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The Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association’s Annual Meeting will be held on Friday, November 20. In 2016, Oklahoma’s oil and natural gas industry faces a number of obstacles. The goal of the Oklahoma Oil & Gas Association is to turn these obstacles into opportunities for a stronger energy industry. During the general session, we will discuss the economic outlook for the state, seismic activity and the Corporation Commission’s response and authority, industrial water use, spacing and long laterals, and solutions to these and other barriers to growth of the industry in Oklahoma. The luncheon keynote speaker will be U.S. Senator James Lankford. Sponsorship opportunities are available. (Registration)
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Interim Studies
October 27: S IS 15-26 Evaluation of Geographic Boundaries for Ad Valorem Valuation Across Multi-County Areas to Compare for Accuracy and Efficiency (Dahm) - CANCELLED
October 30: S IS 15-55 Senate Study on Seismic Activity. It will be held jointly with the previously announced House Environmental Law Committee (H IS 15-038, H IS 15-054, and H IS 15-110). This interim study was requested by OKOGA. Discussion will include the Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s authority to issue directives aimed at impacting induced seismic activity, as well as others’ legislative proposals to address this issue.
October 30: S IS 15-48 Senate Study on the effect of new federal carbon emission regulations on Oklahoma consumers and businesses.
November 2: H IS 15-5/H IS 15-21: H IS15-021 Drought and Redistribution of Water (Cox, Osborn), combined with H IS15-005 Addressing Drought Conditions and Ways to Potentially Redistribute Water from Eastern to Western Oklahoma (Osborn, Cox) (eCap: Studies set for full House consideration)
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OCC ISSUES NEW DIRECTIVE
The Oklahoma Corporation Commission’s Oil and Gas Conservation Division added additional oil and gas wastewater disposal wells to its action plan for Cushing. The goal of the plan is to reduce the risk of induced earthquakes in the Cushing area by changing the operations of the specified disposal wells. With the latest addition, the plan now calls for operational changes at a total of 13 disposal wells. Operators of 13 other disposal wells were put on notice that changes may be needed in the future. (OCC press release) (NewsOK reports)
OCC: CHAPTER 5 AND 10 PROPOSED CHANGES
The next meetings of the Commission’s Oil and Gas Conservation Division Advisory Subcommittees are scheduled at 10:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2015, in Courtroom 301, Jim Thorpe Office Building, 2101 North Lincoln Boulevard, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Draft amendments to OAC 165:10, Oil and Gas Conservation rules, will be discussed at the 10:00 a.m. meeting, and draft amendments to OAC 165:5, Rules of Practice, will be discussed during the 1:30 p.m. meeting. Attendees will also have opportunities to present issues that may need to be addressed through proposed amendments to Commission rules. Draft amendments to OAC 165:5, Rules of Practice and OAC 165:10, Oil and Gas Conservation rules will be available for review prior to the November 2, 2015, meeting.
GOVERNOR’S ENERGY CONFERENCE
The 2015 Governor’s Energy Conference will be held Tuesday, November 10, 2015, at the Cox Convention Center in Oklahoma City. OKOGA President Chad Warmington will be part of a panel discussing “Energy and the Environment: Insights and Implications.” He will be on the panel with Dr. Jeremy Boak, Director of the Oklahoma Geological Survey, and Dr. Mark Zoback of Stanford University. Oklahoma Corporation Commissioner Dana Murphy will moderate.
Marathon Oil Corporation President and CEO Lee Tillman will be the Luncheon Keynote speaker. Other OKOGA members are also on the conference agenda and have been encouraged to share the message that Oklahoma needs to update its laws to allow multi-unit/long lateral drilling. Part of the message shared includes, “The state missed out on an opportunity for additional revenue due to additional production this change would have brought to the state. Instead neighboring states with similar laws remain more competitive for limited drilling dollars.” For more details, please see the conference agenda.
OIL & GAS 101: MIDSTREAM TOUR
On Monday, November 9, OKOGA will be conducting Oil & Gas 101: Midstream Tour. Oklahoma legislators have been invited to attend. They will be touring the facilities of ONEOK’s natural gas liquid processing plant in Medford, Phillips 66’s Ponca City refinery, Enbridge’s tank farm in Cushing and other member sites in Cushing. This is part of an on-going series to educate lawmakers, decision makers and opinion leaders on the oil and gas industry in Oklahoma. For future Oil & Gas: 101 activities, OKOGA seeks to host a rig tour and tours of other OKOGA member locations.
ENERGY DEPARTMENT REPORT EXAMINES ENERGY SECTOR CLIMATE CHANGE IMPACTS
The Department of Energy has released a new report that examines the current and potential future impacts of climate change and extreme weather on the U.S. energy sector. The report includes analysis of regional-specific climate challenges and is intended to be used as a resource tool for utility owners and infrastructure planners.
Key findings from the new report, "Climate Change and the U.S. Energy Sector: Regional Vulnerabilities and Resilience Solutions," include: * Oil and gas upstream operations are most vulnerable in the Southeast, Southern Great Plains, and Alaska. * Fuel transport in every region is vulnerable to a variety of climate impacts, including increasing heavy precipitation, heat waves, drought, hurricanes, and sea level rise-enhanced storm surge.
The full report is available for download.
UPDATED GUIDE AVAILABLE: TRENCHING AND EXCAVATION SAFETY
Trench and excavation work are among the most hazardous operations in construction. Because one cubic yard of soil can weigh as much as a car, an unprotected trench can be an early grave. OSHA's updated guide to Trenching and Excavation Safety* highlights key elements of the applicable workplace standards and describes safe practices that employers can follow to protect workers from cave-ins and other hazards. A new section in the updated guide addresses safety factors that an employer should consider when bidding on a job. Expanded sections describe maintaining materials and equipment used for worker protection systems as well as additional hazards associated with excavations.
ESA
Obama leaving mark on contentious law – with scant Hill input. E&E News (sub req’d). The Obama administration is quietly reshaping the Endangered Species Act in hopes of tempering congressional critics and avoiding courtroom battles. Over the past several years, the administration has pushed a series of administrative reforms that it says will make the 1973 law more nimble, transparent and legally defensible. It has shifted course on how the law is applied, utilizing incentives over regulations to coax industry and private landowners to save vanishing habitats. Yet they have not tempered Republican efforts to reform the law. Bills introduced in this Congress would prevent closed-door ESA settlements, give states more sway over the protection of rare plants and animals, and block listings for a handful of hot-button species.
Extreme Greens’ Latest Goal: Smash a Bug, Go to Jail. The Blaze (Blog). WildEarth Guardians claims that innocent mistakes resulting in harm (or “take”) to protected species should result in criminal punishment. The group asserts that this unforgiving approach is necessary to accomplish the Endangered Species Act’s mandate to save all species “whatever the cost.” The lawsuit is another disturbing example of the extreme agenda of some of the more zealous environmental organizations. The litigation — now before a federal judge in Phoenix — is specifically directed at harms to Mexican wolves in the Southwest; but it could ensnare Americans across the country, in urban as well as rural areas, with new legal jeopardy for innocent actions.
FEDERAL REGISTER NOTICES
Greenhouse Gas Reporting: Petroleum and Natural Gas Systems; Revisions and Confidentiality Determinations: The Environmental Protection Agency is finalizing revisions and confidentiality determinations for the petroleum and natural gas systems source category of the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Rule. These revisions include the addition of calculation methods and reporting requirements for greenhouse gas emissions from gathering and boosting facilities, completions and workovers of oil wells with hydraulic fracturing, and blowdowns of natural gas transmission pipelines between compressor stations.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Electronic Reporting: The Environmental Protection Agency is publishing this final regulation that requires the electronic reporting and sharing of Clean Water Act National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System program information instead of the current paper-based reporting of this information.
ARTICLES OF INTEREST
EID: Researchers Data Contradicts HF Links to Premature Births
NewsOK: Sensor company brings technology utilized on space station to oil fields across Oklahoma
Tulsa World: John Stancavage: Is oil slump reaching a bottom?
Seismic Activity
KOCO: OK breaks last year’s earthquake record
American Spectator: Oklahoma Earthquake Shakes (Opinion)
USGS: Century of induced earthquakes
StateImpact: USGS Study Suggests Century of Oil and Gas Quakes
Associated Press: Study: Strong Oklahoma quakes caused by industrial activity
EID: USGS Report Links Old Oklahoma Quakes to Injection, But It’s Not That Simple
NewsOK: OK Insurance Commissioner Requires Earthquake Insurance Clarification (press release)
Journal Record: University fees cut into money for earthquake research (sub req’d)
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