AUSTIN — The Texas oil and natural gas industry paid $27.3 billion in state and local taxes and state royalties in fiscal year (FY) 2024–the highest total in Texas history, according to the Texas Oil & Gas Association (TXOGA).
TXOGA President Todd Staples hosted a media briefing to share the Association’s annual Energy & Economic Impact Report and to provide an update on the industry’s global energy leadership, environmental progress, and its policy priorities for the 89th Texas Legislature.
“Remarkably, 2024 was yet another record-breaking year as the Texas oil and natural gas industry does its part to help reach Governor Abbott’s goal for our state’s economy to surpass France as the 7th largest economy in the world,” said Staples. “From tax revenues and production to pipelines, storage, processing, refining, and exports, Texas’ oil and natural gas industry has achieved record-breaking performance across every sector.”
“The oil and natural gas industry’s success in delivering for the Lone Star State–a success shared by every Texan–is the direct result of policy, partnerships and perseverance,” he said. “Texas leaders embrace policies that recognize oil and natural gas as an asset, not a liability. They view businesses as a partner, not an adversary. For its part, the industry has persevered through hostile federal policies of the outgoing Administration, global unrest and market volatility–including negative prices for natural gas–to shatter its own records, all while protecting and improving the environment.”
According to Staples, $27.3 billion in state and local tax revenue and state royalties from the Texas oil and natural gas industry translates to $74.8 million every day that pays for Texas’ public schools, universities, roads, first responders and other essential services. He noted that $27.3 billion is greater than 34 states’ entire tax revenues.
Staples said the United States is not only the world’s number one producer of oil and natural gas – with Texas at the front – but the nation also leads the world in emissions reductions.
“No one produces, transports, and refines oil and natural gas with the same commitment to safety and protecting the environment as American operators,” he said. “Industry-led initiatives like the Texas Methane & Flaring Coalition and The Environmental Partnership are dramatically reducing flaring and emissions and achieving environmental gains unseen anywhere else in the world.”
Between 2015 and 2022, methane emissions have dropped 42% in key production regions across the U.S., according to the EPA. According to a new analysis from S&P Global Commodity Insights, methane emissions from oil and natural gas production operations in the Permian Basin in 2023 decreased 26% from the previous year, equal to the total amount of carbon emissions avoided by every electric vehicle on the road in the United States that year.
In Texas, the flaring rate has dropped by 60% since June 2019 with a flaring rate of less than 0.94% in August, meaning more than 99% of natural gas produced in Texas was being beneficially used. Operators are working to eliminate routine flaring entirely by 2030, with many companies ahead of schedule.
Source: Texas Oil and Gas Association (TXOGA)
