Q&A with Ben Shepperd

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With the PBPA Annual Meeting looming near, we present a question-and-answer conversation with Ben on the meeting to come.

Permian Basin Oil and Gas Magazine: It’s already coming back around again! What can we expect in the October Annual Meeting?

Ben:  We have a full slate of sessions and we’re pleased to have some very important topics to cover. We’ll start, of course, with the Icebreaker Reception at the Petroleum Museum in Midland, which is always a well attended event. It’s a great way for folks to get reacquainted and to see people whom you might not see on a regular basis. But everyone there shares something, and that is an interest in the Permian Basin. So that occasion on Wednesday night sets the tone for the event.

PBOG: Then Thursday brings everyone to the Midland Petroleum Club. And things start off with a really good breakfast buffet—as anybody who’s been there knows.

Ben:  Yes. We call it our Texas-New Mexico Breakfast, because after breakfast begins we start hearing from the top energy regulators in our two states. We welcome Christi Craddick, Chairman of the Texas Railroad Commission, and Ryan Flynn, Executive Director of the New Mexico Oil and Gas Association. Chairman Craddick goes first. She has been really busy and we’re looking forward to hearing her talk about some of the successes at the Railroad Commission, notably finally passing a Sunset Bill reauthorizing the agency for another 12 years. She’ll also address some of the challenging issues they faced during the Legislative Session, and other initiatives under way at the Commission. I think we will probably also hear from her about some of the impacts from Hurricane Harvey.

PBOG:  Both these speakers give a really good snapshot of conditions in their states.

Ben:  Yes. Our second speaker, Ryan Flynn, will tell us about some of the exciting things going on in his state. New Mexico is really active. Oil and gas is doing very well over there, particularly in the Permian. And NMOGA itself has entered into a pretty aggressive communications effort—where they’re really really working hard at communicating the story of oil and gas throughout the state of New Mexico. They’re taking the story beyond just our oil and gas friends. And they’re doing a great job of it.

PBOG:  Yes, and with all the public lands over there, and with the nation now under a Republican administration, one would think that relations between the oil and gas industry and the government would be trending more favorable. Do you think Mr. Flynn will comment on government-industry relations?

Ben:  Yes. He certainly will talk about their significant amount of federal land—what that’s like under the Trump administration. And I’m sure he’ll comment on the changes they’re seeing, and whether they’re benefitting from a somewhat more pro-business climate, and how much so.

PBOG: That brings us to the second session of the day, a Texas Legislative Panel.

Ben:  Yes. We haven’t finalized all the participants, but at the moment we know we’re going to have House Energy Resources Chairman Drew Darby from San Angelo. And we’re going to have State Senator Kel Seliger from Amarillo. Also Senator Charles Perry from Lubbock. And Brooks Landgraf from Odessa. Former House Speaker Tom Craddick can’t be there—he called me recently to say that he has to be at another event.

After the Legislative Panel, we will have a Permian Basin Infrastructure Panel, starting around 10:15. We’ll hear about roads, and we’ll talk about roads, and pipeline infrastructure too. We’re going to hear from the folks at the Port of Corpus Christi. That ought to be really interesting. Jarl Pedersen, the Chief Commercial Officer with the Port, will be joining us. We’ll hear about some of the things that they’re doing down there, now that they’re exporting crude oil from the Permian Basin, around the world.

PBOG:  We think that’s huge.

Ben:  Yes, it’s interesting. We’ll also hear from Plains All American Pipeline. Kevin Taylor with Plains will talk about pipeline infrastructure throughout the Permian. And then James Beauchamp, who’s head of MOTRAN, which is the Midland Odessa Transportation Alliance. He will talk about our roads, rail, and other transportation issues. And about transportation infrastructure needs, which, with the exploding activity levels from growing populations in the Permian, is significant. James has been one of the leaders in helping to attract funding for project development for our roads.

PBOG:  That’s a broad topic that affects everybody.

Ben:  Yes. Now, for our keynote luncheon speaker, we will hear from Jay Ottoson, the president and CEO of SM Energy. We’re excited about hearing Jay discuss the Permian Basin outlook. After that, we’re having Evan Smith from The Texas Tribune. Evan, who is the Tribune’s CEO and co-founder, will visit with us at 1:00, right after lunch. This will be something rather different for us, in that Evan will talk about the perception of oil and gas in the media.

That takes us to the afternoon sessions. We’re having an “Issues Facing Permian Basin Operators” Panel at 1:30, a Service Companies Panel at 2:30, and a CEO Panel, to finish things up, at 3:30. At the present moment [this conversation was Aug. 29], we don’t have all the participants lined up, but we always get top names in our field. At each of these panels, they’ll discuss the impacts they’re seeing and the outlooks they anticipate, in this extended low-price environment. Conditions can be very tough. How do companies continue? I think companies have been extremely innovative in figuring out ways to prosper in an extended low price environment. By sharing ideas we can learn from each other how to make the improvements in our operations to weather the storm. I will say, too, that these afternoon sessions are especially important because we are hearing from each other. Throughout the year, at our monthly luncheons, we hear from experts and authorities—invited speakers—who have important messages but are mostly not PBPA members themselves. But in these afternoon sessions, we’re hearing from PBPA members themselves, and that’s special—and well worth hearing.