By 2040, natural gas will surpass coal as the world’s second-biggest fuel source behind oil, according to a recent study by Exxon Mobil Corp.
Obama wasn’t just referring to natural gas, though. He wants to improve the reliability of other sources – wind, solar, biofuels. For that, he wants to shift tax incentives from the oil industry to renewables programs.
Given that much of new fuel development is moving toward cleaner sources, it makes sense to offer tax benefits, but it shouldn’t be an either-or shift from conventional energy.
As we’ve seen with the collapse of natural gas prices, companies will simply shut in production if it isn’t economical, and the shift to cleaner fuels will stall. So it makes sense to maintain some tax incentives for “unconventional” plays such as shale drilling at least at lower prices, and marginal producing “stripper” wells.

See the full article from “FuelFix (blog)”



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