Oklahoma City Association of Professional Landmen RSS Feed

Educational Luncheon

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Educational Luncheon
Start Date: 5-Apr-10 11:30 AM
End Time: 5-Apr-10 1:00 PM
Location: Downtown Petroleum Club
Speaker: James R.J. Strickler, CPL

Event Details:

Downtown Petroleum Club

Monday Night Meeting

Mon, 05 Apr 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Monday Night Meeting
Start Date: 5-Apr-10 5:00 PM
End Time: 5-Apr-10 8:30 PM
Location: Oklahoma History Museum
Speaker: Tim Dowd

Oklahoma History Museum

HAPL Webcast

Thu, 29 Apr 2010 13:30:00 GMT

HAPL Webcast
Start Date: 29-Apr-10 8:30 AM
End Time: 29-Apr-10 5:30 PM
Location: Devon and Chesapeake Locations
Event Details:

Not available for registration at this time.

Devon and Chesapeake Locations

Fishing Tournament FULL

Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Fishing Tournament FULL
Start Date: 30-Apr-10 8:30 AM
End Time: 1-May-10 5:30 PM
Event Details:

Tournament full!

click below for sponsor information

FISHING TOURNAMENT SPONSOR FORM

Golf Tournament FULL

Mon, 24 May 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Golf Tournament FULL
Start Date: 24-May-10 8:30 AM
End Time: 24-May-10 9:30 PM
Location: Oak Tree Golf & Country Club AND Fair Fax Golf Club
Event Details:

GOLF TOURNAMENT FULL

click below for sponsor info

SPONSOR FORM

Oak Tree Golf & Country Club AND Fair Fax Golf Club

Sporting Clays Tournament

Fri, 27 Aug 2010 13:30:00 GMT

Sporting Clays Tournament
Start Date: 27-Aug-10 8:30 AM
End Time: 27-Aug-10 5:30 PM
Event Details:

not available for registration at this time

Educational Luncheon

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:30:00 GMT

Educational Luncheon
Start Date: 13-Sep-10 11:30 AM
End Time: 13-Sep-10 1:00 PM
Location: Downtown Petroleum Club

Downtown Petroleum Club

Monday Night Meeting

Mon, 13 Sep 2010 22:00:00 GMT

Monday Night Meeting
Start Date: 13-Sep-10 5:00 PM
End Time: 13-Sep-10 8:30 PM
Location: Oklahoma History Center
Speaker: No Speaker

Event Details:

SOCIAL MEETING - NO SPEAKER

Oklahoma History Center

OCAPL Weekend Take Off

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 21:00:00 GMT

OCAPL Weekend Take Off
Start Date: 24-Sep-10 4:00 PM
End Time: 26-Sep-10 10:00 AM
Location: Lake Broken Bow, Hochatown, OK
Event Details:

Everyone mark their calendars for this years Weekend Take Off. We will submit for AAPL approval 10-12 Continuing Education Credits (including 1 ethics credit).

This year we plan to make this affordable and fun for everyone. If you have attended before, we anticipate your return, and if you have never attended, please join us this year for an outstanding educational and social event.

Details will be forthcoming and registration will be included in the Monthly Newsletter soon.

Lake Broken Bow

Monday Night Meeting

Mon, 04 Oct 2010 22:30:00 GMT

Monday Night Meeting
Start Date: 4-Oct-10 5:30 PM
End Time: 4-Oct-10 8:30 PM
Location: Oklahoma History Museum
Speaker: TBA

Oklahoma History Museum

Educational Luncheon

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:30 GMT

Start Date: 4-Oct-10 11:30 AM
End Time: 4-Oct-10 1:00 PM

Downtown Petroleum Club

Educational Luncheon

Mon, 14 Dec 2009 15:00:30 GMT

Start Date: 1-Nov-10 11:30 AM
End Time: 1-Nov-10 1:00 PM

Downtown Petroleum Club

OCAPL Industry Affairs Report 2/10

John Raines — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 15:00:00 GMT

2/10 IA Report

1-Feb-10 9:00 AM

OCAPL Industry Affairs Report 1/10

John Raines — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:00:00 GMT

1-10 IA Report

1-Jan-10 8:00 AM

OCAPL Industry Affairs Report 12/11/09

Teresa Portwood — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 18:00:00 GMT

OCAPL

INDUSTRY AFFAIRS REPORT

December 11, 2009

This is the 55th report from the Industry Affairs Committee of OCAPL. The opinions expressed herein are those of the writers and not those of OCAPL, AAPL, former clients, or our current employers. The objective of this exercise is to alert OCAPL members to (a) the activities of organizations and governments that affect the way we do business, (b) public opinion that shapes legislation, and (c) judicial decisions relating to energy issues. Hopefully, this knowledge will provoke each of us to recognize the critical role we, as LANDMEN, play in sustaining America’s standard of living and thereby feel compelled to respond to the challenges before us. Your comments regarding this effort are always welcome.

The Committee at Work: Current members in the OCAPL Industry Affairs committee include Phil Jones, Monica Smith, Brandt Vawter, Brett Hudson, John Raines and Matt Blomstedt. If you would like to participate in the committee’s effort, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Climate scientists' leaked correspondence illustrates bitter feud, by Keith Johnson, The Wall Street Journal; November 23, 2009.

The scientific community is buzzing over thousands of emails and documents -- posted on the Internet last week after being hacked from a prominent climate-change research center -- that some say raise ethical questions about a group of scientists who contend humans are responsible for global warming.

The correspondence between dozens of climate-change researchers, including many in the U.S., illustrates bitter feelings among those who believe human activities cause global warming toward rivals who argue that the link between humans and climate change remains uncertain.

Some emails also refer to efforts by scientists who believe man is causing global warming to exclude contrary views from important scientific publications.

"This is horrible," said Pat Michaels, a climate scientist at the Cato Institute in Washington who is mentioned negatively in the emails. "This is what everyone feared. Over the years, it has become increasingly difficult for anyone who does not view global warming as an end-of-the-world issue to publish papers. This isn't questionable practice, this is unethical."

In all, more than 1,000 emails and more than 2,000 other documents were stolen Thursday from the Climate Research Unit at East Anglia University in the U.K. The identity of the hackers isn't certain, but the files were posted on a Russian file-sharing server late Thursday, and university officials confirmed over the weekend that their computer had been attacked and said the documents appeared to be genuine.

"The selective publication of some stolen emails and other papers taken out of context is mischievous and cannot be considered a genuine attempt to engage with this issue in a responsible way," the university said.

Journal Community discusses “Any group with such a single-minded view (whether they are believers in global warming, global warming rejectionists, liberals, conservatives, whatever) bears close watching and a certain amount of skepticism.”

Most climate scientists today argue that the earth's temperature is rising, and nearly all of those agree that human activity is likely to be a prime or at least significant cause. But a vocal minority dispute one or both of those views.

A partial review of the hacked material suggests there was an effort at East Anglia, which houses an important center of global climate research, to shut out dissenters and their points of view.

In the emails, which date to 1996, researchers in the U.S. and the U.K. repeatedly take issue with climate research at odds with their own findings. In some cases, they discuss ways to rebut what they call "disinformation" using new articles in scientific journals or popular Web sites.

The emails include discussions of apparent efforts to make sure that reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations group that monitors climate science, include their own views and exclude others. In addition, emails show that climate scientists declined to make their data available to scientists whose views they disagreed with.

The IPCC couldn't be reached for comment Sunday.

In one email, Benjamin Santer from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif., wrote to the director of the climate-study center that he was "tempted to beat" up Mr. Michaels. Mr. Santer couldn't be reached for comment Sunday.

In another, Phil Jones, the director of the East Anglia climate center, suggested to climate scientist Michael Mann of Penn State University that skeptics' research was unwelcome: We "will keep them out somehow -- even if we have to redefine what the peer-review literature is!" Neither man could be reached for comment Sunday.

The emails were published less than a month before the opening of a major climate-change summit in Copenhagen.

Representatives of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a large professional organization, expressed concern that the hacked emails would weaken global resolve to curb greenhouse-gas emissions. The association believes "that climate change is real, it is related to human activities, and the need to counteract its impacts is now urgent," said Ginger Pinholster, an association spokeswoman. She added that the association's journal, Science, evaluates papers solely on scientific merit.

John Christy, a scientist at the University of Alabama at Huntsville attacked in the emails for asking that an IPCC report include dissenting viewpoints, said, "It's disconcerting to realize that legislative actions this nation is preparing to take, and which will cost trillions of dollars, are based upon a view of climate that has not been completely scientifically tested."

Mojib Latif, a climate researcher at Germany's Leibniz Institute of Marine Sciences, said he found it hard to believe that climate scientists were trying to squelch dissent. Mr. Latif, who believes in man-made global warming but who has co-authored a paper ascribing current cooling to temporary natural trends, said, "I simply can't believe that there is a kind of mafia that is trying to inhibit critical papers from being published."

Pollution Fears Creating Reaction Against Natural Gas Boom, by Jad Mouawad and Clifford Krause, New York Times; December 8, 2009.

Victoria Switzer dreamed of a peaceful retirement in these Appalachian hills. Instead, she is coping with a big problem after a nearby natural gas well contaminated her family’s drinking water with high levels of methane.

Through no design of hers, Ms. Switzer has joined a rising chorus of voices skeptical of the nation’s latest energy push. “It’s been ‘drill, baby, drill’ out here,” Ms. Switzer said bitterly. “There is no stopping this train.”

Across vast regions of the country, gas companies are using a technology called hydraulic fracturing to produce natural gas from previously untapped beds of shale. The push has been so successful that the country’s potential gas reserves jumped by 35 percent in two years. The new supplies have driven down natural gas prices for consumers and might help the global environment by allowing more production of electricity from natural gas, which emits fewer global warming emissions than coal.

What the drilling push will do to local environments is another matter.

The drilling boom is raising concern in many parts of the country, and the reaction is creating political obstacles for the gas industry. Hazards like methane contamination of drinking water wells, long known in regions where gas production was common, are spreading to populous areas that have little history of coping with such risks, but happen to sit atop shale beds.

And a more worrisome possibility has come to light. A string of incidents in places like Wyoming and Pennsylvania in recent years has pointed to a possible link between hydraulic fracturing and pollution of groundwater supplies. In the worst case, such pollution could damage crucial supplies of water used for drinking and agriculture.

So far, the evidence of groundwater pollution is thin. Environmental groups contend that is because governments have been slow to react to the drilling boom and are not looking hard for contamination. Gas companies acknowledge the validity of some concerns, but they claim that their technology is fundamentally safe.

The debate is becoming more urgent as gas companies move closer to more populated areas, especially in the Northeast, where millions of people are likely to find themselves living near drilling operations in coming years.

“To be able to scale up our drilling, clearly we have to be in sync with people’s concerns about water,” said Aubrey K. McClendon, chief executive of the Chesapeake Energy Corporation, a leading gas company. “It’s our biggest challenge.”

Hydraulic fracturing consists of injecting huge volumes of water at high pressure to break shale rocks and allow natural gas to flow out more easily. The water is mixed with sand, chemicals and gels to lubricate the process and help keep the rocks open.

After refining the technique in Western states in recent years, gas companies are moving to tap the nation’s largest shale structure, the Marcellus shale, which stretches from Virginia to New York.

“It’s a very reliable, safe, American source of energy,” said John Richels, president of the Devon Energy Corporation.

Environmental activists, however, say there is at least scattered evidence that fracturing operations can pose risks to groundwater sources, particularly when mistakes are made in drilling operations. They have also questioned how some companies deal with the wastewater produced by their operations, warning that liquids laced with chemicals and salt from drilling can overload public sewage treatment plants or pollute surface waters.

Deborah Goldberg, a lawyer for the nonprofit environmental group Earthjustice who is fighting to toughen Pennsylvania’s discharge rules, said the state “is facing enormous pressure from gas drillers, who are generating contaminated water faster than the state’s treatment plants can handle it.”

According to the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, which is going through a public review of its new rules on hydraulic fracturing, gas companies use at least 260 types of chemicals, many of them toxic, like benzene. These chemicals tend to remain in the ground once the fracturing has been completed, raising fears about long-term contamination.

The most immediate hazard from the national drilling bonanza, it is clear, involves contamination of residential drinking water wells by natural gas. In Bainbridge, Ohio, an improperly drilled well contaminated groundwater in 2007, including the water source for the township’s police station, according to a complaint filed this year. After building to high pressures, gas migrated through underground faults, and blew up one house.

Here in Dimock, about 30 miles north of Scranton, Pa., 13 water wells, including that of Ms. Switzer, were contaminated by natural gas. One of the wells blew up.

Under prodding, environmental regulators are stepping up the search for groundwater contamination. In Pavilion, Wyo., for instance, the Environmental Protection Agency has begun an investigation into contamination of several drinking water wells.

Luke Chavez, an E.P.A. investigator, said that traces of methane and 2-butoxyethanol phosphate, a foaming agent, had been found in several wells near an area where the EnCana Corporation, a Canadian gas company, had used hydraulic fracturing in recent years.

He said the compounds could have come from cleaning products or oil and gas production, but “it tells us something is happening here that shouldn’t be here.”

An EnCana spokesman, Doug Hock, said the company was “committed to working with E.P.A. to resolve this issue.” But he added, “At this point, no specific connection has been made between the tentatively identified compounds and oil and gas activities.”

In a 2004 study, the E.P.A. decided that hydraulic fracturing was essentially harmless. Critics said the analysis was politically motivated, but it was cited the following year when the Republican-led Congress removed hydraulic fracturing from any regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The current Democratic Congress recently enacted a law requiring the E.P.A. to review the study. Lawmakers from Colorado and New York have also introduced legislation to end the water act exemption and require gas companies to disclose all chemicals used in fracturing operations.

The agency has begun an analysis of whether hydraulic fracturing requires tighter federal regulation.

“E.P.A. is reviewing available information to determine whether hydraulic fracturing fluids have contaminated drinking water and has dedicated resources to properly studying this issue,” the agency said in a statement.

The political situation has put the gas companies on the defensive. “It’s not going to stop us, but we do have to solve the problem in a prudent manner,” said Rodney L. Waller, a senior vice president at the Range Resources Corporation, a major gas producer in the Marcellus shale.

Partly in response to opposition it has encountered in New York, Chesapeake recently indicated that it would not drill in the New York City watershed, a region that supplies drinking water to nearly 10 million people. Schlumberger, a service company that performs fracturing operations on behalf of gas companies, said it was working on “green” fracturing fluids, including safer substitutes for hazardous chemicals.

In the Barnett shale gas field in Texas, Devon Energy and Chesapeake are trying various treatment techniques for disposing of contaminated drilling water. Gas executives hope that wider use of such techniques will damp public opposition in some regions. Several companies are starting a joint water treatment effort in Pennsylvania in the next few weeks.

Still, around Dimock, the gas boom is viewed with mixed feelings. Many public officials support drilling. Governor Edward G. Rendell has called the surge “a great boon” to Pennsylvania. Many people have leased their land here and are collecting royalty checks from gas production.

The hills around Dimock have been bulldozed to clear the ground for dozens of drilling pads the size of football fields. Eighteen-wheelers thunder down narrow country roads, kicking up dust and fumes. Recently, a helicopter buzzed overhead while dangling heavy cables used for seismic tests.

In September, the Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation, a Houston energy company, was required to suspend its fracturing operations for three weeks after causing three spills in the course of nine days. Cabot, which was fined $56,650 by the state, said the spills consisted mainly of water, with only 0.5 percent chemicals. This month, Cabot was fined an additional $120,000 by Pennsylvania for the contamination of homeowners’ wells. It must now submit strict drilling plans to the state.

A company spokesman, Kenneth S. Komoroski, said it was too early to blame hydraulic fracturing — the technology at the heart of the boom — for pollution of water wells. He said Cabot was still investigating the causes of last January’s contamination incidents.

“None of the issues in Dimock have anything to do with hydraulic fracturing,” he said.

The fines were little consolation to Ms. Switzer, the woman who can no longer draw drinking water from her well.

After moving here in 2005, she sold drilling rights on her property for a mere $180 after, as she recalled it, a gas company representative convinced her only one well might be drilled. In fact, no well was drilled, but three were on surrounding properties. Her well was contaminated at the beginning of the year after gas leaked from a well drilled by Cabot.

Her family now uses bottled water supplied by Cabot every week. She fears that if she tried to sell her home, which sits in the middle of a drilling zone, no one would buy it.

“Can you imagine the ad? ‘Beautiful new home. Bring your own water,’ ” Ms. Switzer said. “We’re like a dead zone here.”

Obama Administration: No documented cases of hydraulic fracturing contamination, State News Service; December 8, 2009.

The following information was released by the U.S. Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works:

During today's Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works hearing on "Federal Drinking Water Programs," Senator Inhofe asked officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the United States Geological Survey (USGS) if they were aware of any documented cases of hydraulic fracturing contamination. None of the three witnesses could provide a single example. Testifying before the EPW Committee today was Peter Silva, Assistant Administrator for Water, Environmental Protection Agency, Cynthia Giles, Assistant Administrator for Enforcement and Compliance Assurance, Environmental Protection Agency, and Matthew Larsen, Associate Director for Water, U.S. Geological Survey.

"The Obama Administration has it right: there are no documented cases of ground water contamination from hydraulic fracturing," Senator Inhofe said. "Hydraulic fracturing is a safe production technique that is thoroughly regulated by the states. We have a 60 year history to prove it.

"With the unemployment rate at 10 percent, we need to put people back to work. Imposing more bureaucracy and regulation will destroy jobs and stifle opportunities for those looking to find a job. The oil and gas industry employs 6 million people in the U.S. I want to see that number go up, not down."

Full Transcript of Exchange

Senator Inhofe: I'm anxious to get to this second panel, Madame Chairman. I can't remain silent after Senator Lautenberg's statement about hydraulic fracturing. I have something to say about that, but first, I want to ask all three of you and response: Do any one of you know of one case of ground water contamination that has resulted from hydraulic fracturing? Start with you, Mr. Silva.

Peter Silva: Not that I'm aware of, no.

Senator Inhofe: Ms. Giles?

Cynthia Giles: I understand there's some anecdotal evidence, but I don't know that it's been firmly established.

Senator Inhofe: So the answer is no, you don't know of it.

Cynthia Giles nods.

Senator Inhofe: Alright, Mr. Larsen?

Matthew Larsen: I'll have to respond in writing, I don't, I'm not aware of all of our studies on that topic.

Senator Inhofe: Well, but you've already answered. You're not aware. That's the question I asked you. Here's the problem we have. Senator Lautenberg referred to this as something that's new. This isn't new. It's been around over fifty years. And, we do approximately thirty-five thousand wells a year - nearly a million wells, without one documented case of groundwater contamination. I'm concerned about this, because I know for a fact that if you took away the ability, as all other countries do, of hydraulic fracturing, we're going to become much more dependent upon other countries for our ability to produce oil. Now, I want to repeat that one more time that there has never been a documented

case in almost a million uses of that technology. The EPA did an extensive study of this back, prior to, it lasted a long period of time, they concluded in 2004 that it does not warrant any further study. And, I want to submit for the record a document that tells the history of hydraulic fracturing. And, I will reserve time in case I need it, I hope I don't.

Background

Hydraulic fracturing is a key production method that has aided in U.S. production of oil and gas from more than one million wells and it continues to aid in the production from over 35,000 wells per year. This 60 year old technique has been responsible for the production of 7 billion barrels of oil and 600 trillion cubic feet (Tcf) of natural gas. The National Petroleum Council reports that 60% to 80% of all wells in the next ten years will require fracturing to remain productive and profitable.

In 1995, as EPA Administrator, Carol Browner wrote in response to litigation that federal regulation is not necessary for hydraulic fracturing. She said that the practice was closely regulated by the states and that, "EPA is not legally required to regulate hydraulic fracturing." Most importantly, she further wrote that there was "no evidence that hydraulic fracturing resulted in any drinking water contamination" in the litigation involved.

Released in a 2004 report, EPA conducted a review of all 11 major coal basins across the country and of 200 peer-reviewed publications. It reviewed 105 comments in the Federal Register. It requested information from 500 local and county agencies in states where CBM production occurred. It interviewed 50 local and state government agencies, industry representatives, and 40 citizens groups which alleged drinking water contamination from hydraulic fracturing. After completing its 4 year study, EPA concluded that "the injection of hydraulic fracturing fluids into CBM wells poses little or no threat to underground sources of drinking water and does not justify additional study at this time." EPA had planned to study contamination in a two phase study. Following these findings EPA, did not even initiate the second phase of study.

The American Petroleum Institute recently determined that through duplicative federal regulations, the number of new oil and natural gas wells drilled would drop by 20% in the next five years. Should hydraulic fracturing be eliminated, new oil and gas wells would drop by 79%, resulting in 45% less domestic natural gas production and 17% less domestic oil production.

DOE's latest CCS funding includes EOR project in West Texas, By Nick Snow, The Oil and Gas Journal; December 9, 2009.

The US Department of Energy will provide $350 million to support a project designed to capture carbon from a proposed electric power plant near Midland-Odessa, Tex., and transport it to the Permian basin where it will be used in enhanced oil recovery, US Energy Secretary Steven Chu announced.

The Texas Clean Energy Project, which will be led by Summit Texas Clean Energy LLC of Bainbridge Island, Wash., was one of three efforts receiving $979 million of federal support under the third round of DOE’s Clean Coal Initiative. The other two will involve carbon capture from existing coal-fired power plants and storage in deep saline formations in West Virginia and Alabama.

“By harnessing the power of science and technology, we can reduce carbon emissions and create new clean energy jobs,” Chu said Dec. 4 as he announced the funding. “This investment is part of our commitment to advancing carbon capture and storage technologies to the point that widespread, affordable deployment can begin in 8-10 years.”

The award came nearly 2 years after the Midland-Odessa area lost its bid to become the site of Future Gen, the country’s first fully integrated commercial power plant and CCS system, to Matoon, Ill.

STCE plans to integrate Siemens’s gasification and power generating technology with carbon capture technologies to effective capture 90% of the carbon dioxide (2.7 million tonnes/year) at the planned 400-Mw plant near Midland-Odessa, DOE’s Fossil Energy office said.

The captured carbon dioxide will be treated and compressed, then transported by pipeline to Permian basin oil fields in West Texas for use in EOR operations, it said. The University of Texas’s Bureau of Economic Geology will design and assure compliance with a state-of-the-art sequestration monitoring, verification, and accounting program, DOE said. The project is expected to take 8 years.

A second project, led by Southern Co. Services Inc., will receive $295 million of federal funding over 11 years to retrofit CO2 capture equipment on an existing Alabama Power Co. plant north of Mobile for ultimate sequestration in deep saline formations. SCS also plans to explore potentially using this captured CO2 in EOR applications, DOE said.

13-Dec-09 12:00 PM

IPAA News 12/11/09

Teresa Portwood — Sun, 13 Dec 2009 17:00:00 GMT

December 11, 2009

Dear IPAA Members and Colleagues:

As the year comes to an end, I have some very good news. Legislative efforts in the House of Representatives to restrict your company's continued access to over-the-counter (OTC) markets has been defeated.

After an intense lobbying campaign, IPAA and its coalition supporters were able to easily defeat several amendments to HR 4173, "The Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2009." House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank (D-MA) offered an amendment that would have given the CFTC the authority to impose margin requirements on OTC hedges. If the CFTC had this authority, producers could be required to use cash to post collateral, rather than put the cash into finding and producing natural gas and oil and maintaining employee rolls. This amendment was defeated 150 to 280. Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN) spoke against the amendment. Rep. Spencer Bachus (R-AL) deemed the vote as being for "margin requirements or jobs."

IPAA also successfully opposed Rep. Bart Stupak's (D-MI) amendment that would have required all non-cleared swaps to be executed on a registered swap execution facility. This is unnecessary, as non-cleared trades must be reported. The reporting requirements included in the legislation will ensure adequate transparency without restricting the use of the OTC market to end users. This amendment was defeated 98-320. Reps. Peterson and Frank Lucas (R-OK) spoke in opposition. Peterson termed his opposition as "reluctant," but stated that the amendment would have imposed an execution mandate. On the floor of the House of Representatives, he referenced the letter sent by the Energy End Users Derivatives Coalition, listing IPAA as one of the associations opposed to the amendment.

The final financial reform bill was passed by the House today by a vote of 223-202.

Prior to the amendment votes last night, IPAA alerted its grassroots action network to call and send letters to members of the House. IPAA's government relations team has spent months educating lawmakers about the detrimental proposals and made sure that every congressional office received IPAA's information.

I'd like to thank all of those who responded to our action alert. Your participation in this program is essential to our successes in Washington.

Sincerely,

Barry Russell

President and CEO

13-Dec-09 11:00 AM

Industry Affairs Report 11/09

Teresa Portwood — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 15:00:00 GMT

OCAPL

INDUSTRY AFFAIRS REPORT

November 13, 2009

The Committee at Work: Current members in the OCAPL Industry Affairs committee include Phil Jones, Monica Smith, Brandt Vawter, Brett Hudson, John Raines and Matt Blomstedt. If you would like to participate in the committee’s effort, we would be pleased to hear from you.

Dark Pool Trade Limit Said to Be Cut 95% in SEC Plan, By Jesse Westbrook and Whitney Kisling, Bloomberg; October 20, 2009.

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission will propose toughening its limits on the amount of anonymous trading carried out on stock platforms called dark pools, according to two people familiar with the deliberations. The commission will propose lowering the amount of daily volume in a company’s shares that can be executed on the networks before prices must be made public to 0.25 percent from 5 percent tomorrow, said the people, who declined to be identified because the discussions weren’t public. John Nester, an SEC spokesman, declined to comment. The rule change may curtail the number of transactions on dark pools, off-exchange platforms run by firms such as Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Getco LLC that have drawn scrutiny from Democratic Senators Ted Kaufman of Delaware and Charles Schumer of New York. The systems usually shut down trading in a security when they approach the current 5 percent limit. “If you were to limit the dark pools to that small amount of trading, it will be much harder to find a counter-party,” said Dirk Hoffmann-Becking, a London-based analyst for Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. For stock exchanges, “if they would see less competition from the dark pool world, that would certainly be a positive for them.”

Concealing Trades

Traders turn to dark pools instead of public markets such as the New York Stock Exchange to avoid revealing their identities and giving competitors clues about their strategies. Kaufman and Schumer say the platforms limit transparency in securities markets and put smaller investors at a disadvantage. The SEC will exempt block trades, or orders exceeding a certain number of shares, from the new rule, according to one of the people. Firms specializing in blocks account for 8 percent of all dark-pool trading in the U.S., according to data compiled by Aite Group LLC, a Boston-based financial-services consultant. Transactions are biggest at Liquidnet Holdings Inc. and Pipeline Trading Systems LLC, where orders average 50,000 shares. That compares with 300 to 450 shares at venues such as Getco’s GES. The 0.25 percent threshold is smaller than Schumer has proposed. He sent a letter to SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro today requesting that the agency force dark pools to publicly display buy and sell orders after matching more than 1 percent of a stock’s average daily volume.

Schumer, Niederauer

Schumer, who held a press briefing today with NYSE Euronext Chief Executive Officer Duncan Niederauer, also wants the SEC to establish a “robust” approval process for new dark pools and treat some so-called indications of interest as formal bids. Brokers use indications of interest to demonstrate their willingness to trade shares. Schumer said they can be abused because they allow traders to gauge demand without the obligation to buy or sell. “We are not against dark pools,” Niederauer said. The NYSE just wants a “more level playing field,” he added. Employees at NYSE Euronext, the operator of the largest U.S. equity exchange, have contributed $27,250 to Schumer’s political campaigns since 2005, according to OpenSecrets.org. Trading on dark pools such as Credit Suisse Group AG’s Crossfinder and Goldman Sachs’s Sigma X, the two largest, has more than quadrupled to 9.4 percent of all U.S. equity volume in three years, according to estimates by Tabb Group LLC, a New York-based financial-services consultant. Bloomberg LP, the parent of Bloomberg News, also owns Bloomberg Tradebook LLC, an electronic stock-trading network that links to dark pools.

Knight, ITG Decline

Knight Capital Group Inc. fell 3.2 percent in 4 p.m. Nasdaq Stock Market composite trading, the most since July 28. Investment Technology Group Inc. dropped up to 8.2 percent before paring its retreat to 1.9 percent. Both companies operate dark pools. Shares of Nasdaq OMX Group Inc., owner of the second-largest U.S. equity exchange, climbed 3.6 percent in the biggest rally since Aug. 7. Investors use dark pools to execute bigger orders and avoid revealing details such as price and size that could move a stock, according to Sang Lee, a market analyst at Aite. The growth is hurting traditional markets, which face more regulation, the World Federation of Exchanges said in a letter last month to Mario Draghi, chairman of the financial-stability board of the Basel-based Bank for International Settlements. “The more the dark pools exist without any comprehensive regulation, the more you’re going to see liquidity siphon off from exchange markets,” Chicago Board Options Exchange Chief Executive Officer and WFE Chairman William Brodsky said at a conference in Vancouver on Oct. 7.

Publishing Data

NYSE Euronext will begin publishing how much stock trading is conducted on dark pools every day on its Web site. The NYSE will let firms that run the private networks display trading volume starting in November, the company said in a statement today. Barclays Plc, Getco LLC, Goldman Sachs, Knight Capital Group Inc. and UBS AG plan to participate, NYSE Euronext said. Dark networks “can arbitrarily decide who gets to play in their pool and who doesn’t,” said Dan Mathisson, head of Credit Suisse’s algorithmic unit. “That’s something that needs to get cleaned up.”

Senator: Mining clean-energy minerals in U.S. is critical, by Sen. Lisa Murkowski, North of 60 Mining, Vol. 3; October 22, 2009.

“U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, issued a detailed warning about the dangers of the nation’s growing dependence on minerals mined in other countries. Murkowski, who is the senior senator for Alaska and the ranking Republican on the U.S. Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, released the following statement Oct. 20:

‘Clean energy technologies face a range of obstacles. The credit crunch has slowed capital investment, disputes have arisen over which lands are suitable for infrastructure, and the electric grid has sometimes proved incapable of handling new generation. Over the long run, however, our most difficult challenge may be our most fundamental: ensuring a stable supply of the raw materials needed to manufacture clean energy technologies in the first place. According to the U.S. Geological Survey, our nation’s reliance on foreign minerals has ‘grown significantly’ over the past several decades. Last year, we imported more than 50 percent of our supply of 43 different minerals and materials. This growing dependence is important because minerals offer our best chance to harness the potential of clean energy. Even now, we import 100 percent of the quartz crystal used in photovoltaic panels, the indium used in LED lighting, and the rare earth metals used in batteries and permanent magnets. The large quantities of minerals required for clean energy technologies only add to the scale of our needs. A large wind turbine can contain more than 1 ton of rare earth elements - in addition to more than 300 tons of steel, nearly 5 tons of copper and 3 tons of aluminum.

Taken together, these statistics signal a little-known, yet rather worrisome, trend. And even though clean energy technologies account for a fraction of worldwide mineral consumption, we’re already seeing strains in global supplies. Countries such as China have undertaken a 50-year, or longer, view of the world and continue to lock down long-term supply arrangements through investments in Africa, Australia and South America. That will help China meet its burgeoning demand for these raw materials, but it could leave our nation out in the cold at the very time we need minerals most. Rare earth metals again provide a good example of what’s at stake. China currently accounts for 97 percent of global production of these incredibly important metals and last month set off a wave of anxiety among clean energy developers by announcing its intention to decrease export quotas for the eighth time in as many years. By cutting rare earth exports, China is seeking to ensure the manufacture of clean technologies within its own borders. But the implications for energy security and job creation in America are also apparent: We risk a future in which wind turbines, solar panels, advanced batteries and geothermal steam turbines are not made in the USA, but somewhere else.

Some experts contend that the lack of a cap-and-trade system is at the root of this emerging crisis. I disagree, and I believe the primary reason why our nation has fallen behind is that we have slowly but surely surrendered the front end of the clean energy supply chain. We’re left with quite a paradox. Even as many political leaders take steps to limit mining, a reliable supply of minerals has become essential to the manufacture of clean energy technologies. If allowed to continue, we will simply trade our current dependence on foreign oil for an equally devastating dependence on foreign minerals. Even our environmental goals could be jeopardized. The widespread deployment of clean energy technologies is not only contingent upon breakthroughs in research and development but also the affordability of the raw materials used in them. If prices spike because the supply of raw materials is insufficient, entire technologies could fail. The good news is that the United States has, within its borders, abundant reserves of many critical minerals. These reserves represent an opportunity to create many new American jobs, and their production would undoubtedly facilitate a robust clean technology manufacturing sector. Particularly in these tough economic times, we should recognize that mining jobs pay well, require a high level of skill, and provide an excellent career path for those who pursue them.

I understand that many people do not want land used for mineral extraction and a wide variety of other purposes. The truth, however, is that those views are both short-sighted and counterproductive. Our standard of living requires us to generate a significant amount of energy, and that energy must be produced somewhere. All resources carry some cost to the environment, whether in carbon content or the raw materials and physical area needed to tap their potential. Albert Einstein once wrote that ‘in the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.’ Our nation faces a great challenge in the form of climate change and as we seek to advance the technologies needed to address it. But as we struggle to find our way forward, we’ll also be presented with new opportunities to strengthen our economy and our security. This is an issue on which we, too, must take the long view.’”

Shell Considering Arctic Drilling for Oil, United Press International; November 05, 2009.

“Shell said it will decide within months whether to begin drilling for oil and gas off the Alaskan coast despite strong opposition. The Anchorage Daily News said Thursday that environmentalists and Alaska North Slope officials are opposing possible Arctic drilling in the Beaufort and Chukchi seas. Scientists suspect the two seas may hold significant stores of oil and natural gas. Shell has already spent more than $2 billion to obtain leases in the seas, but its plans to drill there were delayed the last two years by successful litigation by the officials and environmentalists. The two drilling opponents allege drilling in the seas could lead to oil spills and negative impacts on the bowhead whale population in the surrounding area. Despite such delays, Shell has readied equipment for possible drilling to begin next summer. Shell Alaska Vice President Peter Slaib said Wednesday a final decision on the matter should be determined by December or January. The Daily News said key to Shell's drilling plans is whether the company can obtain federal air pollution permits for drilling.”

Chevron Confident About Exploiting US Shale Gas, By Isabel Ordonez, Dow Jones Newswires; October 30, 2009.

“Chevron Corp. is confident in its ability to exploit shale gas in the U.S. despite the challenges this type of resource poses for oil major companies, the head of the company said Friday. ‘Our drilling organization and our company is quite capable of multiple-well programs," Chief Executive David O'Reilly said on an earnings conference call. We have demonstrated that capability.’

Taking full advantage of the vast shale gas deposits in the U.S. is seen as a challenge for large producers. Shale gas is trapped in rocks formations, requiring intensive horizontal drilling to be unlocked -- a different set of skills than the oil giants have acquired developing large, massive oil projects based on vertical drilling. Independent, smaller producers are the ones that have been able to produce domestic shale gas successfully. O'Reilly said Chevron is trying to replicate its experience drilling multiple wells in the Gulf of Thailand where it is now producing conventional natural gas. ‘I feel pretty confident that it can be done," O'Reilly said. "But we have to be able to do that on scale to move the needle.’”

Climate Bill Likely on the Shelf for Rest of the Year, By Ian Talley, Dow Jones; November 11, 2009.

“Key Senate Democrats Tuesday said it is unlikely there will be any more major committee action on climate-change legislation this year, the strongest indication yet that a comprehensive bill to cut greenhouse-gas emissions won't be voted on until at least next year. Although the Senate Environment Committee last week approved a version of the bill, the proposal will face strong revisions from moderate Democrats, particularly from senators on the Finance and Agriculture committees.

‘It's common understanding that climate-change legislation will not be brought up on the Senate floor and pass the Senate this year,’ Senate Finance Chairman Max Baucus said on the sidelines of a caucus lunch. Mr. Baucus, a Montana Democrat, said he planned to hold a number of hearings on climate legislation and eventually mark up a bill in his panel. ‘But I don't know that I can get a bill put together by this year, as important as climate-change legislation is,’ he said.

Mr. Baucus was the lone dissenting Democratic vote on the Environment Panel last week because he wanted weaker emission-reduction targets and stronger provisions to protect energy-intensive industries and encourage clean-coal technologies. ‘I wouldn't want to bet my paycheck that all the relevant committees will report out legislation by the end of this year,’ said Sen. Thomas Carper (D., Del.).

Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D., Mich.), who is leading an effort by moderate, heartland Democrats to protect manufacturing and agriculture industries, said committees were no longer under any timetables to produce legislation. Ms. Stabenow said the Agriculture Committee—which has jurisdiction over climate provisions fundamental to containing costs and cutting emissions in the farming and forestry sectors--might not even debate or vote on any provisions for the bill. ‘The question is whether or not Agriculture actually marks up something or it gets done on the floor,’ she said.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln (D., Ark.), who chairs the Agriculture Committee, is facing a tough re-election campaign next year, and handling a highly controversial climate-change bill in her panel may risk alienating voters.

In the face of the hard-fought debate on health-care legislation--not to mention appropriations bills and finance-reform proposals—Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) has dropped his earlier schedules for committees. A Reid aide said he hadn't drafted any new timetable for panel action on climate change.

Even Sen. John Kerry (D., Mass.), a climate-bill champion who last week said committees should have climate legislation processed by the end of the year, Tuesday backed off such expectations. ‘I don't want to create artificial deadlines which get in the way of our being methodical about this,’ he said. Instead, Mr. Kerry said he is focused on getting the 60 votes necessary to pass controversial climate legislation -- a higher margin than a simple majority and no mean feat. ‘The main thing to do here is to build the adequate base of support and consensus,’ he said.”

Strong Voice for Clean Air, Editorial, The Dallas Morning News; November 12, 2009.

“The Environmental Protection Agency sent a strong message with its appointment of Al Armendariz to the region's top post: It's time to clear the air. The selection of the Southern Methodist University professor signaled a notable shift in the EPA's approach to regulating pollution. Armendariz, who will serve as regional administrator over Texas and four other states, has been a vocal critic of both his predecessor and state regulators. He has been firmly entrenched in the clean-air camp, serving as a strong advocate for more stringent smog plans and tougher enforcement of pollution regulations. Plenty of Texas environmentalists are downright giddy about Armendariz's appointment. Several clean-air organizations went to bat for him during the selection process, writing to officials in Washington on his behalf. Now they have reason to celebrate, as do all North Texans who are tired of inhaling our smog-choked air. There's little doubt that Armendariz will bring a much-needed, more aggressive approach to regulating dangerous pollutants.

Last year, when the EPA signed off on an inadequate air quality plan, Armendariz offered a tough critique, calling the proposal weak and "doomed to fail." He was right. But now Armendariz must find a way to transition from outspoken advocate to respected administrator. Because he has been aligned with a number of environmental groups, he now needs to build confidence among state officials and industry leaders that he will be guided by science and his strong background in environmental engineering.

The Texas Commission on Environmental Quality already has telegraphed its concerns, with chairman Bryan Shaw issuing a statement that congratulated Armendariz but added: ‘While he has a long history as an environmental activist, I hope Dr. Armendariz recognizes that this position is too important to be used as a podium for environmental activism.’

The EPA post is in part focused on enforcement, but the job also requires consensus building and ensuring that all sides have seats at the table and a say in the process. Armendariz certainly is up to this challenge, but he will have work to do as he builds relationships with those he has criticized. With new ozone standards looming, tougher cement kiln rules pending and another round of pollution plans on the horizon, Armendariz comes to this job at a critical time. EPA officials in Washington already have publicly expressed their displeasure with Texas environmental programs, so Armendariz no doubt will have Washington's blessing to take a harder line against industries that foul our air.

For too long, Texas has shown deference to polluters, and Armendariz is poised to change that. The transition will be interesting to watch. But most important, the result should be cleaner air.”

For those who follow environmental issues, this gentleman is notorious. The Texas DEQ is well served to be very concerned. All industries would do well to join with others to speak with a common voice to bring reality into this conversation. The economy of the State of Texas is at stake as the EPA has the power to shut-down all industry that might produce any substance that this administration feels might be excessive or detrimental regardless of the quantity.

-J. Phil Jones

16-Nov-09 9:00 AM

Action Alert from IPAA

Teresa Portwood — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT

/attachments/wysiwyg/1352/IPAAJuneReport.pdf

15-Jun-09 9:00 AM

June Legislative Report

Teresa Portwood — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 14:00:00 GMT

/attachments/wysiwyg/1352/JuneLegislativeReport.pdf

15-Jun-09 9:00 AM

OCC Meeting on July 28, 2009

noemail@ocapl.org — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 21:00:00 GMT

DEPA Update OCC Meeting on July 28, 2009 July 29, 2009 OKLAHOMA CITY – U.S. crude oil producers and royalty owners are facing a serious threat to their markets if...

Home Page Content

Fri, 08 Jan 2010 18:09:42 GMT

OCAPL currently holds their Monthly meetings on the first Monday of each month from September to April at the Oklahoma History Center, 2401 N. Laird, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. Social hour starts at 5:00 and the meetings begin at 6:30. OCAPL provides these meetings at no cost to our members. Guests are welcome to attend at a cost of $30.00.

If you would like to become a member of OCAPL you may apply online. Cost of membership is $125.00 per year with renewals due in January. If you are applying after June 1^st, we have prorated the dues to $80.00.

Mon, 11 May 2009 16:04:42 GMT

2009 Fishing Tournament Results The 24th Annual OCAPL Fishing Tournament was held on Saturday, May 2, 2009 at the University of Oklahoma Biological Station on Lake Texoma. We had seventy-four OCAPL members registered along with thirty-nine guests and children. Supper and refreshments were served on Friday evening and a breakfast was served to the participants on Saturday morning before the fishing began at 6:30 a.m. The fish weigh-in was at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday. The results of the tournament were as follows: Bass 1st Roger Gary - 9.10 2nd Chase McPherson - 2.40 3rd Stan Fitzgerald - 2.35 White Bass 1st Les Doty - 2.10 2nd Gabriel Young - .65 Striped Bass 1st Jake Herod - 24.40 2nd John Casey - 8.70 3rd Richard Gilchrist - 7.15 Crappie 1st Les Doty - 5.45 2nd Will Doty - 1.60 3rd Russ McPherson - 1.25 The big fish award was a tie at 4.80 lbs. between Roger Gary (large mouth bass) and Bobbi Black (Buffalo) Prizes were passed out to the guests and...

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OU Test Page

Thu, 09 Apr 2009 14:39:53 GMT

Lorem ipsum survey

noemail@ocapl.org — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 16:10:25 GMT

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Release Date: 18-Mar-09 11:10 AM
Expiration Date: 18-Jun-09 11:10 AM

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Thu, 11 Mar 2010 13:11:59 GMT