Greetings, Utah Energy United!

 

One of the curses of modern living is a fundamental disconnect between the products we use every day and where they come from, how they’re produced, and their greater impact beyond our individual lives. We had a colleague who used to quip that “people think gasoline comes from the pump, electricity comes from the wall socket, beef comes from the grocery store, and lumber comes from the big box hardware store.” Our job at Utah Petroleum Association is to provide added context wherever possible.

 

That’s why we’ve laid out our assessment of the global politics that are greatly impacting the price at the pump, so you know why things are the way they are. To narrow our focus from the global stage to closer to home, let’s talk about our industry in our home state.

 

On the Announcements page on our website, you can see semi-regular updates of what we’re involved in. We mentioned a few weeks ago our Utah Gas Price Explainer, which we’ve heard from a number of you that this was extremely helpful. Thank you for the kind words and the feedback!

 

This week we’re pleased to point you to our 2026 Fiscal Impact Study of Utah’s Oil & Natural Gas Industry. The entire thing is well worth your time so you can see in granular detail the impacts we have on a county-by-county basis, the different types of revenue we provide to governments at multiple levels, what we fund at the state level, and a lot more. But here are some key takeaways:

  • The Uinta Basin is attracting more interest and activity from producers across the country, which is reflected in the $6b in acquisition value since August of 2024.
  • Fees and taxes related to the oil and natural gas industry totaled $6.9 billion from FY 2022 to FY 2026.
  • In 2026, total direct employees are 12,606 and total wages are over $1.3 billion, up from 10,249 employees and $897 million in wages from 2022.
  • From 2022-2026, top counties for taxes were Uintah ($1.8 b), Salt Lake ($1.3 b), and Duchesne ($1.1 b). You can find individual one-pagers for these and other counties here.
  • The revenue from oil and natural gas production funds multiple services we use each and every day such as education, roads, and public safety to name three.  Check out this page where our $280 million contribution to SITLA is listed, as well as the $775 million that goes to schools and other local governments through direct property tax.

We’re extremely proud of the work our members do, and the positive economic impacts that work has on each and every Utahn. Depending on where you live – if it’s in Uintah or Duchesne counties, the visibility of the oil and gas industry is nearly impossible to ignore – it can be easy to think of the oil and gas industry as out of sight, out of mind. It’s an abstraction. What our Fiscal Impact Study does is connect the dots between the industry and our daily lives more explicitly. It’s worth knowing how our industry works, how it affects the state budget, and how the money generated is spent.

 

Take a look at the entire 2026 Fiscal Impact Study on our website. And then feel free to share it with your own friends, colleagues, and neighbors. We thank you for it.

 

And thank you for your continued engagement with Utah Energy United. Happy Friday!

 

Be sure to follow us on X, Facebook, and LinkedIn. And if you know someone who should be a part of Utah Energy United, get them to sign up here. 

 

Rikki Hrenko-Browning
President
Utah Petroleum Association
6905 S. 1300 E. #288
Cottonwood Heights, UT 84047
(435) 219-0963
rhrenko-browning@utahpetroleum.org

Thank you for your many efforts!
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