American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015 - 131

ConventionSection: Arkansas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners
were turned over to the state auditor," he
says. "Under this new law, producers
have to hang on to these proceeds for
only three years and annual reports are
no longer required."
HB 1872 was not AIPRO's idea, Robbins continues. "We have a new state auditor who wanted to pursue abandoned
mineral proceeds," he notes. "But the
legislation includes all kinds of unclaimed
property."
Recovering Production
Regarding drilling activity in Arkansas,
and specifically in the Fayetteville Shale,
Robbins comments that the statewide rig
count was down to four as of early August.
Three of those rigs were in the Fayetteville
Shale area, and the fourth was in South
Arkansas. There were no rigs in the
state's Arkoma Basin in early August,
he confirms.
"The Fayetteville Shale is a dry gas
play, and with gas prices so depressed
and rigs getting stacked-whether oil or
gas-Arkansas is not immune to that,"
Robbins comments. "Production continues
to be high because of existing wells or
wells being brought on line. But we definitely are seeing a downturn in the
number of new wells being drilled."
Miller confirms that Arkansas has felt
the effects of the industrywide slowdown.
"Fortunately for everyone, including royalty owners, producers and all others involved in our community, these wonderful
energy resources are still present and developmentally viable, and we will return
to more active production when the demands and markets so dictate," Miller
says.
Robbins adds that 2014 probably witnessed Arkansas' highest natural gas production ever, resulting in record severance
tax revenues for the state. But 2015 has
seen a tremendous drop in severance tax
revenue, he observes. "It is not that we
are producing any less," he reflects, "so
much as the value has decreased."
Robbins predicts that by year-end,
Arkansas' production for 2015 will be
down slightly from 2014, but still remarks
that this year's volume will be "nothing
to sneeze at." Even with the drop in
prices, Arkansas is still the eighth-leading
state in natural gas production, he says.
Regulatory Language
For Arkansas, local regulatory matters
have been minor, Robbins affirms. Since
May, AIPRO has been involved in joint

AIPRO Annual Meeting - Little Rock, Ar.
Tuesday, Oct. 6

9 a.m. Golf Outing, Country Club of Arkansas
9 a.m. Sporting Clay Shoot, Blue Rock
Sportsman's Club
Noon-6 p.m. Registration, Embassy Suites,
Little Rock
Noon-2:30 p.m. Exhibitor Setup
3 p.m. The Politics of Energy and the AntiOil-and-Gas Movement
Tommy Foltz, Consumer Energy Alliance
3:30 p.m. Arkansas Regulatory Update
Becky Keogh, Arkansas Department of
Environmental Quality; and Larry Bengal,
Arkansas Oil and Gas Commission
4 p.m. Break
4:15 p.m. Identifying Threats to Our Industry
Laura Garrett, FBI Special Agent
5 p.m. Plan to Fight Metal Theft
Leslie Rutledge, Arkansas Attorney General
5:30 p.m. Break
6 p.m. Welcome Reception, Exhibitor Area
7 p.m. Dinner
Sponsored by Southwestern Energy
7:30 p.m. Geopolitics Affecting Energy
Markets
Kyle Isakower, American Petroleum Institute

industry comments to the Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality. The
department has been in the process of renewing general air permits for natural
gas compression stations and compressors,
and the language must be finalized and
in place by mid-December, he says. This
is a mandatory process that takes place
every five years for general permits issued
by the department.
"We have been involved with a larger
industry group in commenting on this
issue and process because it affects both
the producers' and utilities' compressor
facilities," Robbins notes. "I would say
that it has been a productive process, and
we probably will see the fruit of that
labor in the final language."
Overall, AIPRO is more concerned
with federal than local regulatory issues,
Robbins says, confirming the state has
initiated very few regulatory changes
over the past year. "AIPRO has good
communication and relations with our
state's oil and gas regulators, and we
stay in touch with them on a variety of
issues," he states.
Among AIPRO's chief concerns is
the new definition of waters of the United

Wednesday, Oct. 7

7:30-8:30 a.m. Exhibitor Setup & Registration, Embassy Suites
8 a.m. Gas to Liquids
Jim Wimberly, Energy Security Partners
(Invited)
9 a.m. Safety, Beyond Compliance
Panel Discussion with Clay Murphy, Insurance Center; Trena Adair, Harvor
Environmental; and R.J. Goodman, XTO
Energy
10 a.m. Break
10:30 a.m. Producer's Panel
Participants: Steve Mueller, SWN; Rob
Reynolds, Shuler Drilling; and Howard
Vernon, Foundation Energy
11:30 a.m. Federal Producer Tax Issues,
Lifting the Export Ban
Pete Regan, Domestic Energy Producers
Alliance
12:15 p.m. AIPRO Business Meeting
12:30 p.m. Lunch
Sponsored by XTO Energy
1 p.m. Teacher Energy Education Program
Update
Paige Miller, Arkansas Energy Rocks!
1:15 p.m. Presentation by Rik Roberts, Humorist and Motivational Speaker
2 p.m. Adjourn

States that are subject to federal control
under the Clean Water Act that has been
adopted by the Environmental Protection
Agency and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Robbins says expanding what may
be considered "navigable waters" could
impact the oil and gas industry negatively
in Arkansas as it does elsewhere, and
says AIPRO has been a joint signee with
comments from other industry associations.
On air quality, Robbins says AIPRO
is working alongside the American Petroleum Institute and other groups to
protest EPA's plan to lower the federal
ozone standard from 75 to between 65
and 70 parts per billion. "This is something
we are very concerned with, but other
industries and all parts of the country are
monitoring and commenting on this overreaching policy as well," he reflects.
Robbins also opines that, even though
the industry nationwide has seen a drastic
reduction in drilling and production activity, everyone should still be mindful
of local, state, and national regulatory
changes.
"I would say the biggest challenge
isn't in the regulatory or public policy
SEPTEMBER 2015 131

American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2015

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