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Permalink Reply by Henry on April 21, 2015 at 0:12

For those of us who could not attend.... Is there anywhere that we can go online to find a copy of the charts?  Or a video of the talks?  Thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on April 21, 2015 at 1:43

Henry, there were only still photos taken, no video.  And the handouts for the presenters fill a three ring binder that's about an inch and a half thick.  Even with an entire day dedicated to education and out reach the presenters could only cover a portion of what they provided in the hand outs.  For example the attorneys presenting had time to cover maybe half of the relevant court cases and proposed legislation that they included in their handouts.

It's possible the handout material would be available to members.  You can contact state chapter president, Malissa Blackburn - landgirl@kinseyinc.com

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on April 21, 2015 at 2:05

Here's Vickie Welborn's Times article in today's newspaper.

NARO SEMINAR ADDRESSES O&G CHANGES

Industry adapts to price drop, remains optimistic about future

By Vickie Welborn | shreveporttimes.com |  April 21, 2015

Approximately 125 landowners, attorneys, minerals managers, accountants and oil and gas industry officials gathered Monday in Shreveport for the National Association of Royalty Owners Louisiana Chapter seminar following the theme, “The Challenge of Change.”

From court cases to changing perceptions of hydraulic fracturing to a tutorial on finding specific information on a state website, the day-long seminar was broad based but boiled down an array of information useful to royalty owners whose property is producing the billions in revenue and thousands of jobs.

“An educated royalty owner is easier to deal with and can be treated more fairly,” said Malissa Blackburn, president of the NARO Louisiana Chapter, which has only been in existence for five years. It’s one of 12 chapters in 19 states.

A number of challenges face royalty owners in the depressed oil and gas industry. “Commodity prices; there’s been a 60 percent drop in the past year. There are fewer rigs running and less leasing,” Blackburn said. “And 120,000 jobs, a direct loss so far and that trickles down to all of us … in smaller royalty checks.”

The NARO seminars are designed for smaller settings to allow royalty owners direct contact with other industry people. “It gives them a chance to network and meet people they never would have come in contact with,” Blackburn said.

Nuggets offered by the panel of speakers:

Attorney J. Michael Fussell

— Reviewed a number of court decisions on oil and gas related issues. A 3rd Circuit Court of Appeal decision in one, Crooks v. La. Pac Corp., gave land owners more footing when it comes to demands to restore land before operations are complete. “It gives the landowner legs to stand on,” he said.

Attorney John Kalmbach —

There are dark clouds in the short term because of over investment, layoffs, supply and demand imbalance, storage capacity and political resistance. But in the long term, projections indicate demand for natural gas will go up by 65 percent by 2040.

And by 2025, the U.S. will be a significant net exporter of liquefied natural gas. “I’m excited about LNG exports because that’s where I believe all of our gas will go.”

Jerry Simmons, NARO executive director — Bans on hydraulic fracturing are picking up
across the nation and in individual communities. “How do we change the conversation about it? You are the voice; you are the voice of the domestic oil and gas exploration. It’s your mineral that’s being produced. You need to speak up about that.”

Attorney Charles Tabor — Cross unit laterals — horizontally drilled wells which produce from two or more production units — are not common but are popping up more now. But as with everything new,theexisting legal and contractual atmosphere does not cover all of the unintended consequences.

Centenary business professor Christopher Martin — “Royalty owners are a family business. Some are small; some are huge operations,” he said. The challenge is to plan for the future.

Damien Smart and Stacie Massey, Department of Natural Resources —

Shared an over view of SONRIS, the state website that provides a plethora of information on drilling operations. Smart demonstrated how searches can be customized. Massey explained which reports yield different information.

Independent landman Skip Peel — Piggybacked on Smart and Massey and went in depth on websites he gleans for information on drilling and production operations. “Information is available to those who want to find it. … There’s tons of places you can go.”

Attorney Davis Powell — Represented NARO on a cross unit lateral (CUL) commission tasked by the Louisiana Legislature to study CUL. “We’ve seen a steep increase in these permits. We were not using this term in the early part of the shale and resource plays.” “We will see a lot of litigation where a CUL well is a new factor fitting in an old situation. … I don’t doubt lot of them will end up in court,” Powell said.

Louisiana Oil and Gas Association communications director Ragan Dickens — The energy renaissance started in Louisiana with shale gas and moved into the Haynesville Shale. Then the LNG market hit. Big winners at the time were the petrochemical industry, industrial, consumer and power generation. Impact of the price collapse has been estimates of 95,000 or more job losses, exploration and production spending dropping by $117 billion and students wanting a career in the oil and gas industry will face unemployment.

Louisiana Public Service Commissioner Scott Angelle, also an announced gubernatorial candidate, was the noon speaker. He said Louisiana no doubt has its challenges where the industry is concerned.

“But we are nowhere dependent in this state like we once were. … It’s part of what this industry goes thru; the ups and downs,” Angelle said.

 

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Permalink Reply by Fred Baragona on April 21, 2015 at 5:20

Thanks for the updates Skip!

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Permalink Reply by JHH on April 21, 2015 at 5:33

The conference was helpful and informative.  I live in Texas and Shreveport is the closest NARO conference for me.  Wish i could have stayed for the afternoon sessions. Maybe next year we can have a 15-30 minute presentation on pipeline easements for royalty owners who also own surface rights as well as oil/gas assignments.  Again... thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on April 21, 2015 at 5:38

JHH, Malissa Blackburn would very much like to have feedback.  Please contact her at the email address I posted above and mention pipeline easements as a topic for the next conference.

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Permalink Reply by JHH on April 22, 2015 at 3:11

Skip: email already sent.  she was very helpful, thanks.

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Permalink Reply by Skip Peel - Mineral Consultant on April 22, 2015 at 3:47

Thanks for your input.

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