American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020 - 89

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ConventionCoverage: Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia

The Department of Energy's National
Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, W.V., is focused on applying
artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance recoveries as well as
adding value to natural gas by creating
new uses for the resource, says Director
Brian J. Anderson. Anderson spoke during the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia's winter meeting,
Jan. 21-22 in Charleston, W.V.

smartly and efficiently, and leveraging
every bit of technology and innovation
we have available to us," he explained.
As an example, Bentley said, Diversified has arrested the natural decline
rates on its legacy conventional wells
and held production essentially flat.
"You wouldn't have been able to tell me
a year and a half ago this would have
been possible without any new in-field
drilling, but we have been able to achieve
that," he declared.
Diversified's third foundation is every
dollar counts, Bentley continued. "There
is no margin for wasteful spending in
our business right now," he assessed. "We
have to make smart decisions around
where we put our operations, maintenance
and capital dollars."
Lastly, "and this will sound weird in
this economy and environment," Bentley
acknowledged, Diversified's fourth underlying foundation revolves around enjoyment and having fun, he said.
"That means being proud of our oil
and gas industry," Bentley described. "We
should be very proud of the effort that
has been put into making America energy
independent and providing the quality of
life we all get to enjoy through responsible,
environmentally safe extraction of the
resources we have."
Schopp and Cutright also emphasized
their companies' commitment to corporate

responsibility.
Reflecting on the growing national
awareness of methane emissions, Schopp
encouraged all producers to join Antero
in participating in industry partnerships
designed to reduce greenhouse gas and
methane emissions such as ONE Future,
the American Petroleum Institute's Environmental Partnership and the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency's Natural Gas STAR program. Antero's
methane leak loss rate is 0.06%, compared with an industrywide target of
1.00%, he said.
Cutright said Southwestern had reduced GHG emissions 40% in its producing areas.
Another focus, he went on, is water
conservation. Cutright said Southwestern
set a goal in 2014 of replenishing every
gallon of water used in an operating area
with a freshwater gallon reintroduced
into the environment.
That launched a multitude of conservation projects in conjunction with
state agencies and private sector partners.
Today, Cutright reported, "We have 10
ongoing projects and have been a freshwater neutral company for four years
running because of an objective that

was set six years ago without a way to
get there. But we found a way and we
executed it."
DOE Research
Lowering the per-unit cost of production by enhancing recovery rates and
adding value to the extracted resources
are NETL's twin focuses, Anderson told
IOGAWV.
Hailing the opening of DOE's new
Artificial Intelligence Technology Office
in September, Anderson said, "Applying
AI and machine learning is the next generation of what we are going to do to be
able to enhance recovery, reduce our environmental footprint and lower the cost
of production."
To that end, he said, DOE is attempting
to build the world's largest collection of
subsurface production and stimulation
data. Emphasizing the agency's ability
to keep individual company data confidential, Anderson issued a call "for any
sort of production and subsurface seismic
data. We are trying to develop the algorithms that enable machine learning so
we can help you in your daily operations
make real-time decisions about production
in the subsurface."

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection, along with the Independent
Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia and the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association, presented, 2019 Reclamation Awards for environmental excellence at
IOGAWV's winter meeting to companies in four categories: Category 1, 30 or more
permits; Category 2, 15-29 permits; Category 3, 6-14 permits; and Category 4, 1-5
permits. Winners shown here are, front row from left: Ross Schweitzer, Arsenal
Resources LLC, 3rd place Category 4; Chad Griffith, CNX Gas Co. LLC, 3rd Category 3;
Maribeth Anderson, Antero Resources, 2nd (tie) Category 1; David McDougal, Northeast
Natural Energy, 2nd (tie) Category 1; and Kevin Coleman, Chevron Appalachia LLC, 1st
Category 2. Back row, from left: Tim Sands, XTO Energy Inc., 2nd Category 4; Jim
Pancake, Tug Hill Operating LLC, 1st Category 1; Derek Cutright, Southwestern Energy,
2nd Category 3; and Roger Heldman, HG Energy II Appalachian LLC, 1st, Category 4.
Not shown: EQT Production Co., 1st Category 3.

MARCH 2020 89

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2020

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