Oil and Gas Helped Fuel Record Year for Oklahoma Tax Revenue

• Joe Wertz
  BioRecent Stories

  

  Joe Wertz was a reporter and managing editor for StateImpact Oklahoma from 2011-2019. He reported on energy and environment issues for national NPR audiences and other national outlets. He previously worked as a managing editor, assistant editor and staff reporter at several major Oklahoma newspapers and studied journalism at the University of Central Oklahoma.

Over the last 12 months, the state has collected $11.3 billion in tax revenue — an all-time high, State Treasurer Ken Miller said Monday.

The record tax receipt — $12.6 million higher than the previous record set in December 2008 — is an indication that Oklahoma has recovered from the Great Recession, Miller said.

One of the tax sectors that showed the most growth over the last was gross production taxes on oil and natural gas, Miller said. The state is benefitting from high oil prices and rebounding natural gas prices, which concerned state revenue officials last year. The Journal Record’s M. Scott Carter breaks it down:

Last year, oil and gas industry officials were concerned that overproduction in the natural gas sector was pushing the price down. Miller said natural gas supplies have decreased and prices have increased. He said the Aug. 5 report from Baker Hughes showed 168 wells under development in Oklahoma; of that figure 149 wells were for oil and 19 for natural gas.

“Right now the supply of natural gas has dropped considerably,” he said. “When you’re approaching a 20-percent reduction in the supply of a natural resource that’s going to be better for prices if you’re on the producer’s side.”