Pioneer made $75 million from tax credits in 2007

Although Pioneer does not yet have production in Alaska, the company still brought in revenue from its Alaska operations in 2007.

The company earned $74.9 million in 2007 by selling and reimbursing petroleum production tax credit received for certain expenditures in Alaska, but unusable in the traditional sense because Pioneer does not have taxable production in the state to apply credits against.

Pioneer earned back $25 million through reimbursements from the state and the remainder by selling the credits at a reduced rate “into the market,” according to Tadd Owens, director of governmental and public affairs for Pioneer.

“There is a discount, but it is an arrangement we’re very pleased with,” Owens said.

As of the end of 2007, Pioneer had accumulated $90 million in “PPT related carryforwards.” In recent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the company indicated it would either use those credits to reduce future tax liabilities or sell the credits, likely at a discount, to a third party.

For 2008, the company set out a $1 billion capital budget, of which 10 percent is split between development drilling in Alaska and the Barnett Shale gas field of Texas.

Pioneer operates and maintains a 70 percent working interest in the Oooguruk unit in the shallow waters of the Beaufort Sea off the North Slope. The company also operates and maintains 100 percent working interest in the Cosmopolitan unit offshore from Anchor Point in Cook Inlet.

Outside Alaska, the company operates in the Permian basin and Gulf Coast regions of Texas, the Colorado Rockies and midcontinent areas, Tunisia in North Africa and offshore in South Africa.

Companywide, Pioneer earned $372.7 million in net income on $1.833 billion in revenue in 2007 and produced 41.3 million barrels of oil equivalent last year.

—Eric Lidji