EIA Updates Oil Severance Taxes For Six US States -- January 12, 2016

EIA updates oil severance taxes for Alaska, Texas, North Dakota, Wyoming, Oklahoma, and West Virginia. No surprises. No surprises, but Alaska is in a heap of trouble based on the graphs.

Look at the last seven quarters for Alaska -- all of 2014 and the first three quarters of 2015: the state received no revenue from the oil and gas industry in two of the last three quarters; and, in a third quarter (3Q14) almost nothing. Note the huge spike in 2Q14 preceded and followed by very low numbers. One can say the weather turns better in 2Q14 but that would also be true in 3Q14 and that was one of the worst quarters. The trend is a disaster; the volatility is terrifying.

Alaska taking action: Alaska Gov. Bill Walker announced a hiring freeze and limits on travel by state employees [January 5, 2016] as part of an effort to control a growing $3.5 billion budget gap. He had previously proposed Alaska's first state income tax in 35 years.

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Diesel Sales Down Across The US

Kemp/Reuters reports:

El Nino and the warm winter weather are being blamed for the weak demand for distillate fuel oil in the United States, but the slump in oil production is probably having a bigger impact. 

The oil industry was the fastest-growing customer for middle distillates like diesel between 2009 and 2014. 

The oil industry itself accounted for 20 percent of all the increase in diesel consumption during the five-year drilling boom.
 
Businesses engaged in oil drilling, pipelines and refining consumed 2.1 billion gallons of diesel in 2014, the most recent data available, up from just 760 million gallons in 2009.

By 2014, oil producers accounted for 3.5 percent of all distillate fuel oil sales in the United States, up from 1.4 percent in 2009.

One wonders to what the significant drop in gasoline demand can be attributed to the slump in the oil and gas industry.