IRA gives US upstream tax and buyback headaches

The landmark legislation with the unfortunate acronym has garnered a largely negative oil and gas industry reaction, barring a few exceptions

The US oil and gas industry is still assessing how it will be affected by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) of 2022, which President Joe Biden signed into law in mid-August. The bill includes $370bn worth of spending on fighting climate change, cutting greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating the adoption of renewables—hardly likely to curry favour with US drillers. It also has far-reaching implications for the oil and gas industry. And while the sector has welcomed some measures, concerns are also being raised about certain provisions within the bill. One major area of industry concern is taxation. The IRA will raise the minimum corporate tax rate to 15pc for those companies that have book