Oil and gas taxable values decrease

The Hot Springs County oil sales volume and gas sales volume has remained steady from 2015 to 2016, however the taxable value of both oil and gas has gone down significantly during the same time period.

For January 2015, the sales volume of oil was 208,455 barrels and the taxable oil value was $5,913,489. For February 2015, the sales volume of oil was 182,121 barrels and the taxable oil value was $5,979,367. For March 2015, the sales volume of oil was 199,028 barrels and the taxable oil value was $6,293,327. This makes for a total oil sales volume of 589,604 barrels and a total taxable oil value of $18,186,183.

As for natural gas, the January 2015 sales volume was 7,031 mcf (million cubic feet) and the taxable gas value was $22,387. The February 2015 sales volume was 6,212 mcf and the taxable gas value was $18,484. The March 2015 sales volume was 7,342 mcf and the taxable gas value was $20,423. This makes for a total gas sales volume of 20,585 mcf and a total taxable value of $61,294.

In 2016, the sales volume of oil for January was 188,075 barrels and the taxable oil value was $3,146,202. The February sales volume of oil was 165,515 barrels and the taxable oil value was $2,564,316. The March sales volume of oil was 172,897 barrels and the taxable oil value was $3,862,353. The total sales volume of oil for January, February and March of 2016 was 526,487 barrels and the taxable oil value was $9,572,871.

For natural gas in 2016, the January sales volume was 5,665 mcf and the taxable gas value was $11,744. In February, the sales volume was 5,177 mcf and the taxable gas value was $10,471. In March, the sales volume was 5,022 mfc and the taxable value was $7,158. The total gas sales volume for the months of January, February and March 2016 was 15,864 mcf and the taxable gas value was $29,373.

While the sales volume of oil has remained almost the same, the taxable oil value has declined by $8,613,312. The sales volume of gas has decreased more from 2015 to 2016 than oil, but has still remained close, but again, the taxable gas value has decreased significantly by $31,291.

Hot Springs County Assessor Shelley Deromedi said if this trend keeps up, it will certainly negatively impact the county assessed value again in fiscal year 2017-18.