Report—oil and gas industry has been good to Texas

 

The Texas Oil and Gas Association reported this week the oil and gas industry paid nearly $14 billion in taxes in 2020 to the state of Texas and local governments.

In the association’s annual report, Todd Staples, President said the COVID-19 pandemic and what it did to the industry also showed one thing—oil and natural gas are essential and irreplaceable.

“While oil prices plummeted as a result of the pandemic, the need for products made from oil and natural gas skyrocketed. Nearly every in-demand product we need to be safe and to save lives – from face shields and other PPE to ventilators and hand sanitizers – is made from oil and natural gas,” he stated in the report.

Staples also pointed out that the oil and gas industry has paid nearly $163 billion in state and local taxes and state royalties since 2007.

“This revenue from oil and natural gas production, pipelines, refineries and LNG facilities translates into about $38 million each day that pay for our schools, universities, roads, first responders and essential services,” he said.

Staples said the $163 billion figure does not include hundreds of billions of dollars in payroll for some of the highest paying jobs in the state.

While environmentalists and some of the Democratic Presidential candidates clamored for oil and gas to be eliminated, Staples pointed out that before the pandemic, 96% of products used every day in the U.S. and across the world, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, cosmetics and clothing are made from oil and natural gas.

 

Click here to read the report.