Money- gushing like oil....for the Oil Majors

Editorial - Oil Royalty Rip-Off - NYTimes.com: "A lot of money has already been lost. Bizarrely, several weeks ago the government began refunding about $2 billion in royalties to companies that had paid up. Future losses could be immense. About 70 of the no-royalty-no-threshold leases are already productive, with more to come. The Government Accountability Office has estimated that lost royalties could run as high as $53 billion over the next 25 years, depending on prices.

This is unconscionable — and unnecessary.

The oil companies, already richly subsidized in other ways, are generating plenty of money for new exploration. As Mr. Markey put it, “when the price of oil is above $80 per barrel, subsidizing oil companies to drill through royalty-free drilling is like subsidizing fish to swim — you don’t need to do it.”"