"Paying royalty fees to the Government is counter productive if you ask me when that very Government of ours is asking for more oil drilling"
So the government should just give its oil away to whomever wants it?
With what the Government takes in taxes on oil, etc. I am saying that maybe it is time to help out the producers that have the oil leases. The oil industry as you know has been through some very rough times and couldn't afford to drill a lot of new wells not to mention pumping limits that were in place under Clinton. Maybe this would lead to more exploration and wells.
What risk does the government take in developing the fields? If you didn't have the producers who would get the oil/natural gas to the market? Not the government. How does the government spend the money (royalties) better than the producer?