Production Reporting and Royalty Payment Issues Created by BLM’s Delay in Approving Communitization Agreements

February 27, 2024


The Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is experiencing delays in approving communitization agreements (CAs). Historically, these delays were limited to BLM’s North Dakota Field Office but, in the last few years, field offices throughout the West may take multiple years to approve CAs. These delays raise the question – how should producers report production and pay royalty while a CA is pending? The guidance the Office of Natural Resources Revenue (ONRR) is providing producers—report all well production, and pay associated royalty, to the first federal or Indian lease penetrated—is unworkable and creates additional challenges.

Join us for a webinar that will discuss:

  • The production reporting and royalty payment problems created by BLM’s delay in approving CAs;
  • Options to report production and pay royalty while a CA is pending and the risks and benefits associated with each;
  • Best practices to reduce the risk of enforcement actions by ONRR.

The confirmed speakers for this program, which has been approved for one general Continuing Legal Education credit in the state of Colorado, are as follows:

Event Information

Tuesday, February 27
Program | 8:00-9:30 AM

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Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP, one of the Rocky Mountain region’s preeminent law firms, serves clients nationally and internationally, with a strong focus on corporate finance and governance, mergers and acquisitions, natural resources, environmental law, real estate, and complex litigation. Our lawyers have extensive experience working with companies in the energy, mining, technology, hospitality, private equity, manufacturing, asset management, and aviation industries. As the exclusive member firm in Colorado for Lex Mundi, the world’s leading network of independent law firms, DGS has access to in-depth experience in 100+ countries worldwide.