Associate editor at The Atlantic Jordan Weissmann had a provocatively titled piece yesterday on taxes and the oil natural gas industry which may have generated some traffic, but it certainly did nothing to contribute to an honest debate.  His premise was to identify tax increases on the oil and natural gas industry as a: “safe ground to set up camp for the budget negotiations.”

The US imposes tax on net income, not gross income, which means that all businesses, whether they are farmers, manufacturers or oil companies, are allowed to deduct their normal business expenses from income in calculating their tax due.  Accordingly, the oil and gas industry is eligible for business deductions that are the same as or similar to those available to other taxpayers.  Contrary to what others may sa... more »

This week API, on behalf of the U.S. oil and natural gas industry, furnished comments on the Energy Department’s 2012 study of the impact of exporting U.S. liquefied natural gas (LNG). You can read them in full here, but let’s cover some of the main points:

The U.S. has ample natural gas reserves …

We are the world’s leading producer of natural gas and a global leader in overall natural gas resources, with technically recoverable shale natural gas and total recoverable U.S. natural gas estimated by:

• U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) – 542 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) shale; 2,203.3 Tcf overall.
• ICF International – 1,942 Tcf shale; 3,505 Tcf overall.
• Potential Gas Committee – 687 Tcf shale; 1,898 Tcf overall.

.. that will amply support domestic and export marke... more »

Another video interview from the State of American Energy event earlier this month in Washington, D.C. Here, Chevron’s Dan Fager talks about the pillars of sound, pro-growth energy policy – new access to U.S. oil and natural gas resources, common-sense regulation and tax policies that encourage new energy investment instead of discouraging it:

“What we shouldn’t do is impose punitive tax increases on the industry. If you want to target tax increases that will result in less investment and less jobs, that’s a negative that will result in fewer of those (energy) developments.”

The video:

The decision by Nebraska’s governor to OK a new route through his state for the Keystone XL pipeline is based on a factual assessment of the project’s safety, as well as the economic benefits that would accrue. Fuel Fix.com has news coverage here. In a notification letter to President Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Gov. Dave Heineman wrote that his state’s Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) found:

• Construction and operation of Keystone XL, with builder TransCanada’s commitments to safety, “would have minimal environmental impacts in Nebraska.” NDEQ said the new Keystone XL route avoids the sensitive Sand Hills as well as fragile soils in the northern part of the state.
• The pipeline’s construction would bring to the state more than $418 million in economic... more »

With more than four years of study and review of the Keystone XL pipeline seemingly nearing an end, there’s yet another study depicting jobs and economic benefits – that is, if President Obama will approve construction of the entire project.

This report comes from Creighton University economist Ernie Goss and his team, who project more than 5,000 new jobs a year and millions of dollars in investment in Nebraska from construction of the pipeline. You can read the Goss report here, but a few highlights:

• More than $580 million in direct spending by builder TransCanada during the project’s construction phase (2013-2014).
• More than $570 million in spending during the pipeline’s operational phase (2015-2029).
• An average of 5,517 jobs per year supported during construction, gener... more »