Alaska operators among best at MMS

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Three out of the four companies who won stewardship awards this year from the U.S. Department of Interior’s Minerals Management Service do business in Alaska.

ConocoPhillips, Shell Exploration and Production Co. and XTO Energy Inc. earned the Mineral Revenues Stewardship Award along with coal producer Foundation Wyoming Land Co., for timely payment of royalties and accurate production reporting, the MMS announced April 3.

The award, which is highly regarded in the oil and gas industry, also honors companies that demonstrated noteworthy cooperation with the Minerals Revenue Management Program in resolving issues related to reporting and compliance.

Established in 1987 to promote accurate reporting, the award distinguishes the best of more than 2,500 companies that submit monthly reports of mineral sales and production, and pay royalties for minerals produced from federal and Native American leases.

In fiscal 2006, ConocoPhillips submitted more than 1.5 million transactions reflecting royalty totaling about $540 million and production data, while Shell E&P submitted nearly 40,000 and XTO Energy more than 137,000 comparable transactions worth $175 million and $62.7 million, respectively.

ConocoPhillips boasted a royalty reporting accuracy rate of 99.2 percent, and a production reporting accuracy rate of 98.5 percent; compared to 96 percent and 96.4 percent, respectively, for Shell E&P and 99.8 percent and 96.6 percent, respectively, for XTO Energy.

—Rose Ragsdale