The federal Office of Natural Resources Revenue, or ONRR, has fined a Wyoming oil and gas producer $204,362 for not submitting timely production reports for its federal leases. Matrix Production Company was issued two notices of noncompliance before ONRR levied the penalties. ONRR spokesman, Patrick Etchart, says the production reports are used to keep companies in check.
“The production report is separate from the royalty reports the companies also submit, and we use that information historically in our auditing and compliance efforts to check what the companies paid for on royalties and we double check with the production reports to see if the volumes add up,” Etchart says.
He says the company was noncompliant for many leases and ONRR has “pages and pages of leases that were missing the production reports.”
The production reports were eventually submitted and Matrix continues to operate in the state. The company has over 200 producing wells in Wyoming with about half on federal land. Matrix did not return a call for comment.