The Interior Department has not made any final decision to raise the royalty rate for oil and gas production on federal lands, the director of the department's Bureau of Land Management said Tuesday March 27, 2012.

Bureau Director Bob Abbey contradicted recent comments by Interior Secretary Ken Salazar that the department planned to propose boosting the onshore royalty rate from 12.5 percent to 18.75 percent, equivalent to the offshore rate.

“We have completed our analysis and are continuing to assess the options that are before us,” Abbey told a House Natural Resources subcommittee. “But let me assure that there has been no final decision to increase royalty rates on onshore oil and gas.”

Salazar told Congress last month his department planned to raise the onshore royalty rate 50 percent in seeking to ensure taxpayers get a fair return on the development of public lands.

The onshore rate hasn't been raised since the 1920s, and government reports suggest the current rate brings in less money than states receive, Interior officials have said.

Producers pay royalties to the government based on the value of oil and gas they extract on public lands and waters.

The Denver-based Western Energy Alliance and other industry groups oppose raising the rate, arguing the current one reflects the higher cost of drilling on federal lands that the industry attributes to U.S. rules and application reviews.