Shell Pays U.S. $25 Million in Settlement Over Royalties

Royal Dutch Shell has paid $25 million to the U.S. government to resolve claims that the company underpaid royalties on federal offshore oil and gas leases, the U.S. Interior Department said on Tuesday.

The settlement applies to royalty-in-value and royalty-in-kind production from Shell deepwater leases in the Gulf of Mexico between 2000 and 2008.

Interior's Office of Natural Resources Revenue said audits of Shell's leases had uncovered "various valuation issues".

"This settlement further demonstrates that ONRR's audit program is working diligently to collect every dollar due from energy companies operating on federal leases," said Greg Gould, acting deputy assistant secretary for natural resources revenue.