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WASHINGTON — Oil and natural-gas royalty payments to the federal government are likely to fall below the $23.4 billion collected in 2008 as oil prices decline, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar said Monday.
“I would not be surprised if the numbers are lower this year than they were last year, simply because there is a significant decline in the price for a barrel of oil,” Salazar said in an interview.
The department’s Minerals Management Service reported a record level of royalties last year, more than double the 2007 level of $11.6 billion.
