IPAMS Meetings and Announcements

Annual Utah Call-Up

October 20-21, 2009

Please join us for the Annual IPAMS Utah Call-Up in Salt Lake City on October 20th and 21st. The Call-Up is an excellent way to meet and socialize with all the agencies and officials important to natural gas and oil exploration and production in Utah – the Governor, legislators, Congressional Delegation, BLM, DEQ, DOGM, SITLA, and many other allies. Please register on the IPAMS web site. We will be staying at the Little America Hotel. IPAMS has reserved a limited number of rooms at a special rate so please contact Spencer Kimball immediately to reserve your room. You may also call the Little America at 1-800-437-5288 for reservations. For more information, see the Initial Utah Call-Up Agenda.

IPAMS and the Wildlife Habitat Council Present An Informational/Social Event and Barbeque at Lake Lehow

October 10, 2009

We hope member companies will attend and learn more about a unique corporate partnership opportunity. IPAMS is proposing to work with multiple partners to enhance Lake Lehow and the area surrounding it to create high quality wildlife habitat and to provide educational opportunities for kids in the Denver metro area. The event will take place on Saturday, October 10 at 11:30 am at Lake Lehow (11250 Waterton Road, Littleton, CO; directions available upon request). So we invite you to come and network with other IPAMS member-companies and discover potential future projects in which you and your company may want to participate. To RSVP, contact Kristin Salamack or call (303) 376-7549 . You may also contact Spencer Kimball with IPAMS or call (303) 623-0987.

Click here to view the announcement

Background information: Lake Lehow is located in southeast Denver near Chatfield state park. The property is owned by Denver Water and managed by the Colorado Division of Wildlife (CDOW). The lake is host to CDOW’s Angler Education clinics, run by Scott Gilmore. IPAMS and WHC staff visited Mr. Gilmore at the Lake and determined that there was a good opportunity to pursue enhancement projects at the site which would lead to mutually beneficial relationships between all organizations involved. Mr. Gilmore is also one of the founding members of the non-profit organization Environmental Learning for Kids (ELK). ELK programs introduce, immerse, educate, and mentor youth from ages 6 – 18 to Colorado’s natural resources and related careers. ELK participants are able to use the lake for fishing as well. The Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) is a non-profit member conservation organization that works on public and private lands to encourage and help implement voluntary efforts of wildlife management, biodiversity conservation, and environmental education. IPAMS is a member of WHC, along with over 100 corporations, conservation organizations, non-profit and trade organizations. WHC staff was introduced to the Lake Lehow property by CDOW staff, and identified the opportunity for partnership with IPAMS.

IPAMS Editorial Board Meetings Pay Off

IPAMS has been meeting with editorial boards from newspapers across the West in recent weeks. Our message of the necessity of clean, domestic natural gas from the Intermountain West to address our nation’s energy challenges is catching on as you can see here:

Editorial: Natural gas is key to cleaner energy (Denver Post, 10/01/2009)

Wyoming gains in pairing of wind, natural gas (Casper Star-Tribune, 09/24/2009)

Editorial: Energy industry advances, even in down economy (Casper Star-Tribune, 09/24/2009)

Editorial: Natural-gas climate (The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel, 09/23/2009)

Natural-gas outlook positive, for most part (Casper-Star Tribune, 09/16/2009)

Building The Case

IPAMS has added a new section to westernenergyalliance.org to highlight the growing consensus regarding the tremendous advantage of clean, abundant natural gas.

Click here to visit the new page located under the ‘Resources’ tab of our website.

If you don’t get what you want, just take it

By Marc W. Smith

Every year, for the last 20 years, “Red Rock Wilderness” legislation (H.R. 1925) has been introduced. The Bill has consistently failed to gain significant Congressional support and the prospects of it passing this year are very slim – so why mention it?

While the legislative threat is small, the administrative threat is growing.

This week, IPAMS has submitted a letter to the House Natural Resources Committee about the Bill, and pointed out that that parcels located within proposed Red Rock Wilderness lands are being removed by the Department of Interior from lease sales. IPAMS strongly objects to de facto wilderness protection of lands that have been proposed, but not passed by Congress, and has called the Committee’s attention to this abuse of the law.

Click here to read the Weekly Message from Marc W. Smith

IPAMS Challenges Mischaracterization of GAO Report

October 1, 2009

The Independent Petroleum Association of Mountain States (IPAMS) today challenged the mischaracterization in the press of a recent Government Accountability Office (GAO) report on the use of categorical exclusions (CXs). CXs were designed to eliminate some of the redundant bureaucracy and red tape associated with developing domestic energy on non-park, non-wilderness public lands. Congress mandated the use of CXs to enable energy development where the environmental impact is minimal, and where drilling was previously analyzed in an environmental document. CXs simply eliminate redundant environmental analysis and encourage companies to minimize surface impacts.

Click here to read IPAMS News Release

IPAMS Annual Photo Contest is Here!

We are looking for scenic photographs featuring wildlife, oil and gas operations, or any picturesque scenes from around the West.

The winner will have their photo appear on the cover of IPAMS 2010 Calendar, which is distributed to member companies, media, other trade organizations, government officials, and business associations. The calendar has proven to be a very helpful tool in demonstrating industry talking points and illustrating visually that oil and natural gas development has a small and temporary environmental impact. The calendar will feature photos of former development areas that have since been reclaimed, wildlife near development, technological advances, etc. Each month will also include a fact that highlights the importance of our industry and the steps we take to minimize environmental impacts.

Please submit all photos (300 dpi or better) to Jon Haubert no later than October 9, 2009.

IPAMS Calendar Sponsorship Opportunity

The IPAMS yearly calendar is a great, cost-effective way to highlight your company’s active involvement in IPAMS and environmentally responsible development of oil and natural gas in the Intermountain West. Company logos are visible 365 days of the year on the IPAMS calendar and reach a wide variety of industry, government and public interests.

For more information on IPAMS calendar sponsorships, please contact Jon Haubert.

Click here to view last year’s calendar.

IPAMS has its own YouTube Channel

Looking for industry footage? IPAMS has launched ipams1 as a way to collect and archive video of companies responsibly and safely developing America’s energy resources. Please use ipams1 for presentations and/or references for industry practices and techniques. Have you found a video you think we should add to our collection? Email links to Jon Haubert and recommend it be added.

Other Upcoming Meetings

* Utah Basin Advisors Network – October 13th at 10:00 a.m.

* Air Quality Committee – Bi-Weekly Call- October 13th at 3:00 p.m.

* WRAP Phase III Wind River Projections Meeting – October 15th at 10:30 a.m.

Agendas are available for upcoming meetings at http://www.westernenergyalliance.org/advocacy/. All meetings unless otherwise indicated are Mountain time, and at IPAMS and via teleconference.

Visit westernenergyalliance.org for the latest news affecting the Intermountain West’s oil and natural gas industry. Headlines are updated daily from local, national and international news sources. You may also sign up for daily newsbrief emails under the Manage Account section of the “Members Only” page.

The West

Colorado

‘Bridge fuel’ concept is an empty promise

published in: Durango Herald on: 10/01/2009 by: Megan Graham

There has been much talk at the national and state levels lately about the notion of natural gas as a “bridge fuel” that will transition U.S. energy consumption away from reliance on such infamous polluters as coal to meet the nation’s electricity and other fuel needs. The disingenuousness of the bridge fuel concept, though, is being revealed through the rhetoric of an increasing number of politicians and policymakers, including our own governor, who seems intent on expanding the bridge beyond its original intent.

BLM Best Management Practices Workshop

October 14, 2009 9:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. in Rifle, CO

BLM is hosting an oil and gas workshop on ‘Best Practices for Community and Environmental Protection’ to facilitate the use of best practices in oil and gas development through greater understanding of BMPs and community and industry interests. The workshop will take place on Wednesday, October 14th, 9:30 – 4:30 at the Garfield County Fairground, Rifle with a special evening session on constructive engagement to follow from 6:00 – 8:00 pm. There will also be a field trip the afternoon of October 13th. The event is being cosponsored by the CU Natural Resources Law Center and the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission.

The workshop is free, but RSVP and registration is requested. To RSVP/register, email: nrlc@colorado.edu (Please put “BMP workshop registration” in the subject line) or leave a message for Carolyn at 303-492-1281. For more information, go to: http://www.oilandgasbmps.org/workshops/registration.htm.

EHS Peer Group 4th Quarter Meeting

October 15, 2009 at 8:30 a.m. in Denver, CO

The 4th Quarter 2009 Rocky Mountain Environmental, Health, and Safety (EHS) Peer Group meeting will take place on Tuesday October 15th at 8:30 am. The meeting is at Williams’ offices at 1515 Arapahoe Street (16th Street Mall and Arapahoe Street), Tower 3, 7th floor.

Please RSVP Laura Sillstrop at by October 13, 2009. Click here for more information.

Montana

Landowners, drillers debate split estates IPAMS Quoted

published in: Billings Gazette on: 09/24/2009 by: Tom Lutey

With methane wells in her corner of the world, rancher Jessie Huffman spends considerable time worrying about what her gas-drilling neighbors are up to. She worries about springs drying up or water turning bad as gas rigs plumb mineral rights leased from the government. In the West, the federal government has made a practice of leasing its mineral rights to oil and gas companies without personally notifying surface landowners first.

Collaboration key to Front plan; public hearing tonight

published in: Great Falls Tribune on: 09/30/2009 by: Karl Puckett

Congress created instant wilderness nationwide 45 years ago when it passed the Wilderness Act, but the recipe for conserving public land today is akin to slow cooking, with more ingredients needed to satisfy varying tastes. That’s what advocates of a new conservation plan that would protect Montana’s famed Rocky Mountain Front say. “The name of the game now is collaboration,” said Bill Cunningham of Choteau, a Bob Marshall Wilderness Area outfitter who has been involved in wilderness debates for decades.

Montana’s Elm Coulee to top 200 million bbl

published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 09/24/2009 by: Staff

Elm Coulee field, Montana’s primary Bakken shale oil producing field discovered in 2000, is a giant that is expected to recover more than 200 million bbl. The field has more than 600 wells that produce primarily from the middle Bakken, Stephen Sonnenberg and Aris Pramudito of the Colorado School of Mines wrote in the American Association of Petroleum Geologists Bulletin.

New Mexico

Residents question science of emissions rule at greenhouse meeting

published in: Farmington Daily Times on: 10/01/2009 by: James Monteleone

A public forum intended to outline a proposed state rule requiring increased monitoring of greenhouse gases shifted focus Wednesday night as residents called into question the science behind the new regulations. The state Environment Department has proposed that any business operation that annually emits more than 10,000 metric tons of greenhouse chemicals implement monitoring systems and provide detailed reports of yearly chemical output by 2011. That level of emission would require the fumes of 1,800 passenger cars from a single source. The proposed rule initially would not affect a majority of oil and gas well sites.

Economic development awards focus on affect of oil and gas industry

published in: Farmington Daily Times on: 09/30/2009 by: James Monteleone

Projecting state budget shortfalls as high as $700 million next year as the natural gas industry continues to struggle, the president of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association on Tuesday emphasized the role of energy production as the backbone of the state economy. The remarks were made during the eighth annual county Economic Growth, Development and Excellence Awards banquet hosted to honor the companies that continue to invest in the local economy.

North Dakota

Greater sage grouse declining in N.D.

published in: Bismarck Tribune on: 09/24/2009 by: Dan Ackerman

With the thought of a cool, crisp autumn morning while out and about in the vast prairies of North Dakota, my insides are boiling with excitement. This may not be the most enjoyable thought to have after the long winter we seemed to have just gotten over with, but it seems awfully nice when I look outside at the bank sign and the mercury reads 87 Fahrenheit.

Utah

Some worry wilderness measure could hurt schools

published in: Salt Lake Tribune on: 09/30/2009 by: Lisa Schencker

America’s Red Rock Wilderness Act of 2009, scheduled to be discussed by a House committee Thursday, is raising eyebrows among those who work with the state’s permanent State School Fund and trust lands. Trust lands generate money for schools to use for academic purposes. While the bill would protect 9.4 million acres of Utah land from development, mining and off-road vehicles, it would also surround about one-fourth to one-third of the school trust lands with wilderness, hurting the state’s ability to raise money off those lands, said Margaret Bird, director of the School Children’s Trust.

Bill would keep one-sixth of Utah wild

published in: The Daily Sentinel on: 09/29/2009 by: Gary Harmon

Nearly 17 percent of Utah would become federally designated wilderness under a New York congressman’s proposal that will get a hearing in Washington, D.C., on Thursday. The Red Rocks Wilderness Act, sponsored by representatives from Arizona and New York, would designate 9.4 million of Utah’s nearly 53 million acres as wilderness, including lands on the San Rafael Swell area west of Green River, as well as part of the Book Cliffs and the Fisher Tower area.

Herbert emphasizes three Es

published in: St. George Spectrum on: 09/29/2009 by: Jennifer Weaver

Gov. Gary Herbert may have been 25 minutes late for a meeting with Cedar City business leaders because of his participation in a golf fundraiser at Entrada for Southern Utah University, which raised $75,000 from the private sector. However, the tardiness was not a reflection of his commitment to Utah, he assured those in attendance. “I apologize for being a little late from what was planned, but really I think the governor ought to be out and about,” Herbert said. “It’s easy to camp out on the capitol dome there and kind of forget what is happening in the real world so as lieutenant governor I was able to get around and I don’t plan on changing any as governor.”

Poll shows Utahns support wilderness areas

published in: Deseret News on: 09/28/2009 by: Amy Joi O’Donoghue

A poll released Monday and commissioned by an environmental activist group shows that half of Utahns favor new wilderness designations for at least 9 million acres of federal land in the state, despite overwhelming opposition to a land bill by all five members of Utah’s congressional delegation. The so-called “Red Rock” wilderness bill, backed by a coalition of environmental groups, is up for discussion in a U.S. House committee hearing Thursday that is expected to garner a slew of criticism from Utah’s congressmen and other elected leaders.

Wyoming

BLM holds steady on exclusions

published in: Billings Gazette on: 09/29/2009 by: Jeff Gearino

Bureau of Land Management officials will wait for new guidelines from Washington, D.C., before changing the way the Wyoming office issues categorical exclusions for drilling permits, administrators said. Categorical exclusions aim to fast track oil and gas development in energy states like Wyoming. A report issued Sept. 16 by the Government Accountability Office – the investigative arm of Congress – was critical of the agency’s use of categorical exclusions. The report recommended that lawmakers rework the rule to curtail misuse of the provision.

Washington Watch

Senate climate bill drops ‘cap and trade’ term

published in: Associated Press on: 10/01/2009 by: Staff

Senate Democrats tried out a new catch phrase Wednesday to sell their global warming bill: pollution reduction and investment, or PRI. But it’s just another name for cap and trade, a term derided by Republican critics as “cap and tax” because it will increase energy prices and which Democratic polls have shown faring poorly with voters. “This bill is nothing more than a massive energy tax deliberately masked by climate change,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., said in a prepared statement.

Summary of Boxer-Kerry

Section-by-Section Summary of Boxer-Kerry

Boxer-Kerry Bill

Statement from ANGA on Boxer-Kerry Bill

Boxer, Kerry Launch Campaign to Pass Senate Cap-And-Trade Bill

published in: E&E News, New York Times on: 09/30/2009 by: Darren Samuelsohn

Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), John Kerry (D-Mass.) and nine Senate supporters kicked off the autumn global warming debate today with a campaign-style rally releasing their comprehensive climate bill. “We know clean energy is the ticket to strong, sustainable economic growth,” Boxer, the chairwoman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, said at the Capitol Hill event, in front of a large American flag and three dozen or so military veterans, business leaders and environmentalists.

Senate climate bill tougher than House version

published in: Associated Press on: 09/29/2009 by: H. Josef Hebert and Dina Cappiello

A Senate climate bill calls for a 20 percent cut in greenhouse gases by 2020, deeper than the reductions mandated by the House but also includes stronger measures to try to avoid energy price spikes, according to a draft of the bill. The draft obtained by The Associated Press, remains subject to change. But the overall carbon reduction requirements are expected to stand. The Democratic bill is to be released Wednesday by the Senate Environment and Public Works Committee with a vote by the panel likely in late October.

Observers question strategy behind raising taxes on oil, gas

published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 09/29/2009 by: Nick Snow

A strategy that diverts federal tax incentives from domestic oil and gas to renewable and alternative energy would quickly increase oil and gas imports, industry observers warned on Sept. 28. “We need to probe what it actual means to overinvest in oil and gas,” said Lucian (Lou) Pugliaresi, president of Energy Policy Research Foundation Inc. (EPRINC) in reference to recent statements by US President Barack Obama and other administration officials.

Bipartisan Senate group wants cap-and-trade bill to boost natural gas

published in: E&E News, New York Times on: 09/25/2009 by: Ben Geman

A bipartisan group of nine senators is urging Environment and Public Works Chairwoman Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) to include a suite of provisions in her upcoming climate bill that would boost natural gas production and use. Boxer plans to introduce her cap-and-trade bill to curb greenhouse gas emissions on Wednesday, Sept. 30.

Natural Gas Looks for Champions to Gain Incentives in Senate Climate Bill

published in: E&E ClimateWire, New York Times on: 09/25/2009 by: Katherine Ling

Natural gas producers are trying to make up for lost ground in the climate change debate, appealing for allocations and incentives in the Senate bill that would boost the consumption of the fuel. But their message — and past campaign donations — have so far inspired few Democratic senators to make a stand on the inclusion of more natural gas incentives, as others have done for coal, agriculture and nuclear power.

Media Watch

Editorial: Natural gas is key to cleaner energy IPAMS Quoted

published in: Denver Post on: 10/01/2009 by: Editorial Staff

The flawed cap and trade scheme returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday. But this time, at least, the Democrats’ plans to reduce carbon emissions also included a common-sense push to rely more on natural gas. Like nuclear power, which we’re also glad to see getting a bit more attention in the Senate bill — versus the short shrift it too received in the House bill — natural-gas electrical generation is a proven technology already connected to the nation’s grid. The Senate’s version of cap and trade attempts to bring it into the mix of solutions for dramatically reducing greenhouse gases.

Editorial: The Senate Climate Bill, Sens. Boxer and Kerry introduce legislation with a key component missing

published in: Washington Post on: 10/01/2009 by: Editorial Staff

After months of meetings, Sens. John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) released their long-awaited climate bill with great fanfare. But missing from the 800-page Clean Energy Jobs and American Power Act is a cap-and-trade system. That’s disappointing, since Ms. Boxer announced earlier this year that the Environment and Public Works Committee would start from scratch on devising a system of capping greenhouse gas emissions and issuing a declining number of pollution allowances to covered industries. Instead, she and Mr. Kerry released a bill that is being called a starting point.

Editorial: Natural gas is America’s fuel in 21st Century

published in: Holyoke Enterprise on: 10/01/2009 by: Editorial Staff

Colorado is a leader in promoting the use of American natural gas as a transportation fuel. The Center for American Progress recently unveiled their report “Natural gas: A Bridge Fuel for the 21st Century.” The report noted the recent discoveries of natural gas shale represented an “unprecedented opportunity to use gas as a bridge fuel to a 21st century energy economy that relies on efficiency, renewable sources and low-carbon fossil fuels.” Unlike most natural resources in America, natural gas reserves have actually grown as modern drilling technology has opened vast new shale plays across the country to the economic and environmentally safe recovery of the natural gas they contain.

Op-ed: Cap and trade is built upon the sand

published in: Silver City Sun-News on: 09/30/2009 by: Marita Noon
Now that summer recess is over for Congress and our elected officials are in D.C., cap and trade is back in the news. Many people are asking, “Just what is cap and trade?” Recently, while I was speaking in Canada, a woman questioned what she’d heard. At church, a man asked me about it. And, my best friend Patti brought it up while we were getting a pedicure. Cap and trade reminds me of the old song from children’s church…

Hinchey bill harmful to Utah

published in: Deseret News on: 09/30/2009 by: Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT)

For the past 20 years, Red Rock wilderness legislation has been introduced each Congress due to the vigorous lobbying of well-funded special-interest groups and out-of-state supporters. Unfortunately, these groups and the bill’s lead sponsor, Rep. Maurice Hinchey of New York, fail to acknowledge the harmful effects it will have on the residents of Utah. It is important to note that this flawed and antiquated bill is not supported by a single federally elected official from Utah. This fact speaks volumes. Part of the reason for this unanimous opposition is that the Hinchey bill advocates locking up nearly 20 percent of the state. Closing one-fifth of the state from economic activity would have dramatic negative effects on education funding, employment, local and state tax revenues, energy production and quality of life.

Op-ed: A fracture in the secrecy about fracking materials

published in: The Daily Sentinel on: 09/28/2009 by: Bill Grant

Proponents of disclosing the chemical formulas of fracking fluids are getting some support from an unexpected source. Executives of drilling companies Chesapeake Energy and Range Resources Corporation have called for an end to the secrecy about what chemicals are being injected into gas wells to fracture the gas-bearing rock, according to a Reuters report.

Environment and Wildlife

Conservationists Sue EPA Over Prairie Dog Poison

published in: Associated Press on: 09/30/2009 by: Maria Sudekum Fisher

Two conservation groups have sued the Environmental Protection Agency for its decision to register pesticides that curtail prairie dogs, the main source of food for the endangered black-footed ferret. The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., by Defenders of Wildlife and Audubon of Kansas, says the chemicals threaten other species, and that in issuing registrations for their use, the EPA is violating the federal Endangered Species Act, the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and other federal laws.

Deer collisions are on the rise

published in: Aspen Daily News on: 09/29/2009 by: Andrew Travers

The number of cars colliding with deer in Colorado has increased by 19 percent since 2004, according to a study by State Farm Insurance. This spike in accidents is due, in part, to rampant development in the Roaring Fork Valley’s deer habitat and to oil drilling on the Roan Plateau. “All of the animals along Highway 82 have changed their migratory patterns as new development has occurred,” said Colorado Division of Wildlife (DOW) spokesman Randy Hampton. “They have been forced into places that are not ideal.”

BP exec touts natural gas to cut U.S. CO2 emissions

published in: Reuters on: 09/24/2009 by: Matt Daily

The head of BP Plc’s Americas business said on Thursday the United States could sharply reduce its carbon dioxide emissions by expanding its use of natural gas over fuels such as coal. “Natural gas has the greatest potential to provide the largest carbon reductions at the lowest cost using technology that is available today,” Lamar McKay, chairman and president of BP Americas told a Financial Times’ energy conference.

Technology, Alternatives & Renewables

Alternative Energy Projects Stumble on a Need for Water

published in: New York Times on: 10/01/2009 by: Todd Woody

In a rural corner of Nevada reeling from the recession, a bit of salvation seemed to arrive last year. A German developer, Solar Millennium, announced plans to build two large solar farms here that would harness the sun to generate electricity, creating hundreds of jobs. But then things got messy. The company revealed that its preferred method of cooling the power plants would consume 1.3 billion gallons of water a year, about 20 percent of this desert valley’s available water.

Markets

Gas Feast Leaves Market Feeling Bloated

published in: Wall Street Journal, Subscription Required on: 09/30/2009 by: Liam Denning

Asked recently when output from North America’s prolific shale-gas resources would peak, Chesapeake Energy’s chief executive, Aubrey McClendon, quipped: “With all due respect to you and to me, we’ll both be dead.” Barring sudden discovery of the elixir of life, he is surely correct: Navigant Consulting puts recoverable resources at 118 years of supply. Unfortunately, that is the only certainty that exists in the natural-gas sector. With exquisite timing, the U.S. moved from looming gas famine to feast just as the recession hit.

Oil, gas futures post modest gains

published in: Oil & Gas Journal on: 09/29/2009 by: Sam Fletcher

Oil and gas prices inched higher Sept. 25 in a sluggish market with no major stimulus to push prices up or down. Crude was flat in early trading Sept. 28 “despite the fact Iran began test firing missiles today that could hit Israel and US bases,” said analysts in the Houston office of Raymond James & Associates Inc. “These missile tests come right before talks between Iran and other…officials [from Russia, the US, China, the UK, France, and Germany] on Oct. 1 in Geneva. If Iran continues to refuse to suspend uranium enrichment, a slew of sanctions could be enforced. In the market’s eyes, sluggish oil demand trumps a geopolitical risk premium,” they said.

Industry News and Events

John Watson to take Chevron reins from David O’Reilly

published in: Los Angeles Times on: 10/01/2009 by: Ronald D. White

In a move that surprised analysts for its timing but not its content, Chevron Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive David J. O’Reilly will step down, to be replaced by Vice Chairman John S. Watson. O’Reilly, 62, is retiring effective Dec. 31 from the San Ramon, Calif., company after 41 years, including 10 years as chairman and CEO. “I am truly honored to follow Dave as chairman and CEO of Chevron and to lead one of the strongest management teams in our industry,” Watson said in a statement.

Judge dismisses lawsuit over oil pipeline

published in: Associated Press on: 09/30/2009 by: Staff

A judge has dismissed a lawsuit brought by an environmental group that claimed a permit that allows the construction of an oil pipeline between the U.S. and Canada violated federal law. U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon ruled Tuesday that the Natural Resources Defense Council did not have the authority to challenge the permit issued for the TransCanada Keystone Pipeline by the State Department.

Tri-State sued by Neb. co-ops

published in: Denver Post on: 09/29/2009 by: Mark Jaffe

Tri-State Generation and Transmission Association, which serves electric cooperatives in four Western states, is being sued by five Nebraska members for allegedly overcharging for electricity. When the five rural Nebraska cooperatives sought to buy out their Tri-State contracts, they were told it would cost $210 million, according to the suit filed in federal district court in Omaha.

Sales jump in many industries

published in: Denver Post on: 09/26/2009 by: Aldo Svaldi

Several industries managed to increase sales at a double-digit pace the past year despite a tough recession, according to an analysis. “There are some bright spots in the economy. Everything isn’t horrible,” said Dan Saklad, chief operating officer of Sageworks Inc., a Raleigh, N.C., firm that analyzes financial information on privately held firms. The dividing line for revenue growth seems to cut along the line of needs and wants, he said.

The Front Range Energy Career Expo and Forum (Expo)

October 15, 2009 at Tivoli Auraria Campus

The Front Range Energy Career Expo and Forum is an educational event for high school students in the Denver Metro area. The goal of the event is to bring college representatives, energy companies, and students together in one location, to present information about college options and job opportunities to the future generation of leaders that will graduate from high school in the next three years.

Click here for the Expo Form.

Click here for the Sponsorship Form.

Gas & Oil Company Compliance in a New Era of Regulatory Oversight

October 15, 2009 8:30 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. in Denver, CO

Fulbright & Jaworski has assembled an impressive faculty of legal and industry experts to review and explore recent developments and emerging trends in the area of gas and oil industry stakeholder compliance with the latest regulations and rulings of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission. Attendees will be briefed on why compliance and considered responses to agency enforcement actions are important, what these agencies expect from companies that operate within their jurisdiction, and how to implement an effective compliance program.

Click here to register.

Hydraulic Fracturing Conference

November 12-13, 2009 in Denver, Colorado

Presented by the American Institute of Professional Geologists, this day and a half conference is designed to focus on technical, regulatory, legal, and political aspects of this production-enhancing technology. Presenters and attendees will represent the private sector, government, and academia. The conference is structured to allow for consideration and ample discussion of the most crucial aspects of the hydrofracing process as it pertains to oil & gas production, groundwater production, environmental, and economic impacts.

The American Institute of Professional Geologists (AIPG) was founded in 1963 to certify the credentials of practicing geologists and to advocate on behalf of the profession. AIPG represents the professional interests of all practicing geoscientists in every discipline. Its advocacy efforts are focused on the promotion of the role of geology and geologists in society.

Click here for Call For Abstracts and Click here to Register Online (click on Events)

For additional details contact Cathy Duran or (303) 412-6205.

Content Policy

Materials contained herein are a summary of industry related issues and are for the edification of IPAMS members only. Contents do not reflect official comments or positions of IPAMS. Attribution of Wildcatter Weekly contents for publication without IPAMS consent is prohibited. NOTE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, any copyrighted material herein is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.