Blogger Conference Call: Energy Issues Post Deepwater Horizon

Jane Van Ryan
Posted July 23, 2010

Yesterday API hosted a conference call with 11 bloggers to discuss pressing energy issues following the Deepwater Horizon incident.

Topics discussed included the deepwater drilling moratorium, the potential economic impact of new taxes being considered by Congress, oil spill liability issues, and new ethanol standards proposed by the EPA.

Eight industry representatives weighed in during the conversation, including Dr. Tim Considine, author of a recent study assessing the economic benefits of developing the Marcellus Shale.

At one point in the call, API Tax Policy Manager Stephen Comstock debunked the common misperception that the oil and natural gas industry receives more subsidies than any other industry:

"There's been a lot of statements out there that the oil and gas industry is the most heavily subsidized industry around...all that you have to do is look at our effective tax rate and realize that that's not true. On the whole, our industry's effective tax rate, at least for 2009, was around 48 percent, whereas the rest of the S&P was around 28 percent."

For more information, I encourage you to listen to the audio recording of the call using the player and follow along with the full transcript below.