Top bar

About POGO's Federal Contractor Misconduct Database (FCMD)

The government awards contracts to companies with histories of misconduct such as contract fraud and environmental, ethics, and labor violations. In the absence of a centralized federal database listing instances of misconduct, the Project On Government Oversight (POGO) is providing such data. We believe that it will lead to improved contracting decisions and public access to information about how the government spends hundreds of billions of taxpayer money each year on goods and services. Report an instance of misconduct »

ChevronTexaco Corporation

U.S. ex rel. Wright v. Chevron (Underpayment of Natural Gas Royalties)

Date: 12/23/2009 (Date of Announcement)

Misconduct Type: Government Contract Fraud

Enforcement Agency: Interior

Contracting Party: Interior

Court Type: Civil

Amount: $45,569,585

Disposition: Settlement

Synopsis: Chevron Corporation, Texaco, Unocal Incorporated and their affiliates agreed to pay the United States $45.6 million to resolve claims that they violated the False Claims Act by knowingly underpaying royalties owed on natural gas produced from federal and Indian leases from March 1988 to November 2008. The government alleged that Chevron, Texaco and Unocal improperly deducted from royalty values the cost of boosting gas up to pipeline pressures, used affiliate transactions to falsely reduce the reported value of gas taken from federal and Indian leases, and improperly reported processed gas as unprocessed gas to reduce royalty payments. See related Exxon Mobil instance, ("U.S. ex rel. Wright v. Chevron (Underpayment of Natural Gas Royalties)").