American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2018 - 20

IndustryDigest
Today's ruling ensures we can continue
that collaboration with the regulatory
certainty that our industry needs,"
Warmington says. r

OIPA, OKOGA: Merger
Will Beneﬁt Members
OKLAHOMA CITY-Oklahoma's
oldest and its largest oil and gas
associations announce approval of a
merger that will be completed in 2019.
The Oklahoma Oil & Gas
Association, founded in 1919, approved
the agreement in early November. The
Oklahoma Independent Petroleum
Association, whose membership
includes more than 2,000 oil and gas
producers, voiced support for the
merger a week later.
The associations say they will operate
under the name OIPA/OKOGA until a
new name is unveiled early in 2019.
OKOGA President Chad Warmington
will serve as the new group's president,
which will consolidate into the OIPA
building in Oklahoma City.
"This is an historic moment for
Oklahoma's oil and natural gas
industry," says OIPA Chairman Berry
Mullennix, president and chief
executive officer of Tulsa-based Panther
Energy Corp. "By joining forces, the
larger, stronger association created will
be better able to represent our members
and ensure the state's defining industry
is well represented at the state Capitol,
in Washington, and in the regulatory
areas where the business interests of our
members lie."
Speaking at OIPA's fall convention,
OKOGA Chairman Wade Hutchings,
senior vice president of exploration and
production for Oklahoma City's Devon
Energy, reported merger agreements
between the two associations went a lot
smoother than many anticipated.
"We had a few debates, and some
disagreements, but ultimately we were
able to get to a common platform and a
common framework very quickly," he
says. "I am super excited about the
future. The industry is going to benefit
significantly by the combination of
these two historic organizations."
OIPA/OKOGA indicates Mullennix
and Hutchings are serving as cochairmen of the combined group.
OIPA convention coverage begins on
page 92. r
20 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

North Dakota Revises
Gas Capture Guidance
BISMARCK, N.D.-The North
Dakota Industrial Commission on Nov.
20 approved amendments to its guidance
policy on natural gas capture that the
North Dakota Petroleum Council says
"should provide industry the flexibility
to meet gas capture targets while
encouraging midstream investment along
with other methods of improving gas
capture and expanding markets."
Published reports note North Dakota
operators produced a record 2.1 billion
cubic feet of gas a day in September,
but also flared a record 457 million
cubic feet a day, or 17 percent. The
state's gas-capture regulations required
the industry to capture 85 percent of
produced volumes from Nov. 1, 2016,
through Nov. 2, 2018, when the capture
target went to 88 percent.
Those reports add that Director of
Mineral Resources Lynn Helms
recommended the NDIC postpone the
88 percent capture requirements for two
years, but the commissioners declined
in anticipation of the way flaring is
regulated on the Fort Berthold Indian
Reservation, where the gas capture rate
is only 71 percent.
Under a revised Waste Prevention,
Production Subject to Royalties, and
Resources Conservation Rule published
by the Bureau of Land Management on
Sept 28 (AOGR, October 2018, pg. 29),
BLM will defer to state or tribal
regulations for determining when flared
gas qualifies as royalty free. According
to media reports, the NDIC considered
it inappropriate to include flaring from
Fort Berthold trust lands in the state's
gas capture policy until it was known
how the change in federal regulations
would affect flared volumes.
NDPC mentions that the Mandan,
Hidatsa and Arikara Nation and BLM
have agreed to transfer regulatory
authority to the MHA Nation by Feb. 5.
In the meantime, NDPC says, NDIC
removed references to "new well" and
"less than 60 percent capture" from its
definition of stranded gas outside the
Bakken core area that an operator may
exclude from his monthly gas-capturevolume calculation. NDPC observes
that gathering and processing capacity
are constrained and expansion is a low
priority in these areas.
NDIC's guidance document also
now excludes from a producer's

monthly volume calculation gas flared
because of gathering and processing
capacity curtailments, or as a result of
new high-pressure/volume wells forcing
older, lower-volume/pressure wells off
the system. The association notes that
gas volumes from new wells has nearly
tripled in the past three years and
associated gas from oil wells has
increased from 1 Mcf to 2 Mcf per
barrel of oil.
The guidance also allows operators
to exclude from their monthly volume
calculations gas placed into geologic
storage or utilized in enhanced oil
recovery. It allows operators to
accumulate credits for gas liquefied or
compressed, and recognizes as "surplus
gas being utilized in a beneficial manner
that may be considered captured gas:"
· Equipping wells with an electric
generator that consumes wellhead gas; or
· Installing other systems that
utilize wellhead gas or gas liquids for
such beneficial uses as liquid fuels,
production of petrochemicals or
fertilizer, or separating propane and
heavier hydrocarbons.
"These are significant changes and
the work of the NDPC Gas Capture
Task Force played a critical role in
moving these decisions forward,"
NDPC advises. "The NDIC did mention
that it wants the task force to stay
engaged and continue working on
efforts to improve gas capture." r

Texas Alliance Expands
Its Reach By Adopting
Big Tent Resolution
WICHITA FALLS, TX.-By adopting
what it refers to as an historic resolution
at its Nov. 16 meeting, the Texas Alliance
of Energy Producers Board of Directors
has expanded membership opportunities
to any individual or company involved in
the oil and gas or related industries.
"The Alliance exists to serve the
independent oil and gas industry in our
great state through advocacy, education
and outreach," the Alliance's Big Tent
Resolution states. "We hereby are
committing our association to represent
the entire oil and gas industry, which
has brought so much prosperity,
security and freedom to America."
Alliance President John Tintera notes
that the organization's predecessor
associations-the North Texas Oil & Gas
American Oil and Gas Reporter - December 2018

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