Abstract
In the United States both state and federal government have provided incentives in recent years to maintain production, increase production, and discover new production. On the state level, the incentives involve mostly abatement or rebate of severance taxes. Oklahoma and Louisiana (and possibly other states) have had severance tax relief statutes in recent years that are producer helpful in maintaining production in times of low oil prices. All of the incentives are noted but the two discussed most require no investment by the operator. This paper gives a brief history of the statutes which might be considered relatively generous. In the case of Louisiana, the major statute could be considered farsighted in nature. Oklahoma's incentives history shows a rapid willingness to adjust to help maintain production. The paper also comments on the applicability of use of the statutes.
