American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2023 - 37

IssuesUpdate: Oklahoma Energy Producers Alliance
Oklahoma Energy Producers
Combining Their Voices
By Danny Boyd
ARDMORE, OK.-Leaders of the
Oklahoma Energy Producers Alliance describe
the group's chief responsibility as
representing its 550 members before legislators,
the Oklahoma Corporation Commission
and other state authorities. However,
OEPA leaders indicate, numerous
members lately have expressed particular
concern about more distant developments
that originate in Washington.
The supplemental proposal to reduce
methane and other oil and gas-related
emissions, which the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency published in November,
is troubling many of the Sooner
State's traditional vertical drilling and
production companies, says OEPA Chairman
David Little, president of Kingery
Energy in Ardmore.
" It is really going to put a strain on
stripper well operators, " Little assesses.
" It costs about the same to apply those
guidelines to a well producing 1,000 barrels
a day compared with a well producing
two barrels a day. There may be more
equipment on the larger well, but the
compliance cost is not going to be that
much more. It's a challenge, and we have
to find ways to mitigate that challenge. "
Even seemingly beneficial federal initiatives
can take a considerable toll on
OEPA members, warns Director Emeritus
Dewey Bartlett, president of Tulsa-based
Keener Oil & Gas.
The Bipartisan Infrastructure Act that
President Biden signed in late 2021 awards
funds to state regulatory agencies such
as the OCC to help plug abandoned and
orphaned wells, he reviews. Although
OEPA supports plugging such wells,
Bartlett explains, strings attached to those
federal funds include measurement requirements
to determine the volumes of
methane being emitted into the atmosphere
even for wells that have been shut in
properly with a valve and a bull plug.
" Even without emissions, they will
require those valves and plugs to be removed
so methane emissions can be
measured. Those findings then provide a
reason to require the well to be plugged, "
" It is essential that the 3,000 small business
oil and gas producers in Oklahoma and the
thousands of farmers and ranchers in our state
have access to bank financing. "
-David Little
OEPA Chairman
he says. " It's a real concern. "
The guidelines may affect not only
wells, but also secure tank batteries, compressors
and gas processing plants that
also lack significant emissions, Bartlett
says. The association supports exceptions
to the guidelines for smaller operators,
he says, but many members say they suspect
the Biden administration wants to
effectively put oil and gas operators out
of business, regardless of many companies'
sterling environmental records.
" We are as concerned about the environment
as anybody, " Little adds. " Some
activists don't believe that, but we are. "
OEPA continues to take its message
to small Oklahoma communities to convey
its mission to protect smaller independent
producers, Little reports. Some of those
companies, including Kingery Energy,
also operate horizontal wells, he says,
but all of them not only help meet Oklahomans'
energy needs, but also create
jobs and contribute to communities.
Standing For Oklahoma
OEPA has expressed its support for
Oklahoma Treasurer Todd Russ's move
to withhold state funds from institutions
that discriminate against oil and gas and
agriculture in their loan policies. In February,
Russ's office says, the treasurer
sent a letter and questionnaire to certain
financial institutions, including fund managers
and banks, to determine if any of
them boycott energy companies. In early
May, press accounts note, Russ unveiled
a list of 13 major financial institutions
with environmental, social and governance
policies that bar them from doing business
with the state.
" This is a courageous action by our
state treasurer and a win for Oklahoma
producers, " Little says. " It is essential
that the 3,000 small business oil and
gas producers in Oklahoma and the thousands
of farmers and ranchers in our
state have access to bank financing.
Treasurer Russ's actions will help ensure
that institutions in Oklahoma put the interests
of Oklahoma agriculture and oil
and gas businesses over the 'woke' policies
of the Biden administration. "
Bartlett says OEPA leaders are fully
aware of the pressure being exerted on
Russ by large national banks and even
some large, mostly out-of-state, oil companies
that effectively support the same
sort of policies. " We stand with Todd
Russ in his commitment to make sure
that those institutions that get to invest
pension funds and other monies under
the treasurer's purview do not receive
billions of dollars if they continue to discriminate
against Oklahoma's two biggest
industries, " he emphasizes.
State Oversight
Regulation tends to be far more effective
when it is handled by agencies that
know Oklahoma and understand the distinctions
among its various producing areas,
Little considers. " We want our state-
the people who live here-to create and
JUNE 2023 37
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