IPAMS Meetings and Announcements
Utah Call-Up:
IPAMS and the Utah Petroleum Association are hosting a Call-Up in Salt Lake City October 14 - 15 in conjunction with the legislative interim session. Please register by Friday the 10th. The agenda includes a reception with state and federal agencies, Governor’s staff, legislators, and other industry allies; a breakfast with the Conservative Caucus; a presentation to the Natural Resources Interim Committee; talks with both the Republican and Democratic Senate Caucuses; and meetings with the Congressional Delegation. Thank you to Anadarko, Beatty & Wozniak, Bill Barrett Corp., and Samson for sponsoring the event. Please contact Kathleen Sgamma for more information.
2008 Election Guides Now Available Online
Click here to access IPAMS 2008 Voter Guides.
IPAMS Online Voter Education Center has been designed to provide your company’s employees with the tools they need to cast an informed vote in this year’s elections. Energy will be the top issue in this election cycle, so let’s ensure that our industry’s voice is heard. Simply enter your address to find out where the candidates in your congressional and legislative districts stand on energy issues. If your candidates did not respond to our survey, please feel free to contact them and ask them to do so as soon as possible. If you would like hard copies of the Voter Guides to distribute to your company’s employees, please contact Jon Bargas. Thank you for your help in this important effort and please let me know if you have any questions.
Click here to visit IPAMS Online Voter Education Center.
Click here to download a voter registration form.
IPAMS Voter Guides are available here. Please help us get the word out to employees in your company that the IPAMS Voter Education Center is now available. Also please let Jon Bargas know how many guides by state you would like for distribution to your employees and contractors in the field.
Truth and Consequences: The Causes and Impacts of Lower Natural Gas Prices
October 21, 2008
Westin Tabor Center (1672 Lawrence Street) - 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. (Reception to follow)
Please join us for an important and timely discussion exploring the factors contributing to falling natural gas prices, industry’s reaction, regional tax dynamics, and the potential impact to state and local governments in the region.
Agenda:
Drivers Affecting Natural Gas Price - Porter Bennett, Bentek Energy
The Independent Producer Reaction to Gas Prices - Independent Producer Panel State and County Tax Dynamics - Bill Mueldener, Hein and Associates
DJ Impacts - Bill Jerke, Chair and Weld County Commissioner At-Large West Slope Impacts
Click here to register for this event.
IPAMS Welcomes Its Newest Members
Bond & Smyser LLP
Cokamo Oil
IPAMS Photo Contest
IPAMS is holding a seasonal photo contest! IPAMS is asking members for seasonally-themed photographs during the winter, spring, summer and autumn of 2008. We are looking for scenic photos featuring wildlife, oil and gas operations, or any picturesque scenes from around the West. Winners will receive a prize and will have their photo appear in IPAMS 2009 Calendar. Please submit all photos to Spencer Kimball.
IPAMS 2009 Calendar
We are in the midst of designing our calendar for the upcoming year for distribution at industry and community outreach events. Scenes will be taken from our photo contest winners and placed with according months. Each month will include a fact along the bottom of the page explaining the photo and emphasizing the need for continued energy production. The goal is to educate the public and demonstrate visually that energy development can have a small and temporary impact on the environment.
If you’d like to participate, but don’t have a photo to submit for our contest, please send an interesting fact about the industry to be included with someone else’s photo. Sponsorships for the calendar including company logos and placement are still available. Please contact Jon Haubert for more information on the upcoming calendar.
Send us your success stories
Conservation in Action is constantly looking for stories of energy companies going above and beyond what’s required to protect and preserve wildlife habitat in areas where development occurs. If your company has a success story you’d like to share, please email the details to Conservation in Action at info@conservationinaction.us.
Other Upcoming Meetings
* Utah Call-Up - October 14 - 15, Salt Lake City (see agenda above)
* Bi-Weekly Air Quality Projects Meeting - October 7th and 21st, 3:00 (teleconference only)
* Montana Basin Advisors Network Meeting - October 20th, 1:00
* Tax Committee Meeting - October 21st, 2:00
* Colorado Basin Advisors Network - October 22nd, 10:00
* Government Affairs Committee - October 22, 2:00 (NOTE DATE CHANGE)
* New Mexico Basin Advisors Network Meeting - October 23rd, 10:00
* Air Quality Committee Meeting - October 23rd, 2:00
Agendas are available for upcoming meetings at http://www.ipams.org/advocacy/.
All meetings unless otherwise indicated are Mountain time, and at IPAMS and via teleconference. Call Spencer or me for the number. Please help us with security by announcing your name and company when signing in.
Are All of Your Coworkers Receiving Wildcatter Weekly?
As an IPAMS member, all of your fellow employees are entitled to the benefits that IPAMS membership offers. Employees who are not receiving communications from IPAMS, including Wildcatter Weekly, can sign up here (www.ipams.org/register). Please forward this link to all of your company employees and assist us in keeping our members informed on the lasted industry news and events.
Visit ipams.org for the latest news affecting the Intermountain West’s oil and natural gas industry. Headlines are updated daily from local, national and international news sources.
The West
Colorado
Amendment 58 Oil and Gas Severance Tax Increase:
Information on the opposition to the severance tax increase ballot initiative is available at http://www.voteno58.com/. Mike Beatty of Beatty and Wozniak recently debated State Rep. Alice Madden, House Majority Leader on the measure. To watch the video, go to http://www.bwenergylaw.com/.
Bull Mountain Pipeline work continues through Thursday
October 8, 2008
The federal government will allow the building of the Bull Mountain pipeline to continue until Thursday. Construction was supposed to end on Oct. 1, according to the U.S. National Forest Service. (The Post Independent)
La Plata County Mulls Action On Oil, Gas Rules
October 5, 2008
La Plata County will decide this week whether to finish two years of work on new oil and gas rules or wait while the state completes an overhaul of its regulations. At issue is whether the county’s rules would conflict with or duplicate new regulations by the Colorado Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. (CBS 4 Denver)
Energy company to pay for reconstruction of County Road 306 near Parachute
October 7, 2008
The Garfield County commissioners on Monday approved an agreement with Noble Energy for the company to pay about $209,700 to rebuild County Road 306. The agreement comes after a Noble contractor, which was building a natural gas pipeline in the area, caused significant problems to County Road 306 that made parts of the roadway impassable. That road is about 10 miles southwest of Parachute. (Post Independent)
Montana
Front oil, gas leases back on table
October 9, 2008
The state will offer eight tracts of environmentally sensitive lands along the Rocky Mountain Front for oil and gas leasing in December, including one situated in a game management area providing important elk and bear habitat. (Great Falls Tribune)
Montana Refining nixes $500 million expansion
October 7, 2008
The high price of heavy oil and scarce financing have led to a decision that capacity at Montana Refining Co. will not be expanded. Calgary-based Connacher Oil and Gas, which bought the refinery in 2006, says it’s shelving plans to bring the facility from a 9,500 barrels of oil a day operation to 35,000 barrels a day. The upgrade would have cost an estimated $500 million. (Great Falls Tribune)
New Mexico
San Juan Basin Air Emissions Surveys:
We have begun the WRAP Phase III air emissions data collection effort for the San Juan basin in New Mexico. If you are a San Juan operator, we would appreciate your help filling out the surveys available at http://www.ipams.org/advocacy/air.php, where there is also a letter with instructions. There is also a midstream survey, so please help us get this to midstream companies that operate in the basin. In order to stay on track with the project, we are requesting responses by October 15th. Wyoming surveys are in the works and will be distributed soon.
City to consider prepaid gas contract, electric savings
October 7, 2008
With teetering financial market conditions in mind, Farmington City Council today will consider floating more than $500 million in bonds for the Electric Utility to prepay for a natural gas supply over the next 30 years. If approved by City Council and purchased when market conditions are right, the prepaid gas contract could reduce electric bills for Farmington electric consumers by as much as 15 percent per month… (Farmington Daily News)
Utah
Fundraising Event for Rep. Rob Bishop (R-UT)
Please join IPAMS in conjunction with the Utah Call-Up for a reception in honor of Congressman Rob Bishop (R-UT), ranking member of the National Parks, Forests, and Public Lands Committee, in Salt Lake City on Tuesday, October 14, 2008. Congressman Bishop of the House Natural Resources Committee and the leader of the Western Caucus has been a strong supporter of our industry.
Please see the attached invitation for more information.
GAO launches probe into oil, gas drilling
October 8, 2008
Congressional investigators are looking at the government’s quick - and legal - approvals for oil and gas drilling in an investigation called long overdue by environmental groups. Industry executives condemn it as political. (Desert News)
Nine Mile Canyon: ‘Historic’ status would protect archaeological artifacts in the area
October 7, 2008
For the first time in more than 20 years, Utah archaeological sites will be nominated for listing on the National Register of Historic Places - and they are in Nine Mile Canyon, where a Denver energy company is drilling for natural gas. (Salt Lake Tribune)
Wyoming
BLM Oil and Gas Lease Sale Nets Over $9 Million, State of Wyoming to Get Nearly Half
October 8, 2008
The Bureau of Land Management generated $9,220,797.00 for leasing rights and rental fees on parcels offered at the BLM’s bimonthly federal oil and gas lease auction held in Cheyenne on Oct. 7, 2008. Almost half of the bid and rental receipts go to the State of Wyoming. (BLM News Release)
Neighbors visit site of proposed well
October 9, 2008
Citing the cumulative effects of growing energy development along the Line Creek drainage and past environmental problems that remain unresolved, some Clark residents asked for strict oversight Wednesday of a planned natural-gas well just inside the Shoshone National Forest. (Gazette Wyoming Bureau)
Fortification soon will open to drilling
October 7, 2008
Despite long-standing opposition from wildlife advocates and environmental groups, the rangeland supporting one of Campbell County’s most prized elk herds soon will be open to coal-bed methane development. (Gillette News-Record)
Gov tells BLM to up wildlife stipulations in Fortification Creek CBM plan
October 9, 2008
Gov. Dave Freudenthal criticized federal land managers this week for bypassing a full environmental review of coal-bed methane gas development in the Fortification Creek area of the Powder River Basin. (Casper Star-Tribune)
Washington Watch
Udall favors lame-duck session to deal with public lands
October 08, 2008
Congressman Mark Udall, D-Colo., said he would like to see the U.S. Senate and House go back into session after the November election to pass legislation that would, among other things, create the Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area. (Grand Junction Sentinel)
Dingell, Boucher call for steep greenhouse gas cuts
October 7, 2008
The darkening economic outlook may force lawmakers to delay some public policy priorities, but two House Democrats indicated Tuesday that curbing global warming won’t be one of them. (The Hill)
Media Watch
Green-recovery program could provide a middle-class bailout
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
The lipstick is on the pig. The $700 billion bailout is a done deal. If it is a good deal or a bad deal, new deal or raw deal, remains to be seen, but everyone seems to agree that it is not the final deal. As the Salt Lake City Tribune editorialized, “there are no guarantees the plan will work but time was of the essence and doing nothing was not an option.” (Grand Junction Sentinel Editorial)
Wind power: Milford leads the way
October 6, 2008
The Dutch were on to something when they built windmills to pump water out of the polders. Down in Milford, Utah, too much water has rarely been a problem, but, as in The Netherlands, the weather and terrain in Milford Valley do produce reliable wind, and modern windmills can harness it to generate electricity. (Salt Lake Tribune Editorial)
Environment and Wildlife
Big bucks survived harsh winter
October 5, 2008
Forget, if you can, all those deer that did not survive the brutal winter in the Gunnison country, or in certain other places around the state. (Denver Post)
More
Herd of hunters needed
October 4, 2008
Big-game managers know with a fair degree of accuracy how many elk roam the mountains and valleys of Colorado, a count that is declining but still remains higher in many areas than the Division of Wildlife might prefer. What the agency doesn’t know for sure is how many hunters will show up this year and whether final harvest numbers will help it hit what has become a moving population target. (Denver Post)
Experts: Air designation could trigger restrictions
October 9, 2008
A federal designation labeling Sublette County as a “dirty air” area for ozone pollution would require the state to institute increased safeguards for clean air, according to a panel of ozone experts.
That would most likely result in stricter regulations on emissions in the lucrative Jonah and Pinedale Anticline natural gas fields, speakers at an ozone forum said here Tuesday night. (Casper Star-Tribune)
Technology and Alternative & Renewable Energy
API Compendium Working Meeting
Houston, October 22-23
API is conduction a ”working” meeting, not a learning workshop that will focus on all revisions of the Compendium before finalizing it for release. The meeting entails two breakout sessions, one for downstream and another for upstream (including pipeline). All revisions to the Compendium including ‘uncertainty’ as well as the impacts that the current Compendium revisions will have on its sister document the API/IPIECA/OGP, Petroleum Industry Guidelines for Reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) Emissions (December 2003). API will be sending out information/queries in advance of the meeting for upstream/midstream and downstream breakout groups to address. View Agenda
To register, contact Donna Dickey by October 10th. Email: Dickeyd@api.org Phone: (202) 682-8564
Ranchers team with firm for wind farm
October 8, 2008
A group of northeast Colorado farmers and ranchers is combining with a Minnesota wind-energy firm to propose an $800 million wind farm. The project, encompassing land in Sedgwick, Phillips and Logan counties, would become the state’s second-largest wind farm… (Denver Post)
Wind projects face long-term credit turbulence
October 8, 2008
The financial upheaval in the global economy could mean permanent changes for the wind power industry in the United States, even when the credit crisis is settled and liquidity returns to the markets.
Bank consolidations, staggering losses from write-downs and the expected wave of federal regulation and tightened oversight will mean that fewer lenders will be able or willing to extend easy credit to companies up and down the entire wind technology supply chain, from turbine manufacturing all the way to wind farm installations. (E & E Daily, ClimateWire)
Shell Oil gives CSU grant to study revegetation on oil shale developments
October 7, 2008
A $950,000 Shell Oil Co. research grant will allow CSU to study revegetation practices on shale oil developments in Northwestern Colorado. (The Coloradoan)
Green oil recycler opens plant in northeast Ohio
October 8, 2008
The nation’s first plant with the capacity to recycle used transformer oil opened this week in Canton, bringing some coveted green jobs to northeast Ohio. The Hydrodec plant has the capacity to recycle 8 million gallons of transformer oil each year. Transformer oil insulates and cools transformers, which switch electrical supply from low to high voltage for transmission over long distances. (Associated Press)
Markets
Traders look for direction on oil market
October 9, 2008
Oil prices looked for direction Thursday as traders weighed fears that a looming world recession will crimp demand against speculation that OPEC may cut output to keep prices from falling too far. (Associated Press)
Gas prices fall as oil slides to lowest ‘08 levels
October 8, 2008
Oil prices closed down Wednesday after touching their lowest level this year, pressured by a huge jump in U.S. crude inventories and more signs of dwindling demand. (Denver Post)
Industry News and Events
Energy Department warns of higher heating costs
Although global oil prices have plummeted, the cost of heating your home this winter will be a lot more expensive, especially for households that depend on fuel oil, the Energy Department predicted… (Salt Lake Tribune)
ExxonMobil Exits Barnett Shale
October 6, 2008
A deal announced last week marks the exit of ExxonMobil Corp. from the prolific Barnett Shale gas play and the further accumulation of Barnett assets by Chesapeake Energy Corp., which has become a leading North American gas shale player. (Natural Gas Intelligence)
ENERGY AND THE ENVIRONMENT CONFERENCE
Las Vegas, October 27-29
This conference run by executives for executives in the energy, environment, transportation and logistics, and real estate industries exposes you to the latest developments in these areas. Come and interact with the industry leaders in the field giving you real solutions to real problems not to mention networking opportunities with the decision makers. For this reason, two networking receptions in addition to a luncheon will be offered. Learn about the drivers behind the high fuel prices and when you can expect these prices to ease up and the conditions that will allow the price decline to occur. Hear where the next supply for energy will come from or if the current energy supply will meet the demand for the next century. Interact with the executives and be informed about how firms are coping with the high energy prices especially in the transportation industry and what your firm needs to do to curtail costs while remaining friendly to the environment including how the national transportation system can reduce on energy consumption. Gain the knowledge from the industry experts about greening your organization and how your organization can be more energy efficient whether you own a commercial, industrial or residential building. Drill down on the alternative energy sources that the house hold Fortune 500 corporations such as Exxon Mobil, BP and Conoco are focusing on. Get the truth about offshore drilling and freeing up Federal land for exploration and how such access will impact the oil prices and the environment? Take steps to reduce your carbon footprint.
Click here for more information and to register.
9th ANNUAL UNCONVENTIONAL GAS AND COALBED METHANE CONFERENCE
Denver, November 20-21, 2008
This unique Insight event is devoted to a balanced treatment of the myriad of technical, business, financial, legal and regulatory issues affecting development. Attending this forum will allow you to keep abreast of the latest in technology, updates on domestic & international activities, and other ideas driving the expansion of CBM and unconventional gas production. Learn from speakers and take the opportunity to interact with industry leaders, regulators, and government officials.
Click here for more information and to register.
Visit www.ipams.org for latest industry news and events
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