 30 Federal Register, will become effective 30 days later.
Under this second phase of GOMESA, ONRR will disburse as much as $375 million/year to Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas and their eligible coastal political subdivisions, and as much as $125 million/year to the stateside Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF).
GOMESA provides for the federal government to share 37.5% of qualified oil and gas leasing revenue from certain US Outer Continental Shelf leases with the states and their coastal parishes and counties. The law also specifies that 12.5% of qualified revenue is provided to LWCF, and that the remaining 50% is sent to the US Treasury’s General Fund.
Under Phase II, GOMESA expands the definition of qualified revenue to include the majority of existing leases issued in the Gulf of Mexico program area since Dec. 20, 2006, and any future federal leases issued on the Gulf of Mexico OCS. GOMESA Phase II revenue sharing will begin with the disbursement of fiscal 2017 qualified revenue in fiscal 2018, ONRR said.
Contact Nick Snow at [email protected].
