American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2018 - 156

ConventionCoverage: Louisiana Oil & Gas Association
However, the Board of Tax Appeals
ruled for Avanti in a summary judgement
in which the board recognized that the
reduction accounted for the purchaser's
risk of loss between the transfer of title
in the field to the terminal or refinery
gate as well as the purchaser's cost of
transportation, he said. Appeals involving
30 similar cases are pending, Songy said.
Still Needed
Mark Stansberry, chairman of the GTD
Group and author of The Braking Point:
America's Energy Dreams and Global
Economic Realities told LOGA members
during a keynote speech at the March 8
luncheon that the industry must improvise
and adjust its messaging.
"The challenge for all of us is not
only to keep up but to look into the
future," Stansberry advised.
Industry players need to embrace social
media to communicate with a younger audience and build relationships to demonstrate
to the public that the oil and gas industry
is about people who are affected by public
perception and industry trends, he said.
The industry already is benefiting from
unparalleled advancements that include
the use of robotics, drones and electronically warehoused information, Stansberry
continued. Improvisation is essential to
helping the country understand that crucial
power transmission lines are aging and
near capacity and that U.S. energy demand
will continue to make oil and gas necessary. Fortunately for LOGA members,
additional energy policy initiatives are
likely from President Donald Trump and
GOP congressional leaders, Stansberry

predicted.
Despite its disdain for the oil and gas
industry, Hollywood's success is due in
large part to oil and gas for energy and
production materials necessary for filmmaking, realities that oil and gas people
need to continue to point out, he suggested.
Stansberry recalled a time on a television program in which a critical host
apologized after Stansberry pointed out
that the oil and gas industry was about
people who provided for the entire country
and whose substantial contribution went
largely unrecognized.
"Keep drilling," Stansberry told members. "America needs you. Louisiana
needs you. The world needs you."
Positive Trends
At a Louisiana state agency panel,
Tom Harris, secretary of the Department
of Natural Resources, detailed how drilling
permit numbers had recovered alongside
oil prices. DNR issued 475 drilling permits
in 2016, a two-thirds drop in two years
and the lowest number on record, he
said, adding that the state's weekly rig
count averaged 25 during that period.
With oil prices above $60 in late 2017
and early 2018, the weekly rig count had
recovered to about 45, he said, with the
department issuing 760 drilling permits
in 2017 and expecting to top that this
year.
"Each additional rig represents companies able to stay in business," Harris
said. "It represents support companies
that are able to stay in business and
provide services and specialty supplies.

Preparing to discuss Louisiana resource plays are, from left, Chris Longwell with QEP
Resources, Charles Goodson of Petroquest Energy and Fred Bakun from Indigo
Minerals. The plays the panelists discussed included the Cotton Valley trend, Austin
Chalk and Haynesville Shale.

156 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

Most importantly, it represents employees
that are bringing home a paycheck."
Chuck Brown, secretary of the
Louisiana Department of Environmental
Quality, noted the state's improving air
quality.
The federal Reid Vapor Pressure requirements have been relaxed for 11 of 16
parishes, with the remaining five-parish
Baton Rouge area expecting a similar allowance if it avoids a nonattainment designation for the 2015 Ozone National Ambient Air Quality Standards, Brown said.
"We are breathing the cleanest air since
the industrial revolution," he noted.
Unconventional Louisiana
A panel of oil and gas executives detailed successes in resource plays including
the Haynesville Shale, Austin Chalk and
Cotton Valley trend.
The Cotton Valley in East Texas and
northern Louisiana is helping Indigo Minerals realize even greater successes with
longer laterals, additional proppant loading
and more fracturing stages, said Fred
Bakun, executive vice president of engineering.
Lafayette, La.,-based Petroquest Energy
continues to enjoy successes in the Cotton
Valley and Austin Chalk, reported President and CEO Charles Goodson.
The Cotton Valley includes highly permeable sandstone with 1,400-foot-thick
sand columns and seven benches to target,
he detailed, suggesting the trend's drilling
risks are low thanks to readily available
production history, cores and logs from
numerous vertical wells. The company
has 838 future locations in the play,
Goodson added.
Louisiana's portion of the Austin Chalk,
with a 70 percent oil mix, is gaining attention from several larger companies
looking to replicate results of Austin Chalk
wells in Karnes County, Tx., he said.
Petroquest was an early mover and snagged
acreage in Louisiana's Saint Landry and
Pointe Coupee parishes that offset an
EOG Resources test well that produced
70,000 barrels of oil in the first 79 days
of production, Goodson reported.
Denver-based QEP Resources has enjoyed solid results on its program to refracture Haynesville Shale gas wells, said
Chris Longwell, the company's general
manager of Haynesville operations. The
refracturing program has increased Haynesville gross production by about 215
million cubic feet a day since inception,
he detailed.
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American Oil and Gas Reporter - April 2018

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