Big oil companies facing prospect of heavy tax hit [View All]

Source: The Hill

Senate Democrats need big bucks to help pay for a big increase in renewable fuels production, which could spell big trouble this week for Big Oil.

Senate tax writers are considering a package that may offer as much as $25 billion in tax breaks and other financial incentives to encourage production of renewable fuels and additional efforts designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Other federal incentives would be directed at efforts that include sequestering carbon dioxide before it is released into the atmosphere, encouraging investors to build transmission lines, and researching “clean coal” technologies. Coal could also win with new incentives for converting the mainstay in electricity production into a transportation fuel.

Much of the tab for the new efforts would land in the lap of large, integrated oil companies like ExxonMobil, Conoco Phillips and BP, among the small group of companies referred to as Big Oil.



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