{"id":4260,"date":"2012-02-03T11:07:24","date_gmt":"2012-02-03T17:07:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/?p=4260"},"modified":"2012-12-20T10:08:12","modified_gmt":"2012-12-20T16:08:12","slug":"how-low-natural-gas-prices-could-slow-oks-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/2012\/02\/03\/how-low-natural-gas-prices-could-slow-oks-growth\/","title":{"rendered":"How Low Natural Gas Prices Could Slow OK\u2019s Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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JENS SCHLUETER \/ AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

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The price of natural gas is down \u2014 way down, and Oklahoma\u2019s state government is feeling the effects.<\/p>

Increased supply and a mild winter have curbed gas prices, and collections from natural gas gross production taxes are below expectations, Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller said yesterday.<\/p>

Oklahoma energy companies have already shifted their focus<\/a> to oil.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo much of our economy is tied to the energy industry,\u201d Miller said as he released his revenue report for January, the AP reports<\/a>. \u201cThat has to be a cause for concern.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>

<\/p>

While gross production taxes only comprise about 10 percent of the state\u2019s budget, declining collections could mean less revenue available for appropriations.<\/p>\n

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Click here to read the treasurer's report.<\/p>\n<\/div>

The Board of Equalization meets Feb. 21 to certify the amount of money lawmakers will have to spend on the FY 2013 budget.<\/p>

The last estimation<\/a>, in December, projected a $150 million shortfall. But general revenue collections were about 5.7 percent higher than expected, and Finance Director Preston Doerflinger was optimistic that the trend would continue through February and help fill the gap.<\/p>

“Now, the discussion is ‘maybe not,'” Miller said, reports<\/a> the Tulsa World<\/em>\u2019s Barbara Hoberock.<\/p>

The World<\/em> on the role of gas prices in December\u2019s rosy outlook:<\/p>\n

The December preliminary estimate was based on natural gas at $4 per thousand cubic feet, but prices are in the $2.50 range this week with little improvement anticipated in fiscal 2013, Miller said.<\/p><\/blockquote>

Also, in December, Oklahoma State University economist and professor Dan Rickman warned<\/a> in an economic forecast that the expansion of Oklahoma’s economy could be restrained by the price of natural gas and oil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The price of natural gas is down \u2014 way down, and Oklahoma\u2019s state government is feeling the effects.Increased supply and a mild winter have curbed gas prices, and collections from natural gas gross production taxes are below expectations, Oklahoma Treasurer Ken Miller said yesterday.Oklahoma energy companies have already shifted their focus to oil. \u201cSo much […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":4264,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[492,490,301,15],"tags":[178,101,229],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4260"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12123,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4260\/revisions\/12123"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4260"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateimpact.npr.org\/oklahoma\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}