WASHINGTON (AP) - Federal investigators are looking at whether Interior Department officials played favorites or took money from companies vying for big oil and gas contracts.

The probe is the latest in a series of investigations into Interior’s handling of $10 billion a year in royalties paid by companies on the $60 billion in oil and gas they produce from leased public lands.

The latest investigations into Interior’s handling of oil royalties were reported Saturday by The New York Times, which cited unidentified officials speaking on condition of anonymity because the investigations were not yet made public.

Those royalties are the federal government’s second-biggest source of revenues, behind only taxes. Other investigations are looking at multibillion-dollar shortfalls in royalty payments.

The Justice Department is investigating the allegations based on the work of the Interior Department’s inspector general’s office, an internal watchdog. Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., said his staff were told earlier this month of two related matters that the Interior inspector general’s office referred to the FBI and Justice Department.

Markey said Saturday in a statement given to The Associated Press that it was “beyond the pale” that several Denver-based officials in Interior’s Minerals Management Service may have illegally benefited by acting as paid consultants to some of the oil and gas companies. At issue is whether the officials steered oil-trading contracts to favorite companies.

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