Amendments to Gas Valuation Regulations for Indian Leases

The Minerals Management Service (MMS) is amending its regulations governing the valuation for royalty purposes of natural gas produced from Indian leases. These changes add alternative valuation methods to the existing regulations to ensure that Indian lessors receive maximum revenues from their mineral resources as required by the unique terms of Indian leases and MMS's trust responsibility to the Indian lessor. Further, these changes will improve the accuracy of royalty payments at the time the royalties are due.