3 oil and gas investments that bring big tax savings

Oil and gas investments tapping into tax advantages for drilling costs, qualified opportunity zones and 1031 exchanges could bring valuable returns with fewer payments to Uncle Sam.

Financial advisors working with high net worth investors or other clients seeking diversification with tax savings should consider alternative investments in oil and gas, according to Matthew Iak, executive vice president of the U.S. Energy Development Corporation, which invests in, operates and drills wells. While renewable energy gets its own tax advantages, some tailwinds are gusting behind oil and gas assets based on the higher likelihood that incoming President Donald Trump and the Republican-led Congress will extend policies such as the opportunity zones and expand the record production and growth started under President Joe Biden.

For high net worth and other accredited investors, the oil and gas assets represent “a really great financial planning tool” and a change in recent years in an energy industry in which “the tax tail used to wag the investment dog,” Iak said in an interview.

“Energy has designed itself very well to take advantage of these tax arbitrages,” Iak said. “It used to be a very tax-driven industry that wasn’t always as economically driven, and I think that paradigm has shifted as a whole in the last five to seven years.”

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The asset class remains a volatile one subject to an array of macroeconomic and geopolitical factors that are delivering “more uncertainty in energy markets heading into a new year than any year since the pandemic,” according to an outlook report for 2025 by S&P Global Commodity Insights. Wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, U.S.-China tensions, electricity demand for artificial intelligence and possible tariffs or pullouts from international climate agreements add up to just a few of them. Political pushback against ESG and bad actors’ frequent use of schemes tied to energy investing bring further potential risks or rewards.

“There are emerging technological and fundamental trends that will clearly have an impact on markets over the coming year, although how significant their impact will be is uncertain,” S&P Global Commodity Co-President Dave Ernsberger said in a statement.

Still, the prospects for energy investments in general for 2025 look “bright,” according to a December note by Fidelity Investments portfolio managers Maurice FitzMaurice and Kristen Dougherty. Other elements of the equation are weighing more heavily than the outcome of the election, which “should not have a significant impact on oil markets,” they wrote.

“The price of crude oil is likely to remain elevated in 2025 due to rising global demand, constrained global supply and elevated geopolitical risk,” their outlook report’s key takeaways read. “More energy producers are likely to boost crude-oil production in an environment of higher prices. Elevated crude-oil prices make it easier for many energy companies to generate higher profits, especially energy producers and energy equipment and services companies.”

Against that larger backdrop, Iak focused on three possible forms of private investments that are different from a publicly traded energy company’s stock or a sector-focused ETF.

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Drilling deductions

The first revolves around Section 263(c) of the Tax Code, which enables the deduction of intangible drilling costs for new oil and gas wells and future depreciation expenses on the equipment at the facilities. Investing in a new oil well could help advisors and their clients reduce their annual income for tax-bracket purposes while opening opportunities for strategies such as a Roth conversion or savings on a required minimum distribution from an individual retirement account and qualifying for greater deductions on the profits of pass-through entities.

“You’re able to write the dollar off, and most of it in the calendar year that you invest,” Iak said. “In financial planning, if you like the underlying investment, most importantly, and you can pair that with tax planning, it becomes a really amazing tool. You can net a lot of money when you do this right. …  It becomes a key to accomplish something in financial planning.”

Opportunity zones

Oil and gas or renewable energy investments in economically distressed areas designated as “qualified opportunity zones” under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act come with further tax advantages. Deferral of taxes on capital gains and duty-free growth after a decade tack on additional savings on top of the underlying returns. That’s why Iak refers to opportunity zones as “a mega-Roth for capital gains” and, although he admits he is “very biased” in saying so, why he believes they are “the single greatest tax code ever written,” he said.

With lawmakers expected to enshrine opportunity zones past their current expiration in 2027 as part of this year’s tax debate, rural areas such as some parts of the famed Permian Basin in Texas could garner an influx of investments, Iak added.

“Most of the benefits will be after 10 years, but that’s the design. You want that money to keep growing and growing and growing,” he said. “I think they’re going to grow immensely when they re-up this, especially with some of the potential rules that they’re putting in there.”

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1031 exchanges

The tax efficiency of other investments that traditionally seem devoted to different parts of a portfolio apply to some energy plays, too.

While 1031 exchanges usually relate to real estate investments in which an owner who sells one property and uses the proceeds to buy a similar “like-kind” asset can defer the taxes on their capital gains, they work for certain energy holdings as well. Some energy investments meet the strict requirements for so-called real property that would be eligible for a 1031 exchange — even if the original asset is an apartment building. Of course, careful legal counsel about the right structure for the transaction will ensure the highest possible savings.

“It tends to work extremely well for mineral rights,” Iak said. “It works just like any other 1031 exchange, and most people aren’t even aware of it.”