Tommy Taylor
PBPA Chairman
The new year is here and the odometer is rolling over once again. The year 2023 is a distant memory and 2024 has arrived. Many take the new year as an opportunity to set new goals and make resolutions. Did you make a list of new year’s resolutions? They are certainly easy to contemplate and plan when one is arising after a long winter’s nap and you are fully rested and you just had a nice tummy-filling meal. That’s the time when you feel like the harder goals are achievable.
Getting in shape, working out more, and losing a few pounds are the typical commitments we all seem to make when starting a fresh new year. This year, however, the resolution I have in mind is more of an oil and gas community focused one rather than the personal kind.
It seems that as an organization we often find ourselves being in a more defensive posture and having to be reactive to the regulatory or legislative policy decisions that are leveled against our industry. We can’t just be reactive, however. We also need to continue to plan our path forward with communications and proactive outreach. We must continue to advocate and effectively communicate how important oil and gas are to our standard of living, our security, and our precious freedoms.
Oil and gas permeate everything in our modern society and make our standard of living the highest in human history. We need to tell anyone who will listen about the good things oil and gas energy provide for us, starting with our families, co-workers, and employees. Don’t assume that others know what you know. Commit to engage in a friendly conversation about all things energy with someone you don’t know. I’ll bet you come away with a new appreciation of how little most know or understand about energy and how important it is to the wellbeing and our way of life. I can tell you the PBPA and its great staff are on the front lines of communicating the positive aspects of oil and gas and we are committed to continuing to advocate for our industry in 2024.
The beginning of a new year always means the arrival of our premier event, the Top Hand Award Banquet. This year’s honoree is Mr. Charles Richard “Dick” Sivalls, a long time Odessa resident, former PBPA Chairman, business leader, and owner of Sivalls, Inc, a company that designs and manufactures surface production equipment for oil and gas production processing that is used worldwide. Dick is the consummate engineer’s engineer and is known far and wide as a person who gives back to his community.
I first met Mr. Sivalls in 1984 while attending school at Texas Tech. He personally came to Tech to teach the Petroleum Engineering students about oil and gas processing equipment and design. Dick Sivalls and the Sivalls family changed the landscape of the Permian Basin and beyond by their efforts in locally designing and manufacturing processing equipment. The positive impact the Sivalls family has made to Odessa, the Permian Basin, and the many engineers and workers in the oil patch cannot be understated. Dick Sivalls is a true Top Hand and we are honored to present this award to Mr. Sivalls on the evening of January 18, 2024, at the Petroleum Club of Midland. Please make plans to attend. It’s an event you don’t want to miss.