I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 2053
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new oil or natural
gas production leases in the Gulf of Mexico under the Outer Continental
Shelf Lands Act to a person that does not renegotiate its existing
leases in order to require royalty payments if oil and natural gas prices
are greater than or equal to specified price thresholds, and for other
purposes.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
MARCH11, 2025
Mr. G
RIJALVAintroduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Natural Resources
A BILL
To prohibit the Secretary of the Interior from issuing new
oil or natural gas production leases in the Gulf of Mexico
under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to a person
that does not renegotiate its existing leases in order
to require royalty payments if oil and natural gas prices
are greater than or equal to specified price thresholds,
and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
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SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 1
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Stop Giving Big Oil 2
Free Money Act’’. 3
SEC. 2. ELIGIBILITY FOR NEW LEASES AND THE TRANSFER 4
OF LEASES. 5
(a) D
EFINITIONS.—In this section: 6
(1) C
OVERED LEASE .—The term ‘‘covered 7
lease’’ means a lease for oil or gas production in the 8
Gulf of Mexico that is— 9
(A) in existence on the date of enactment 10
of this Act; 11
(B) issued by the Secretary under section 12
304 of the Outer Continental Shelf Deep Water 13
Royalty Relief Act (43 U.S.C. 1337 note; Pub-14
lic Law 104–58); and 15
(C) not subject to limitations on royalty re-16
lief based on market price that are equal to or 17
less than the price thresholds described in 18
clauses (v) through (vii) of section 8(a)(3)(C) of 19
the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 20
U.S.C. 1337(a)(3)(C)). 21
(2) L
ESSEE.—The term ‘‘lessee’’ includes any 22
person or other entity that controls, is controlled by, 23
or is in or under common control with, a lessee. 24
(3) S
ECRETARY.—The term ‘‘Secretary’’ means 25
the Secretary of the Interior. 26
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(b) ISSUANCE OFNEWLEASES.— 1
(1) I
N GENERAL.—The Secretary shall not 2
issue any new lease that authorizes the production 3
of oil or natural gas under the Outer Continental 4
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1331 et seq.) to a per-5
son described in paragraph (2) unless the person has 6
renegotiated each covered lease with respect to which 7
the person is a lessee, to modify the payment re-8
sponsibilities of the person to require the payment of 9
royalties if the price of oil and natural gas is greater 10
than or equal to the price thresholds described in 11
clauses (v) through (vii) of section 8(a)(3)(C) of the 12
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 13
1337(a)(3)(C)). 14
(2) P
ERSONS DESCRIBED .—A person referred 15
to in paragraph (1) is— 16
(A) a lessee that— 17
(i) holds a covered lease on the date 18
on which the Secretary considers the 19
issuance of the new lease; or 20
(ii) was issued a covered lease before 21
the date of enactment of this Act, but 22
transferred the covered lease to another 23
person or entity (including a subsidiary or 24
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affiliate of the lessee) after the date of en-1
actment of this Act; or 2
(B) any other person that has any direct 3
or indirect interest in, or that derives any ben-4
efit from, a covered lease. 5
(3) M
ULTIPLE LESSEES.— 6
(A) I
N GENERAL.—For purposes of para-7
graph (1), if there are multiple lessees that own 8
a share of a covered lease, the Secretary may 9
implement separate agreements with any lessee 10
with a share of the covered lease that modifies 11
the payment responsibilities with respect to the 12
share of the lessee to include price thresholds 13
that are equal to or less than the price thresh-14
olds described in clauses (v) through (vii) of 15
section 8(a)(3)(C) of the Outer Continental 16
Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(a)(3)(C)). 17
(B) T
REATMENT OF SHARE AS COVERED 18
LEASE.—Beginning on the effective date of an 19
agreement under subparagraph (A), any share 20
subject to the agreement shall not constitute a 21
covered lease with respect to any lessees that 22
entered into the agreement. 23
(c) T
RANSFERS.—A lessee or any other person who 24
has any direct or indirect interest in, or who derives a 25
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benefit from, a lease shall not be eligible to obtain by sale 1
or other transfer (including through a swap, spinoff, serv-2
icing, or other agreement) any covered lease, the economic 3
benefit of any covered lease, or any other lease for the 4
production of oil or natural gas in the Gulf of Mexico 5
under the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 6
1331 et seq.), unless the lessee or other person— 7
(1) has renegotiated each covered lease with re-8
spect to which the lessee or person is a lessee, to 9
modify the payment responsibilities of the lessee or 10
person to include price thresholds that are equal to 11
or less than the price thresholds described in clauses 12
(v) through (vii) of section 8(a)(3)(C) of the Outer 13
Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 14
1337(a)(3)(C)); or 15
(2) has entered into an agreement with the Sec-16
retary to modify the terms of all covered leases of 17
the lessee or other person to include limitations on 18
royalty relief based on market prices that are equal 19
to or less than the price thresholds described in 20
clauses (v) through (vii) of section 8(a)(3)(C) of the 21
Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. 22
1337(a)(3)(C)). 23
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SEC. 3. PRICE THRESHOLDS FOR ROYALTY SUSPENSION 1
PROVISIONS. 2
(a) I
NGENERAL.—The Secretary of the Interior shall 3
agree to a request by any lessee to amend any lease issued 4
for any Central and Western Gulf of Mexico tract during 5
the period of January 1, 1996, through November 28, 6
2000, to incorporate price thresholds applicable to royalty 7
suspension provisions, that are equal to or less than the 8
price thresholds described in clauses (v) through (vii) of 9
section 8(a)(3)(C) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands 10
Act (43 U.S.C. 1337(a)(3)(C)). 11
(b) N
EW ORREVISEDPRICETHRESHOLDS.—An 12
amended lease under subsection (a) shall impose the new 13
or revised price thresholds effective on October 1, 2026. 14
Æ
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