In recent years, oil and gas firms operating in Alaska have claimed $4 billion dollars in tax credits. So what's all that money been spent on? Who knows.

Alaska officials say state law prevents them from providing company-by-company tax information. As a result, the state hasn't said which firms have received the tax credits, how they're using them, or how many jobs they created.

All of which makes it difficult to know how well the tax credits are working, said state Rep. Berta Gardner, D-Anchorage.

Lawmakers provided the credits starting in 2008 under the new tax system -- Alaska's Clear and Equitable Share -- in an effort to create Alaska jobs and boost oil flow in the dwindling trans-Alaska pipeline. But the lack of information means "we have no way of evaluating how well we're reaching our goals," she said.

Gardner recently sponsored two bills demanding to know more. The request comes at a critical juncture. The Parnell Administration is seeking a tax-break for oil companies, this one to increase oil production. But the governor's version could cost the state up to $2 billion a year without guaranteeing extra investment. Recently, Senate President Gary Stevens has said that deal is off the table and the Senate has launched its own effort to restructure the tax system.

Meantime, the public knows little about the lucrative rebates that have already been provided, deals that have made Alaskans one of the biggest investors on the North Slope and in Cook Inlet, Gardner said.

"Elements of fiscal responsibility have been bypassed," she said. "I'm not faulting the industry for this. I'm faulting us (the Legislature). We did not require it when we should have."

"If we're spending $4 billion, we should know what we're buying and I should be able to tell taxpayers," she said.

Everyone seems to agree the tax credits, which Gardner says provided $850 million this year, are remarkably generous. They give producing oil companies, such as ExxonMobil Corp., BP and ConocoPhillips, as well as exploration companies, such as Apache Corp. and Escopeta Oil, multiple opportunities to recoup costs for work such as drilling new wells or maintaining old infrastructure.

Bruce Tangeman, deputy revenue commissioner, said state law limits the amount of taxpayer information the state can provide. One section says tax information must be aggregated among three different producers or explorers, so data isn't revealed by the company, according to Tangeman. Another lays out the punishment, including prison, violators face.

"We're talking about taxpayer information. They have certain rights, and we are very very careful about disclosing that information," Tangeman said.

The bills proposed by Gardner, and co-sponsored by Rep. Chris Tuck, D-Anchorage, and other House Democrats, might avoid that issue altogether. Gardner said she's proposing that oil and gas companies agree in writing to disclose certain information in exchange for future tax credits.

She's looking for basic categories, not sensitive and confidential corporate data, she said.

"We don't care how deep the well is. Are they drilling? What are they building? And roughly where, which lease?" she said.

To give more detail, House Bill 263 calls for tax-credit recipients to provide their company name and briefly describe their project, how they spent their credit and where, according to a written statement provided by House Democrats. House Bill 268 calls for tax-credit recipients to describe how many jobs their investments created, including how many went to Alaskans.

Tangeman wondered aloud if such disclosures could have a chilling effect on new investment in Alaska, which he said is already declining.

He said he recently provided the Senate Finance Committee with additional information to help lawmakers understand the effect of the tax credits, and the state's high taxes on oil production. It shows that capital spending began to fall in 2010, when it reached $2.4 billion. In 2011, it was $2.3 billion. Seven months into this current fiscal year, it's down 13 percent compared to the same period last year.

"We're seeing Alberta, North Dakota, Texas and California increasing production, and ours is declining," he said. With crude prices at unprecedented levels and easily averaging more than $100 a barrel, the declining investment is "mind-boggling" and needs to be reversed, he said.

He's ready to present even more information to the Senate, as soon as he's invited back. The "five-year look-back," as he called this new presentation, will divide capital expenditures by oil and gas companies into broad categories such as spending on drilling or facilities.

The presentation won't provide information about individual companies.

Could it at least break down investments geographically, such as North Slope and Cook Inlet That's possible, he said. How about distinguishing between exploration companies and production companies?

That sounds "very feasible," Tangeman said. "We'd have to dig deeper to see how we could release that information." 

Contact Alex DeMarban at alex(at)alaskadispatch.com.