Pipeline “takeaway capacity” remains one of the most critical issues facing Permian Basin oil and gas interests. Is the Permian Basin oil and gas industry about to be a victim of its own success? We are seeing $20+/bbl price differentials between WTI Cushing and Brent crude prices and recently $8-10/bbl additional differential between Midland and […]
From the President: Seeking Consensus
Legislative matters, regulatory issues, and the science question, revisited. Both the Texas and New Mexico legislative sessions are in full swing. Both legislatures are full of new faces. In Texas, there are over 40 freshmen House members. PBPA hosted a luncheon for these new Texas house members last month the day before the session began. […]
From the General Counsel: NPRI Owners and Their Interests
The Non-Participating Royalty Interest Owner has been known to make things interesting for operators when the former has not fully been taken into account. Operators of oil and gas lands can potentially tread some dangerous water when it comes to the payment of royalties to all interest owners. Typically, operators have Drilling Title Opinions drafted […]
From the General Counsel: No Going Back
The backdating of pooling agreements is not permissible, per the Texas Supreme Court. The Texas Supreme Court recently provided guidance on the practice of backdated pooling agreements when it denied review of a memorandum decision issued in June 2012 by the Eleventh Court of Appeals. Eddie E. Godfrey, individually, and Eddie E. Godfrey and Jay […]
From the Chairman: Transformational Times
The transition from conventional play to unconventional play has become the defining mark of the revitalized Permian Basin’s oil and gas industry—a transition that poses both rewards and challenges. The Permian Basin is going through a transformation from exploration for conventional reservoirs to targeting tight unconventional reservoirs. As a result, the Permian Basin is an […]
Keeping Regulations in Check
Proposed changes to Rule 13 and other regulations could severely impact the industry. What should we expect from Washington, Austin and Santa Fe now that the elections are over? From my view, we should expect increased proposed regulations for our industry from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Interior (DOI), U.S. Fish and Wildlife […]
From the Chairman of the Board
This organization’s influence extends beyond its geographic boundaries, and beyond its day-to-day obligations, as well. You ever jump out of the frying pan into the fire? This being my last article as Chairman of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association, I was thinking that in passing the position of Chairman on to Mark Merritt there would […]
From the Chairman of the Board
Nothing “Lesser” about the LPC Challenge Experience could serve the PBPA well as we transition from the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard dustup to the Lesser Prairie Chicken skirmish. Well, here we go again! The ink is barely dry on the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Department’s ruling on the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard and the Permian Basin Petroleum […]
From the Chairman of the Board
Must the “boom-to-bust cycle” always play out true to form? It might depend on whether the “boom” is itself really a boom, or something else. When is a boom not a boom? The usual answer is that a boom becomes a bust when crude oil prices fall out from underneath us. We have all lived […]
From the Chairman of the Board
A ruling in mid-June rewards months and even years of diligent effort by Permian Basin energy interests and this region on the whole. At the time of this article being written, June 13th, we have received word that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has made the decision not to list the Dunes Sagebrush Lizard […]