Breaks

The North Dakota Senate voted in March to support hydraulic fracturing and to extend oil tax breaks in the unlikely event that oil prices sharply decline, but turned down a proposal to reduce the top oil tax rate in exchange for higher production totals.

Last week the North Dakota Senate voted to support hydraulic fracturing and to extend oil tax breaks in the unlikely event that oil prices sharply decline, but turned down a proposal to reduce the top oil tax rate in exchange for higher production totals.

President Obama’s budget proposal to repeal in fiscal year (FY) 2011 $36.5 billion in tax breaks for the oil and natural gas industry — notably the popular expensing of intangible drilling costs (IDC), which independent producers contend is critical to their business — will meet with resistance in Congress, say energy analysts with FBR Capital Markets (see Daily GPI, Feb. 2).

President Obama’s budget proposal to repeal in fiscal year (FY) 2011 $36.5 billion in tax breaks for the oil and natural gas industry — notably the popular expensing of intangible drilling costs (IDC), which independent producers contend is critical to their business — will meet with resistance in Congress, say energy analysts with FBR Capital Markets (see Daily GPI, Feb. 2).

After years of resisting special financial treatment for unconventional drilling, the Alberta government is showing signs of preparing to grant new breaks to kick-start activity that has to date largely bypassed Canada’s largest producing province.

After years of resisting special financial treatment for unconventional drilling, the Alberta government is showing signs of preparing to grant new breaks to kick-start activity that has to date largely bypassed Canada’s largest producing province.

Tax breaks for compressed natural gas (CNG) infrastructure development offered by the state of Oklahoma appear to be working as Houston-based Apache Corp. has said it will construct two more CNG refueling stations to take advantage of the incentives.

The Senate last Tuesday voted not to move forward with Democratic energy legislation that would revoke $17 billion in tax breaks for energy companies, impose a windfall profits tax on energy companies that don’t invest in renewable energy sources and impose federal penalties for energy price gouging (see NGI, May 12).

The Senate Tuesday voted not to move forward with Democratic energy legislation that would revoke $17 billion in tax breaks for energy companies, impose a windfall profits tax on energy companies that don’t invest in renewable energy sources and impose federal penalties for energy price gouging (see Daily GPI, May 8).