American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017 - 81

ConventionCoverage: North Dakota Petroleum Council
years is 3.3 percent."
Moore said the U.S. economy grew
14.9 percent during the Obama administration. He compared that with the 36.0
percent it grew during the presidency of
Ronald Reagan, who also entered office
during an economic crisis. "If the economy
had grown as fast under Obama as it did
under Reagan, we would have had $3.1
trillion more growth," he attested. "That
is what is missing from the economy."
Moore said that if the economy grew
at 3.0 percent a year, instead of rising
from 75 percent to 150 percent of GDP
over the next 20 years, the national debt
would shrink to 50 percent of GDP.
He suggested the economy grew under
Reagan because he cut taxes and regulations. "History proves that good things
happened for the American economy
every time we brought down tax rates,"
Moore said. "It happened that way in the
1960s under John F. Kennedy. It even
happened that way under Bill Clinton
when we cut the capital gains rate."
Commenting that individual tax rates
were "fixed pretty well" under Reagan,
Moore said the problem today "is we
have a business tax system that makes
American businesses uncompetitive globally."
While the average state, local and federal corporate tax liability in the United
States has stayed at 40 percent during
the past 25 years, Moore said rates in all
other industrialized countries where U.S.
companies must compete had dropped
gradually to 20-25 percent.
"We are in a global economy," he described. "Your companies are competing
not only with companies in Texas and
Oklahoma, you are competing with Saudi
Arabian, Venezuelan and Canadian companies, but you are facing a 20 percent
disadvantage. We have to close that gap.
"If we get that (tax) rate down, companies and capital that left the United
States will come back, I guarantee you,"
Moore insisted. "We are talking about
millions of new jobs that will be created
here in the United States."
Industry Leaders
NDPC inaugurated three member
achievement awards at this year's convention, recognizing Crestwood Equity
Partners for excellence in community engagement, Targa Resources for excellence
in environmental stewardship, and Enerplus Corp. for excellence in safety.
In addition, NDPC presented its an-

nual Distinguished Service Award to
Brent Eslinger, senior district manager
for Halliburton's Williston District; gave
its 2017 Outstanding Service Award to
House Majority Leader Al Carlson, RFargo; and inducted Craig Smith, a partner in the Energy, Environment and
Natural Resources Department at the
Crowley Fleck law firm, into the NDPC
Hall of Fame.
NDPC says Crestwood donated $1
million to the Head Start facility in Mandaree, N.D., and also "has been a steadfast
supporter of several established community
events" including the Mandaree Pow
Wow Celebration, Ray Youth Rodeo and
Fun Night, and Epping's Buffalo Trail
Days.
NDPC recognized Targa Resources
for its microbially-enhanced bioremediation of crude oil-impacted soils. "Targa's
investment of time, money and resources
has shown measurable success and may
provide a sustainable, cost-effective alternative to traditional landfill disposal,"
the association says.
Enerplus was recognized for designing
and implementing an automated tank
gauging process that eliminated the need
for workers to manually gauge and retrieve
oil samples from storage tanks. NDPC
says the BLM, which cooperated in the
year-long test, "has been very pleased
with the accuracy of the results and is
supportive of the effort to improve worker
safety."
NDPC praised Eslinger for his support
of the association's community outreach
efforts, and for "raising tens of thousands
of dollars" through the American Petroleum Institute's Williston Chapter for the
Williston community.

Vincent DeVito, counselor to the U.S.
secretary of interior for energy policy,
tells NDPC "the war on American energy
is over" under the Donald Trump administration. DeVito spoke during the Sept.
27 afternoon session at NDPC's annual
meeting, Sept. 26-28 in Grand Forks, N.D.

"We could always count on Brent to
be engaged, offering his help with technical
support on new rules and regulations,
working with community officials, giving
tours, and supporting industry and the
Petroleum Council through sponsorships,"
says NDPC President Ron Ness.
A 29-year industry veteran, Smith
served as NDPC vice chairman and chairman from 2008 to 2012, and still serves
on the council's Board of Directors and
Executive Committee. "Throughout his
many years as a board member and legal
counsel, Craig has been instrumental in
many victories for the industry, and led
the NDPC Board during a period of significant growth," praises Ness.
r

EOR And Refracturing Factor
Into Bakken's Growth Potential
GRAND FORKS, N.D.-In July, North
Dakota Governor Doug Burgum challenged the oil and gas industry to grow
the state's crude oil production to 2
million barrels a day.
After listening to several presentations
on the potential of the Bakken at the
North Dakota Petroleum Council's annual
convention, Sept. 26-28 at the Alerus
Center in Grand Forks, the governor concluded, "Maybe my number was too low."
Justin Kringstad, director of the North

Dakota Pipeline Authority, gave NDPC
some projections on what the Bakken
might do. He presented two scenarios:
* In case one, he held July's completion rate of 100 wells flat for four years
before gradually escalating it to around
160 completions a month.
* Case two dropped the monthly completion rate to about 65 wells for the next
six years, then increased it to approximately 120.
Near-term, Kringstad revealed, Bakken
NOVEMBER 2017 81

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017

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