With tax reform on the agenda in Washington this year, the oil & gas industry is paying close attention. One idea is to eliminate a provision that allows companies to write off intangible drilling costs. The industry argues this tax incentive allows them to continually invest in capital-intensive drilling programs and the country’s oil and gas production growth would likely slow down without it.

Read more about IDCs on Breaking Energy here and here.

Continental Resources CEO Harold Hamm claims eliminating the tax break could reduce oil activity in the Bakken Shale by 30%. Continental is one of the largest Bakken producers.

EOG Resources CEO Mark Papa also thinks getting rid of the IDC provision is a bad idea.

“In my opinion, this is the greatest economic success story in the U.S. economy,” Papa said. “Why in the world would we want to apply more taxes to the oil and gas industry? That would be very stupid.” – Mark Papa as reported by Forbes