American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2019 - 88

ConventionSection: Louisiana Oil & Gas Association

Candidates Seek Industry's Support
By Gifford Briggs
BATON ROUGE, LA.-Louisiana is a
unique state, notable among the others in
the nation. We are known for our exquisite
Cajun cuisine, a football coach with an
often indecipherable southern dialect and
a colorful political climate that features
seemingly endless elections.
It can be hard to get excited about
these elections, considering we seem to
go to the polls every few months. We
completed a statewide election on Dec.
8, and only a couple months later, people
are returning to the polls to fill seven
open state representative positions. However, Louisianans cannot afford to take
their eyes off the ball or fall asleep at the
wheel because the main event is here.
For months, everyone just knew that
the 2019 governor's election was going
to be a John Kennedy versus John Bel
Edwards matchup. Polls were being run,
plans being laid and checks being cashed
in anticipation of this heavyweight
matchup with historical last names. As is
often the case with Louisiana politics,
Kennedy pulled a December shocker and
announced that he was going to stay in
the U.S. Senate and forgo the chance to
take the helm at the Louisiana Capitol.
The immediate responses varied from
frustration to excitement, but quickly
began to shift to Governor John Bel
Edwards' other challengers-if not
Kennedy, then who? Fortunately for
those who wished to see a challenger, it
did not take long for a flurry of names
to arise. Currently, Governor Edwards
has two announced challengers: Eddie
Rispone and Congressman Ralph Abraham, R-La., while a few others have
not settled on an answer to whether
they are running.
The first individual to announce his
candidacy was Rispone, the founder and

Coming In April
The Kansas Independent Oil &
Gas Association will hold its 2019
midyear meeting, April 17-19 at the
Kansas Star Casino in Mulvane, Ks.
See the Official Convention Section
in the April issue of The American
Oil & Gas Reporter.
88 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

chairman of ISC Constructors in Baton
Rouge. Rispone brings a fresh, businessminded perspective to governing the state.
Starting his career by wiring air conditioner
units in high school, he has gone on to
build ISC Construction, a very successful
business that employs thousands. Rispone
has been heavily involved in education
reform throughout Louisiana. When
Rispone considers why he has decided
to run, he explains "I think we can do
better. I know we can do better."
The second candidate to announce,
Representative Ralph Abraham, also has
an impressive resume and represents
Louisiana's Fifth Congressional District
in the state's northeast corner. Not only
is he a congressman, he is a doctor, a
veteran, a veterinarian, a farmer in Richland Parish, and a pilot who still runs occasional missions for the U.S. Coast
Guard. Abraham has a proven track record
and brings real-world application to the
policies and laws that crop up in D.C.
Governor Edwards will campaign on
his record as governor this time around
and will be a much different candidate
than in 2015. The governor has been touring the state, touting economic indicators
that support his re-election, as well as
Medicaid expansion and Louisiana prison
reform efforts, as key reasons the people
should support him for a second term.
What this all means for the oil and
gas industry remains to be seen. The oil
and gas industry is the state's backbone,
and arguably, the industry that most represents the spirit of Louisiana. Candidates

surely will make their pitches for support
from one of the state's largest industries.
All three of the announced candidates
know the biggest issue facing Louisiana's
industry are coastal and legacy lawsuits.
They also know that Louisiana has the
country's highest oil severance tax rate.
The candidates that bring solutions to
these challenges, solutions that can bring
investment back from Texas and Mississippi, have an opportunity to win the industry's support.
❒

GIFFORD
BRIGGS

Gifford Briggs is president of the
Louisiana Oil & Gas Association, a
position he attained after working
closely with the Louisiana Legislature
for nearly a decade as LOGA's Vice
President. Prior to that, he spent
time in Atlanta working in restaurant
management. Briggs' initial stint with
the association came as membership
coordinator in 1994, during which
he helped organize its first annual
meeting and the Gulf Coast Prospect
& Shale Expo.

Viking Energy Acquires Wells In Texas, Louisiana
HOUSTON-Viking Energy Group Inc.
says it has acquired 58 conventional oil
and gas wells located primarily in Orange
and Jefferson counties, Tx., and Calcasieu
Parish, La., that, at the time of acquisition,
were producing 2,469 net barrels of oil
equivalent a day (56 percent oil).
The acquisition increases its overall
proven oil and gas reserves by 1.5 million
boe, Viking says, adding that the wells
produce from known reservoirs and sands
in the onshore Gulf Coast region, including
the Hackberry, Yegua, Wilcox, Amphistegina and Robira.
Other features of the acquisition,
Viking says, include a majority working
interest in multiple fields and 35 saltwater

disposal wells.
Remarking that it is large from both a
monetary and production standpoint, relative to his company's size, Viking President and Chief Executive Officer James
Doris calls the acquisition "merely a
small step within a more comprehensive
long-term acquisition and growth strategy.
We are committed to operating these,
along with our other assets, as efficiently
as possible, and to identifying and evaluating additional growth opportunities
across all company divisions."
James adds that the new wells are
being operated by Viking's wholly-owned
subsidiary, Petrodome Operating LLC.
❒

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2019

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