by Julie Anderson Twice each year, our country makes a special point to pause, remember, and thank our soldiers, those who died in service to their country on Memorial Day, and those still among us, on Veterans Day. In recent decades, in the midst of profoundly unsettling events, the honor and respect for veterans and […]
A Tale of Two Cities
Odessa and Midland deal with volatility together and apart. Chase Beakley It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. You knew that was coming. After rattling off a list of poetic polarities, Dickens concluded that famous opening by saying, “In short, the period was so far like the present period, […]
A Permian Man Through and Through
PBOG remembers Audie Conder, a long-time well servicer, Railroad Commission employee, and loving family man. Al Pickett, special contributor He has been described as a go-to guy and a problem solver. That is how a generation of operators and contractors who dealt with the Texas Railroad Commission’s District 7B office in Abilene felt as […]
The Engineer and the Conductor
Ryan Sitton is new guy at the Texas Railroad Commission, but with his technical background and measured approach, he was made for this post. by Al Pickett, Special Contributor Ryan Sitton, the newest member of the Texas Railroad Commission, has now been on the job a little more than a year since being elected […]
Don’t Train In Vain
Steve Sauceda’s grassroots training coordination services have enabled his Hobbs, N.M., outfit to compete with the big boys. by J. Chase Beakley Steve Sauceda’s voice has a warmth and tempo found only in men who recognize both the importance of their work and their own aptitude for it. As he describes his work as workforce […]
The Glo-ing Terms
The Texas General Land Officer’s new commissioner, George P. Bush, is taking his office in some fresh new directions and finding some positives in a challengingly slow energy economy. by Al Pickett The Border Energy Forum has been held for 22 years, but this year’s event—and future forums, too—took on even more importance because of […]
The Hands That Build The Basin
by Chase Beakley Machinists don’t like to talk. They listen. They listen to their customers and draw custom designs to increase productivity and safety. They listen for a phone that might call them out for a rig repair at any time of the day or night. They listened to my questions and when it came […]
Diversionary Tactics
by Al Pickett, special contributor Things are never as simple as they seem. And sometimes when you think you understand something, you find that there’s another stage that calls for fresh scrutiny. As Frank Zamora pointed out recently, many in the industry believe that nearly 50 percent of the perforated clusters in hydraulically fractured wells […]
Giving a Hand to One Who’s Given Back
Lana Cunningham “An optimist who charges ahead—that’s what leadership is about. And that is Curtis Mewbourne.” This description of Curtis W. Mewbourne by a University of Oklahoma professor underscores one of the numerous reasons for his selection as recipient of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s Top Hand Award, to be bestowed Jan. 28 at a […]
A Global Perspective
Colin Fenton, keynote speaker for the 2015 Annual Meeting of the PBPA, addressed the past, present and future of oil and gas—here and around the world. Colin Fenton, managing partner at Blacklight Research and Columbia University fellow, was the keynote speaker at October’s PBPA Annual Meeting. Hailing from the Ivy League, the corporate banking […]
