The Bush administration, accused of failing to collect billions of dollars from companies that drill for oil and gas in federal waters, has said it would demand higher royalties on all new deepwater leases in the Gulf of Mexico, The New York Times reported on Wednesday.

The report said the U.S. government will raise the royalty rate to 16.7 percent from 12.5 percent of oil and gas sales, a change that it estimated would increase government revenue by 4.5 billion dollars over 20 years.

"Increased royalty rates will ensure that during this time of high energy prices the American public receives its fair share of the value of oil and gas," said the Interior Department Spokesman Gary Strasburg.

But the change will not alter any of the thousands of existing offshore leases, nor will it affect a mistake in hundreds of leases that could allow companies to escape as much as 10 billion dollars in royalties over the next five years, according to the report.

Source: Xinhua