American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 122

NMOGA Annual Meeting - Santa Fe, N.M.
Saturday, Oct. 3

8:30 a.m. Halliburton Golf Tournament,
Towa Golf Course, Buffalo Thunder Resort, Santa Fe
6 p.m. Baker Hughes Inc. Reception, La
Fonda Hotel, Santa Fe

Sunday, Oct. 4

8:30 a.m. Schlumberger Golf Tournament,
Las Campanas Country Club, Santa Fe
10 a.m. Schlumberger Spouse Program
10 a.m. Registration Opens, Eldorado Hotel,
Santa Fe
6 p.m. NMOGA Opening Night Reception,
Eldorado Hotel

Monday, Oct. 5

7:30 a.m. Membership Breakfast, Eldorado
9-11:30 a.m. General Session
Year in Review, Leland Gould, NMOGA
Chairman
Catherine Reheis-Boyd, President, Western
States Petroleum Association
Bruce Niemeyer, Vice President, Chevron
North American Upstream
Louis Finkel, Executive Vice President,
American Petroleum Institute
Noon-1:30 p.m. NMOGA Membership
Luncheon

why NMOGA exists. "The most important
thing we can do as an organization is
support our members to allow them to
do what they do best-create value-without
undue regulatory pressure," he reflects.

Stark Contrast
Henke notes that NMOGA has a working group considering oil and gas projects'
relation to air quality. "That includes
venting and flaring, regulatory and legislative aspects, and public relations considerations," he reports. "NMOGA is developing a comprehensive strategy to
deal with that, which seems to be our
biggest regulatory issue, and has both
federal and state components."
He suggests that even BLM's fracturing
regulation and proposal to revise oil and
gas royalty calculations have air quality
repercussions, along with the EPA's
greenhouse gas reporting requirements.
Henke says he also detects an obvious
contrast between how state policymakers
have attempted to tackle venting and flaring versus federal officials' approach.
"BLM keeps saying it has limited capacity to process not only applications
for permits to drill, but also applications
for pipeline rights-of-way that will allow
us to get product out of the field," he relates. "That creates bottlenecks that tie
into flaring and emissions, because we
cannot get gas into a pipeline or get
plants up and running."

Jeff Skiles, Co-Pilot, U.S. Airways Flight
1549
2-3 p.m. Industry Forum
Aubrey Dunn, State Land Commissioner
David Martin, Secretary, New Mexico
Energy, Minerals & Natural Resources
Department
Ryan Flynn, Cabinet Secretary, New Mexico Environment Department
Sheila Mallory, Bureau of Land Management
3-4 p.m. General Session
Mark Mathis, Industry Journalist and Filmmaker
6 p.m. NMOGA Reception Honoring Board
of Directors

Tuesday, Oct. 6

7:30 a.m. Membership Breakfast
8 a.m. Board of Directors Meeting
9 a.m. Membership Meeting
Election of 2016 Officers and Board Members
Presentation and Approval of 2016 Budget
10:30 a.m. General Session
Steven Moise, State Investment Officer
Species Under Federal Review in the San
Juan and Permian Basins

Even some elected officials concerned
with flaring fail to connect it to infrastructure permitting. In late July, the
Democratic members of New Mexico's
congressional delegation sent a letter to
the Office of Management and Budget
asking the Obama administration to take
action on venting and flaring, but they
made no mention of pipelines.
"We recognize that oil and gas producers have an economic incentive to
minimize methane losses, and the industry
is improving its practices," the letter states.
"However, federal action is necessary to
ensure (measures) to limit methane releases
are applied consistently across the industry.
Rules to reduce the impact of methane
releases on public health, while ensuring
that Americans receive fair compensation
for the production of federal minerals,
are critical to reducing methane waste
and pollution."
Responds NMOGA Chairman Gould,
"Our goal is to keep flaring to the absolute
minimum necessary to bring natural gas
to pipeline quality levels. Additional flaring
required because of slow permit times for
infrastructure is not an acceptable longterm outcome. The industry has an initiative
to help BLM with additional resources to
address processing times for permits. We
hope this will begin to pay off with less of
a backlog in the near future."
Henke indicates state officials have
exhibited some responsiveness to South-

122 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

east New Mexico's infrastructure shortcomings. "The governor and the legislature
reached a compromise on targeted legislation to channel some of our capital
outlay to support the oil and gas industry,"
he says. "The legislature approved a memorial to seek more information about
venting and flaring and its impact not
only on air quality, but also on royalties.
NMOGA is preparing to present on that
before an interim committee."
However, he says, citing infrastructure
limitations to federal officials seems
largely to have fallen on deaf ears. "We
keep hearing BLM lacks the capacity to
process our applications in a timely manner," Henke notes. "In some regards, inaction is a decision."
Moreover, Gould suggests, the difference between state cooperation and federal
foot-dragging seems to be getting starker.
"A few years ago, it seemed like the
challenges in New Mexico were approximately 50 percent federal/50 percent
state," he ponders. "Today, federal initiatives account for the vast majority of
issues that pose the greatest near-term
risks to the industry."

Leadership Changeover
Along with providing members an opportunity to network, learn about industry
issues and enjoy Santa Fe, NMOGA's
2015 annual meeting will see Gould pass
the chairman's gavel to Sparks.
Gould indicates his stint as the group's
top officer has been rewarding. "It has
been a great experience," he affirms.
"The oil and gas industry is so important
to New Mexico, and sometimes you
forget there are so many different companies-small and large-that help drive
our economy."
Sparks lauds Gould's work as chairman, drawing particular attention to the
group's interaction with the Independent
Petroleum Association of New Mexico
and other allies. "Under Leland's leadership, NMOGA began integrating and coordinating with other industry groups so
that we speak collectively with a consistent
voice and, together, are more effective
in achieving common goals for the New
Mexico oil and gas industry," he praises.
"The NMOGA and IPANM boards met
to discuss how we could work together
better. I hope to continue the momentum
Leland has begun."
As for a vision regarding his upcoming
tenure, Sparks says he wants to help
NMOGA be the state's pre-eminent organization that provides the industry with
the leadership, support, and the tools it
needs to weather the challenging regulatory
environment. "We want to work with all
constituents-operators, service providers,

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015