American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017 - 99

the attorney general, something it has
not done since losing the Marbob case,
published reports indicate.
"We opposed that bill from the beginning," Mullins declares. "We do not think
OCD has the experience or qualifications
to bring these penalties forward; that authority
should remain with the attorney general."
In the meantime, Mullins says members
are informing him that they see an uptick
in OCD enforcement actions against operators it has deemed as noncompliant
with prior requests.
"The OCD is taking noncompliance

much more seriously lately," he suggests.
"We believe it is setting the stage to come
back to the legislature and say, 'See, we
are not getting the enforcement action
needed to bring the operators around.'"
Mullins and Chase agree the association's
efforts at informing and educating political
and community leaders is effective.
"Our presence in the Capitol and on
social media keep us ahead of these issues,"
Chase maintains. "But it is not a one-time
program; we have to stay with it. Maintaining a dialogue both in person and on
social media is the new normal."
r

IPANM Works To Stay Ahead Of
Horizontal Drilling, Spill Rules
FARMINGTON, N.M.-New regulations regarding horizontal drilling and
spill protocol will be at the top of the todo list for the new Independent Petroleum
Association of New Mexico executive
director, once that person is brought on
board, say the group's leaders.
"We will be under the gun to get rules
in place by next year," says IPANM
President Tom Mullins, principal at Synergy Operating in Farmington. "We can
avoid having the legislature hand us rules
that put industry at a disadvantage if we
can work with the regulators."
The association has been conducting
a search for an executive director following
the amicable departure in early May of
Karin Foster, who left after 12 years of
"tireless service," an IPANM statement
relates.
"We have interviewed several very
qualified candidates and hope to have an
executive director in place soon," reports
IPANM Southeast Vice President Claire
Chase with Mack Energy Corp.
In the meantime, the administration
of Governor Susana Martinez has begun
discussions to revise the state's rules on
horizontal drilling and spill response,
Chase notes. New Mexico's oil and gas
industry is "an easy target for the vocal
minority," she assesses. "We must be
part of the discussion and tell our story if
we want to avoid evermore burdensome
regulations."
As operators come to rely increasingly
on horizontal drilling and push laterals
out more than a mile, existing spacing
and pooling rules need to be updated,
Mullins suggests. "There is so much activity in the southeast now and so much
interest in new Permian development that
if we are going to stay ahead of it, the
rules have to be updated," he holds.
Rules must accommodate the devel-

opment of multiple horizons under two
or three sections in the Permian while
not stranding the owner of a 40-acre
tract, Mullins advises. At the same time,
the rules should not create unnecessary
burdens for operators looking to drill
new diagonals in the San Juan.
"We want to facilitate the rush in the
Permian, but in the process, do no harm
in the northwest," Mullins declares.
The other issue up for review this
year is spill reporting and remediation,
he reports. "Our concern is that regulators
may take a 'one size fits all' approach,"
he explains. "That would create problems
for everyone."
Regulations for reporting and managing
spilled petroleum are common and understood by industry and regulators,
Mullins indicates. Produced water spills,
on the other hand, can differ greatly from
one basin to another.
"Brine produced in the Permian is
much higher in chlorides than it is in the
San Juan," Mullins observes. "We are
concerned that cleanup thresholds written
for the southeast will create a heavy administrative and expense burden for operators in the northwest."
According to Mullins, industry representatives are scheduled to meet with
regulators to draft horizontal drilling and
spill response rules this summer and fall.
Proposals may be released by the end of
the year.
r

Coming In August

Guest authors examine what the industry has learned to date in "right-sizing" proppant volumes and per-stage
concentrations in unconventional horizontal plays.
JULY 2017 99

http://aogr.com http://www.aogr.com

American Oil and Gas Reporter - July 2017

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