Any type of investing has an element of risk. Investing in the exploration of natural gas is no different. Investing in the exploration of natural gas is not like commodity investing. When you are investing in a commodity, such as gas or oil, you trying to buy low and get a return when the price rises. When you invest in the exploration of natural gas, however, you are investing in an opportunity to find natural gas by drilling. Because natural gas is so very much desired and a necessity commodity, there are various tax benefits that go along with investing in natural gas.

When you invest in commodities, you get no tax benefits. If you make money on the investment, you pay a capital gains tax on what you make. This is not the case when you are investing in natural gas exploration. You can write off a dry hole, for example, and any cost that comes from drilling for the gas can be written off in the first year of the investment.

If the project is successful, you can write off the profits over a period of years. This can often include a depreciation over the life of the well. Many investors will do a straight line depreciation over a course of seven years. You cannot do this when you are investing in stock, for example, that makes huge gains. There is a significant decrease in the capital gains that you have to claim on your investment.

If the project is unsuccessful and it ends up with a dry well, you can write off as much as 65 percent of the loss. This can actually reduce your tax bracket, saving you money when you prepare your income tax. The 65 percent loss write off is one of the reasons why many investors are eager to participate in the investment of gas or oil exploration as even a loss can end up a gain when it comes to tax time.

The reason that there are such tax incentives when you are investing in natural gas exploration is that the government wants to encourage these types of investments. While investing in stock that goes up can benefit both you and the company that owns the stock, a profit in the field of natural gas exploration can benefit the entire nation. This is the reason for the significant tax benefits when investing in natural gas exploration.

Even if you lose, you win, when you choose this type of investment. If the investment does pan out and the drilling is successful, you can find that you earn a high return on your initial investment that can often be stretched out to the life time of the well, allowing your tax benefits to continue well into the future.