Oklahoma Cherokee formation study shows benefits of gas tax credits

To no one's surprise, the administration's recently released energy initiative package does not advocate the use of tax incentives such as the Internal Revenue Code Sec. 29 (tight sand gas) credit that expired Dec. 31, 1992. This is unfortunate since tax credits do stimulate drilling, as the authors' recent study of Oklahoma's Pennsylvanian age Cherokee formation demonstrates. Within this 783,000 acre study area, more than 130 additional wells were drilled between 1991--92 because of tax credit incentives. And such tax credits also increase total federal tax revenues by causing wells to be drilled that would not have been drilled or accelerating the drilling of wells, thereby increasing taxable revenue. In short, tax credits create a win-win situation: they stimulate commerce, increase tax revenues, reduce the outflow of capital to foreign petroleum projects, and add to the nation's natural gas reserve, which is beneficial for national security, balance of payments, the environment, and gas market development. The paper discusses the study assumptions, study results, and the tax credit policy.