Interior’s Proposed Commingling Rule a Win-Win for Taxpayers and the Environment

January 30, 2026

Washington, D.C. – Today, American Exploration & Production Council (AXPC) CEO Anne Bradbury issued the following statement praising the Department of Interior for proposing updates to the Bureau of Land Management’s (BLM) commingling rules:

“This proposed rule represents a significant step forward in advancing President Trump’s energy dominance agenda by slashing the red tape that has constrained the production of affordable, reliable energy on federal lands. Unlocking production efficiencies through the broad use of commingling is a win-win for taxpayers and the environment, enabling oil and natural gas producers to invest more in resource development while minimizing surface disturbance. AXPC applauds Secretary Burgum and the Trump administration for moving quickly to implement this common-sense reform under the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act, and we look forward to working with the Department of Interior to finalize this rule to support domestic production.”

BACKGROUND

What is Commingling? Surface commingling is the practice of producing oil or gas production from multiple federal leases or wells through a shared surface facility. By allowing operators to consolidate production infrastructure, surface commingling using modern allocation methods reduces capital costs and minimizes duplicative equipment, which helps reduce overall surface footprint and environmental impacts of facilities while still ensuring full proceeds from the development of these taxpayer owned resources.

One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act: The OBBBA requires BLM to approve applications for the commingling of production if the applicant agrees to approved allocation methods to ensure accurate royalty accounting.

Commingling Benefits:

• Environmental Impacts: Commingling significantly reduces the environmental footprint of oil and gas operations by limiting the need for multiple well pads, access roads, and processing facilities, which in turn decreases land disturbance, truck traffic, and associated emissions.
• Unlocking Federal Mineral Acreage: The broad use of commingling can potentially unlock federal mineral acreage that might otherwise be uneconomic or cost-prohibitive to develop compared to fee and state lands, which historically has led to stranded resources like marginal wells or leases that may not be viable on their own.
• Economic Advantages: Approved more broadly by BLM, commingling could reduce by half the number of production facilities needed across an operator’s annual development program. At a savings of $6–8 million each, in some circumstances, this can equate to $100 million in capital or more that could then be invested in additional development instead of in the build out of redundant facilities.