2018iogawvmarchnews

The Voice of the

Independent Since 1959

NEWS

March 2018

Capitol Energy Jobs Rally Drew Hundreds On Wednesday, February 21, 2018, hundreds joined the Independent Oil and Gas Association of West Virginia (IOGAWV), the West Virginia Oil and Natural Gas Association (WVONGA) and the West Virginia Manufacturers Association (WVMA) for the 2018 Energy Jobs Rally at the Capitol Building in Charleston. The line-up of speakers included Senate and House of Delegates leadership, Cabinet Secretary Woody Thrasher and several industry leaders.

Energy Rally Continued on page 6

Environmental Legislation at the Legislature

There is not a large crop of environmental bills advancing in the 2018 session of the West Virginia Legislature, but among those being considered are a few that may be of some interest to IOGAWV members.

SB 410 - Appointing industry advocate within the Department of Environmental Protection.

Some years ago, the Legislature imposed on the DEP the paid position of Environmental Advocate, who was supposed to serve as a liaison between the DEP and the public.

There was never much reason to believe that the DEP wasn't already responsive to citizens, and the need for an advocate was questionable. Now Senators Smith, Azinger, Clements and Sypolt have introduced legislation to create a parallel position for an "industry advocate" of similarly

uncertain duties.

It has been suggested that the bill sponsors may be pointing out that the DEP needs neither a citizen advocate nor an industry advocate.

It has not yet passed out of the sponsor's committee.

SB 290 - Relating to DEP standards of water quality and effluent limitations. This bill has passed out of the Senate and moved on to the House of Delegates for consideration. It would make a number of changes that would apply to anyone who has a general or individual NPDES permit for storm water.

SB 290 would allow netting, meaning companies would not be responsible for removing pollutants that they did not add. They would not be considered in violation for pollutants that came in with their

intake water.

They would still have to remove pollutants that they add to their discharge, if those added pollutants would contribute to David L. Yaussy a water quality Spilman Thomas & standard violaBattle, PLLC tion.

Benchmarks could only be set at the least restrictive level. Benchmarks are not permit limits; they are levels of pollutants that indicate whether Best Management Practices, or BMPs (e.g., keeping raw materials under roof and out of the rain, maintaining vegetation on plant property, keeping ditches cleaned out, etc.) are effective in reducing DEP Bills Continued on page 8

INSIDE

Marc Monteleone / 2 Desk and Derrick / 3 Association News / 3 Charlie Burd / 4 Sarah Smith / 5 Greg Kozera / 7 Industry Events / 9 Hugh Byers / 11 Pete Thaxton / 12 Industry News / 12 Ergon / 13 Safety Minute / 14 Mark Taylor / 15

2

Marc Monteleone IOGAWV President

Keep It Simple We are nearly through the 2018 Legislative Session and, as always, the heaviest lifting will occur in the last few weeks of the session. Many key pieces of legislation that were introduced during the first weeks of the session are still being debated in various committees. The process is complicated enough, but the way items are added to bills make the legislative process almost unworkable.

If any of you watch the show American Pickers you see Frank and Mike travel the countryside looking for interesting artifacts to sell in their stores. If you watch the show enough, you see Frank use a technique called “bundling” when he wants to buy an item. Bundling is a technique used by the buyer in an attempt to confuse the seller by complicating the transaction. Frank will throw several items together and offer a lump sum price in an effort to confuse the seller and achieve a good result for Frank.

As I watch a few bills work their way through our legislative process, I am reminded of Frank and

bundling. I have watched some very simple bills with one clear purpose become bogged down with amendment after amendment that often have nothing to do with the original intent of the bill. I think that amendments made to improve a proposed piece of legislation are critical to the process and I fully support those types of amendments.

The process I do not support is where amendments are used to attempt to kill a piece of legislation. This amendment process is nothing more than bundling, in my opinion. Folks that oppose the bill simply add a bunch of amendments to a bill so that by the time they are finished no one, including the original sponsors of the bill, are in favor of its passage. These types of amendments have undermined the legislative process and make passage of even the simplest bill almost impossible.

I suggest that we get back to our basics and keep the process simple.

We would be better off with open and honest debates about the merits

of a piece of legislation. Rather than amending a bill to kill its chances of passage while looking like a supporter of the bill, let’s encourage open discussions about the merits of the legislation as originally proposed. I believe we would get much more accomplished and have more time to focus on the budget if we keep the process simple.

2017-2018 OFFICERS BOARD MEMBERS Marc Monteleone President Brett Loflin VP/Program, Govt. Affairs Chair Jim Pritt Secretary-Treasurer/Commerce Co-chair Scott Freshwater Immediate Past President James W. Crews Director, Commerce Co-chair J. Kevin Ellis Director, Governmental Affairs Co-chair Doug Malcolm Director, Environmental Chair Mike McCown Director, Comm. & Educ. Chair Sam McKown Director, Producers Issues Co-chair James Rode Director, Safety Chair Sarah Smith Director, Membership Vice Chair Rick Toothman Director, Producers Issues Co-chair

3

Desk and Derrick

March is Desk and Derrick Awareness Month “Greater Knowledge-Greater Service” is the motto of the Association of Desk & Derrick Clubs (ADDC). The month of March has been declared as Desk and Derrick Awareness Month. The club will present a “carnival” theme evening of fun, education and refreshments.

We provide education to members through monthly programs on the many facets of our industry given by speakers from industry re-

lated employers. Through fundraising, our club is able to give financial assistance in the form of scholarships to eligible students attending accredited colleges on a full-time basis pursuing degrees in subjects related to the petroleum, energy and allied industries.

Please join us to learn more about our organization and what we have to offer to our area community. The West Virginia Desk and Derrick Club will meet from 5 p.m. to 7

p.m., March 20, 2018 at the office of GreyLock Energy at Northgate, 500 Corporate Landing, in Charleston. Contact Kathy Tawney, club president, at 304-925-6100 (ext 1297) for any questions. Come meet some members, enjoy a snack and try your hand at one of our games. RSVP to Kathy Tawney (ktawney@greylockenergy.com) or the above phone number.

RSVP NO LATER THAN MARCH 10, 2018.

Association News

IOGAWV Testifies at Public Hearing IOGAWV was well represented at the House Judiciary Committee's Public Hearing on HB 4268 - Cotenancy Modernization and Majority Protection Act in early February.

Several IOGAWV members testified before the House Judiciary Committee's Public Hearing to show their support of the Cotenancy Bill.

This testimony was part of IOGAWV’s legislative action plan to support HB 4268 and other legislative initiatives.

Above, members of IOGAWV’s Executive Committee spent the day visiting legislators. They are, from left, Vice President Brett Loflin, Secretary-Treasurer Jim Pritt, President Marc Monteleone and Past President Scott Freshwater.

IOGAWV Executive Director Charlie Burd (left), offered testimony. Pictured at right are Kevin Ellis, Antero Resources and Jim Pritt, EnerVest Operating.

Others testifying included Tom Kittredge, Kanawha Stone and Andrew Anderson, Service Pump & Supply.

4

Charlie Burd Executive Director, IOGAWV

From the Burd’s Nest: Fortnight To the Finish As I write this article on Sunday, February 25, there are only 14 days remaining in the 2018 Regular Legislative Session. You will receive this article electronically with about a week or so to go and by the time you receive the printed version of the March IOGA News, the Legislative Session will be history.

As of this writing, it is impossible to predict how legislation crucial to IOGAWV and the natural gas and oil industry will be decided. In fact, until the gavel hits at or about midnight Saturday, March 10, there are no “givens” and every issue or matter to be decided is up for grabs.

You will need to watch for our new weekly “Capitol Report” in your email or stay tuned for my April article to get a full report. For now, let me outline where IOGAWV is with matters important to us.

Forty-six days into our sixtyday session, there have been 629 Senate Bills and 103 Resolutions introduced. On the House side, there have been 1,139 Bills and 224 Resolutions introduced. The Senate has passed 148 Bills and the House 130 Bills, and 25 pieces of legislation have passed both the Upper and Lower Chambers. Governor Justice has signed six bills. Your IOGAWV lobbying team has put its eye on all 2,095.

IOGAWV’s number one priority is passage of cotenancy reform.

House Bill 4268, the Cotenancy Modernization & Majority Protection Act, was introduced January 24 and thus far has passed House Energy Committee on January 30, endured a February 9 Public Hearing, and was debated, amended and passed out of House Judiciary

Committee that same day. The Judiciary Committee strike and insert Committee Substitute contained four new provisions not considered in House Energy Committee. Your IOGAWV lobbying team immediately went into action and two of the four provisions of concern (14% minimum royalty, auto-inclusion of a Pugh clause) to WV Producers were removed before Committee passage. House Bill 4268 was reported to the floor on February 13 for passage. On February 14 the bill was further amended, with several harmful amendments rejected, the two amendments that passed (requiring there be at least 7 cotenants in a tract and a provision requiring no more than one geologic strata be identified for drilling), have been vetted among the stakeholders and are being further assessed at this writing.

The legislation passed the House of Delegates as amended on February 15, assigned to Senate Energy Industry and Mining and Senate Judiciary Committees for further consideration. House Bill 4268 passed Senate EIM without further amendments and now lies in Senate Judiciary Committee for further debate. IOGAWV will continue to confer with primary stakeholders as the legislation advances through the Senate committee and floor passage process.

Another bill of interest is House Bill 4270, the Transparency Reporting Bill. HB 4270 addresses check stub royalty reporting, was introduced January 24 and taken up and passed out of House Energy Committee on January 25 with an industry-friendly amendment to protect proprietary information. HB

4270 was then taken up in House Judiciary Committee where is was further amended (due to IOGAWV efforts) to make clear this legislation only applied to horizontally drilled wells as defined in statute 22-6-A. As such, these provisions do not apply to conventional vertically drilled or produced wells. Committee Substitute for HB 4270 was reported to the House floor on February 12, read three times without further amendments and passed the House of Delegates on February 15. The legislation was sent to the Senate were it was double-referenced to Senate Energy Industry and Mining and Senate Judiciary Committees for further consideration. As of this writing, the bill remains in Senate EIM Committee. Your IOGAWV lobby team will monitor this legislation closely as it advances through the Senate committee process.

The last bill I will discuss here is House Bill 4563, which would increase the current severance tax exemption for marginal or stripper low volume wells. This IOGAWV conceived and composed legislation was introduced on February 13. As introduced, it sought to increase the severance tax exemption on oil wells from .5 to 2.5 BBl/day and on natural gas wells from 5 to 15 Mcf/ day. HB 4563 passed the House Energy Committee on February 20 and passed the House Finance Committee, as amended, February 23.

As amended, beginning on or after January 1, 2018, natural gas produced from any well which produced an average of less than 10 McF/ day (up from the current 5 Mcf/ day) and oil produced from any well Burd’s Nest Continued on page 14

5

Sarah Smith Membership Vice Chair

IOGAWV Board Approved Four New Members in February Please welcome these new members approved in February: Appalachian Oilfield ALL Services LLC Bruce Ferguson 34602 State Route 7 Sardis, OH 43946 Phone: (740) 865-3376 Cell: (740) 472-4779 Fax: (740) 865-3380 bruce.ferguson@ appalservices.com www.appalachianoilfieldservices. com

Chesapeake Energy POP Matt Sheppard 300 N. 2nd Street Harrisburg, PA 17101 Phone: (717) 230-8620 Cell: (717) 675-0264 matt.sheppard@chk.com www.chk.com

Elite Pit Removal, LLC ALL Aaron Hensley PO Box 967 54 Dog Fork Rd. Chapmanville, WV 25508 Phone: (904) 855-3562 Cell: (304) 687-0013 Fax: (304) 855-3561 elitepit@hotmail.com Selco Construction Services ALL Chris Harman 14675 Industrial Park Rd. Bristol, VA 24202 Phone: (276) 880-2300 Cell: (276) 219-1400 Fax: (276) 963-8406 charman@ selcoconstructionva.com www.selcoconstruction.com

6

Energy Rally Continued from page 1 A strong turnout of industry owners, employees, family members and friends gave legislators a vivid visual impression of the magnitude and importance of the our industry to the citizens of West Virginia.

There was much good news conveyed to legislators surrounding the fact that the natural gas and oil industry in West Virginia is on the rebound. Instead, legislators were encouraged to pass legislation that will maximize the benefits the industry can provide to West Virginia by creating more jobs and a stable tax base. We thanks everyone who participated in the 2018 Energy Jobs Rally.

Photos from the rally show: at top, IOGAWV’s Executive Director Charlie Burd, Delegate John Kelly and IOGAWV President Marc Monteleone; at far left, IOGAWV’s Lori Miller with industry supporters; at near left, House Speaker Tim Armstead; at middle, the “Bowles Rice gang”; at bottom left, Delegate Bill Anderson; and at bottom right, Jon Hildreth having fun with industry supports on the way to the Energy Jobs Rally.

7

Greg Kozera Learned Leadership LLC

You Are a Disrupter! Now What?

Last weekend my wife and I were at a conference in Baltimore, Maryland. The theme was, “The Future.” What do Polaroid, Circuit City, Blockbuster, Borders, Sears, Pan-Am, K-Mart, Radio Shack, Compaq and Woolworth all have in common? They are all companies that have gone bankrupt. Most are gone; others are on their way out unless they get creative fast. They could not adapt to change. John Chambers, chairman and CEO of Cisco USA, said, “If you don’t innovate fast, disrupt your industry, disrupt yourself, you’ll be left behind.” The internet and smart phones are changing our world. Amazon is disrupting the retail world. We are already seeing stores close because they can’t compete with online retailers. Today, technology has become the great disrupter.

Technology disrupted the oil and gas industry. The shales in the United States were known to contain abundant natural gas and oil, but the technology to extract it

didn’t exist until recently. Hydraulic fracturing is an old technology that has been around for over 70 years.

Horizontal drilling goes back to the 1960’s. When our industry figured out how to put these two technologies together effectively, the United States went from energy crisis to the world’s leading oil and natural gas producer in less than 10 years. That was a major global disruption. Russia and OPEC lost much of their power and half of their oil revenues, costing them billions of dollars.

You heard about another disruption at the IOGAWV Winter meeting when Jerry James of Artex Oil and Shale Crescent USA spoke.

In 2010, the Shale Crescent USA Region of eastern Ohio, western Pennsylvania and northern West Virginia produced 3% of the USA’s natural gas. In 2017 that number was close to 33%. This region now produces more natural gas than Texas. That is disruption. The Shale Crescent USA is where 100% of the growth of the USA’s gas supply has

come from. The rest of the USA has only replaced the decline. Whether you knew it or not, you caused this disruption. This has been a quiet disruption so far. The rest of the world and most of the United States thinks Texas, Oklahoma and the Gulf Coast are where most of the growth in the US natural gas supply is coming from.

When cell phones and computers first appeared in the 1980’s, they changed lives – but it took decades before they caused major disruptions. The digital camera changed photography even faster. When I was a manager, we made a five-year business plan. What we heard in Baltimore was that even a three-year plan may be a waste of time since technology is changing so rapidly.

We either need to be the disrupter or be prepared to be disrupted.

Here in the Shale Crescent USA Region you have done both. The old rules are gone. Fifteen years ago, you could produce as much gas as you had acreage and capability to drill without impacting the natural gas market price. At 33% of the US gas supply, our production levels determine the market price. Our region is now an exporter of natural gas to other parts of the country and internationally through the Gulf Coast and Cove Point, Maryland.

We used to get market price plus a premium. Today you can lose 1/3 of your market price to transportation costs. Wells are costing millions of dollars to drill and complete. We are getting 1980’s pricing. That is also disruption.

John 8:32 of the Bible says, “and you will know the truth, and the Now What?

Continued on page 8

8

DEP Bills Continued from page 1 pollutants in storm water that runs off land.

Mixing zones would be allowed for storm water discharges. Usually, mixing zones are calculated assuming low stream flows in the receiving stream (i.e., the river into which the storm water is running), to be protective of aquatic life. For storm water, using higher flows in the receiving stream may be more appropriate to protect aquatic life.

Setting benchmarks is the first step in evaluating BMPs, but they are only an assessment tool. The DEP is instructed to develop guidance that explains how the benchmarks will be used to determine whether there is no problem, whether additional BMPs are needed, or whether permit limits are needed.

SB 395 - Providing for review by the West Virginia Supreme Court of environmental appeal boards.

Last year plans to construct a natural gas power plant in the Northern Panhandle were thwarted by a coal industry advocate who appealed the air permit issued to the plant. While the permit was issued by the DEP Division of Air Quality and affirmed by the Air Quality Board and the Kanawha County Circuit Court, the delay caused the company to lose its opportunity to arrange financing for the plant. SB 395 would have appeals go directly from the environmental appeals boards to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, bypassing the Kanawha County Circuit Court and resulting in a much quicker resolution of appeals.

Appeals from the Public Service Commission similarly go directly to the state Supreme Court. SB 395 passed the Senate and has moved to the House of Delegates for further consideration.

HB 2511 - Establishing an industrial water extraction fee. A fee of one cent would be levied on

all water withdrawn from waters of the state (surface and groundwater) if it is used for industrial purposes.

This bill, sponsored by Delegates Fleischauer and Hornbuckle, has no reasonable likelihood of being enacted.

SB 163 - DEP rules. Changes to the numerous legislative rules proposed by DEP were "bundled" into SB 163. There have been no significant changes to the DEP rules that were submitted to the Legislature.

SB 163 passed the Senate and House and is on the Governor's desk for

his signature.

Much of the 2018 Legislative Session has been concerned with teacher and other public employee pay and benefit issues, so less attention and energy has been devoted to environmental legislation. The Legislative Session ends at midnight on March 10, 2018, so there is more time for bills to be changed and enacted. If you have questions about these or other bills, please contact Dave Yaussy at DYaussy@spilmanlaw.com or Mark Clark at MClark@ spilmanlaw.com.

Now What? Continued from page 7 truth will set you free.” Said differently, it doesn’t matter what economic advantages our region has if no one knows about them. Shale Crescent USA (the organization), is telling people all over the world the truth about where the growth in US natural gas is coming from and why they should being their business here and use our natural gas. We started locally and began spreading the word in newspapers, magazines and radio around the country. We have successfully spread this good news to South America and Asia and are starting to see results. We still have a lot of work to do. Most of our country and world still don’t know.

The changes that put the Shale Crescent USA (the region) in this leadership position happened in only three years.

What does this mean for you and your business? Change is coming.

We heard in Baltimore that technology is changing faster than humans can adapt. One of the best things we can do is to stay informed and do our best to lead change. Be the individual or organization that disrupts.

The decisions that companies made three to five years ago to expand on

the Gulf Coast were a good decision then based on information at the time. The Gulf Coast has been the right decision for over 75 years. That may not be true today.

Someone is going to disrupt the oil and gas industry again. Will it be you or your company? Will you be prepared? How will you handle it?

Will you be a business casualty like Polaroid or Blockbuster? Will you be able to adapt? You can also be a disrupter by sharing the truths that I just shared with you about the cheap and abundant natural gas we have in the Shale Crescent USA region. We heard in Japan, “We had no idea.”

The truth doesn’t set you free unless you know it. Help us to spread the truth by going to www.shalecrescentusa.com. Be a disrupter again.

9

Industry Events

Please Add These Dates To Your Calendar March 7-9, 2018 OOGA Winter Meeting Easton Hilton Columbus, OH Info: www.ooga.org March 21, 2018 PIOGA Spring Meeting Rivers Casino Pittsburgh, PA Info: www.pioga.org

April 16-18, 2018 Manufacturing to Marcellus Conference Marriott Waterfront Place Morgantown, WV Info: https://mmdc.wvma.com

June 4, 2018 Ted Cranmer Memorial Golf Outing & Steak Fry Wanango Golf Club Reno, PA Info: www.pioga.org

May 6-8, 2018 IOGCC Annual Business Meeting Sheraton Downtown Oklahoma City, OK Info: www.iogcc.publishpath.com/ events

June 19-20, 2018 IOGAWV STEM Teachers Conference Embassy Suites Charleston, WV Info: www.iogawv.com June 25-27, 2018 IPAA Mid-year Meeting Fairmont Austin Hotel Austin, TX Info: www.ipaa.org July 10-12, 2018 Tom Dunn Energy Academy WV Wesylan Buckhannon, WV August 5-7, 2018 IOGAWV Summer Meeting The Greenbrier White Sulphur Springs, WV Info: www.iogawv.com August 15-16, 2018 Summer NAPE Brown Convention Center Houston, TX Info: http://napeexpocom/ August 23, 2018 Divot Diggers Golf Outing & Steak Fry Tam O’Shanter Golf Club Hermitage, PA Info: www.pioga.org

Industry Events Continued on page 10

10

Industry Events Continued from page 9 September 21-22, 2018 IOGAWV Sports Weekend Bridgeport Country Club Bridgeport, WV September 30 – October 2, 2018 IOGCC Annual Conference Coeur D’Alene Hotel Coeur D’Alene, ID Info: http://iogcc.publishpath. com/events October 17-18, 2018 Fall Oktoberfest, Annual Meeting and Sports Outing Seven Springs Mountain Resort Champion, PA Info: www.pioga.org November 11-13, 2018 IPAA Annual Meeting Ritz-Carlton New Orleans, LA Info: www.ipaa.org

Producers: there is a toll-free number where you can leave confidential messages on issues of importance:

1-877982-4701.

11

Hugh Byers Direct Energy

Nymex Natural Gas Futures Contract 12-Month Forward Strip Average Prices Through 2/16/2018

12

Pete Thaxton USI Insurance Systems

Lowe to Manage Voluntary Benefits Program As most of you know, I have managed the Independent Oil and Gas Association of WV (IOGAWV) Insurance Program for over 23 years. Through the partnership of IOAGWV, Highmark BlueCross and BlueShield, United Concordia and USI Insurance Services, the insurance program has been a tremendous success for our members and their employees.

I am extremely pleased to announce that Cindy Lowe will oversee the voluntary benefits insurance program that is available to all IOGAWV members and partners.

Cindy brings a tremendous wealth of experience in the voluntary benefits market that will assist the IOGAWV member companies with added benefits that best fits the needs of their employees.

Upon Cindy’s review of the voluntary benefits portfolio, she was incredibly excited due to the uniqueness of the benefits and the exclusive availability to our membership.

There is an increasing demand for voluntary benefits that meet the needs of individual employees that are above and beyond what their core benefits may offer. USI Insurance Services has selected several carriers to provide an exclusive offering of benefits to IOGAWV employers. The voluntary benefit vendors will consist of Aflac, Transamerica Life Insurance Company, and College Tuition Benefit, and will provide benefit/price levels that cannot be purchased under normal benefit offerings.

Cindy Lowe is a voluntary Insurance Broker appointed by various

Homestead Communications

Industry News

Bowles Rice Honored Benchmark Litigation named Bowles Rice its “West Virginia Firm of the Year” for the second consecutive year during its 2018 U.S. awards ceremony at the Pierre Hotel in New York City in February.

Stuart McMillan, who chairman of the Bowles Rice Litigation Department, said, “Winning this award two years in a row is testament to the work we do and the outcomes we’ve achieved on behalf of individuals and businesses in a wide range of industries.”

Benchmark publishes a definitive guide to America’s leading litigation firms and attorneys, the only publication to focus exclusively on the litigation practice in the United States, Canada and Mexico.

insurance providers for over 13 years. She is licensed in several states throughout the country. She has served a vast array of industries such as mining, maritime transportation, manufacturing, electrical engineering, banking, healthcare industries and more.

Cindy graduated from Marshall University in 1992 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in early childhood education. She was awarded Marshall University’s Outstanding Teacher of the Year. She has been recognized throughout her sales career for stellar performance in the marketing of products, but most importantly for her ability to provide invaluable customer service.

Benchmark also recognizes individual attorneys in each state, based on six months of intensive peer and client review, as well as case review.

In their 2018 rankings, two Bowles Rice lawyers are listed – Gerard Stowers and Mark Adkins.

"We are honored to once again be the recipient of this distinction from Benchmark Litigation, which recognizes our litigators as among the very best in West Virginia,” said Tom Heywood, Bowles Rice Managing Partner. “More than 50 of our lawyers litigate in state and federal courts and administrative forums across our region, and they have certainly earned this recognition through their outstanding advocacy for our clients, day in and day out.”

getting YOUR message to the right people through award-winning public relations

homestead communications po box 13604 charleston, wv 25360 304.984.0308 homesteadcommunications @frontier.com

13

Ergon

Monthly Appalachian Basin Crude Oil Prices

TIER 1 - 150+ net barrels of crude oil. No more than 2% BS&W (if the BS&W is over 2%, it will then qualify for Tier 2 pricing.) One stop location (one or more tanks at a single location).

TIER 2 - 60-149.99 net barrels of crude oil. Two stops within five miles.

TIER 3 - 30-59.99 net barrels of crude oil.

R.L. Laughlin & Co., Inc

“Providing Gas Measurement Services since 1970”

Site Automation Meter Sales Gas Analysis

 Electronic Chart Integration  Meter Installations  Calibrations & Repairs

NOW SERVING YOU IN 3 LOCATIONS: 125 State Rt. 43 Hartville, OH 44632 330-587-1230

5012 Washington St., W. Charleston, WV 25313 304-776-7740

1205 Buckhannon Pike Nutter Fort, WV 26301 304-969-0033

14

Safety Committee

IOGAWV Safety Minute It’s March. What do your safety metrics look like this first quarter of 2018?

January was a time to review 2017 incidents and review overall trends for the year, which should have given your company an opportunity to fine tune its training regimen for the coming year.

What kinds of safety challenges have your company faced in these first few months? The work conditions have been extreme—wild temperature swings, rain and statewide flooding, and a nasty flu season that has a lot of employees unable to do their best work (or work at all)—and that’s just a typical winter in West Virginia. It can keep us as workers complacent, or it can make us push harder to reduce injuries, and motor vehicle and equipment operation

incidents.

As incidents happen, we learn and adapt, which is why IOGAWV’s Safety Committee is interested in hearing about your incidents and lessons learned. Periodically in the newsletter, we’ll feature a story from a member who had an incident or near miss and found an innovative way to implement better practices to its employees. Any member who wants to submit a story can do so without the member’s name published if they so wish. Just drop an e-mail to Jgreathouse@coreoperating.com and we’ll work on getting you published.

Speaking of information sharing, we told you back in January that a needs survey was being developed to better understand the kind of safety training our members need. The

survey is nearing completion and will be sent to you in the next week.

This will better inform our insurance partner, Brickstreet Insurance, and committee members in developing and hosting training throughout the year.

Keep up with your employees and their ever evolving work conditions.

Round out your first quarter with good safety metrics to carry you through your year.

Burd’s Nest Continued from page 4 which produced an average of less than 2.5 Bbl./day (up from the current .5 Bbl./day), would be exempt from paying state severance tax.

IOGAWV believes these increases in the daily production exemptions are necessary if low producing wells are to remain economically feasible for small producers while also maintaining a gas supply in remote areas of our state. In addition, the administrative cost savings (i.e., WV Severance Tax-Estimate forms) for both the WV Producer and the state tax department further justify the need for this bill. Again, your IOGAWV lobby team will closely monitor this legislation as it advances through the Senate committee process.

As always there are bills that have both a negative or positive impact on our industry and others operating

in the State. You can be assured Phil Reale, Jim Fealy, Ben Beakes and I will be on top of these and others as the Session ends at midnight March 10.

One bill (HB-3262) that got our immediate attention and the attention of other business interests throughout the state was one that proposes to require persons engaged in natural gas horizontal well drilling activities, their contractors and subcontractors to annually submit a report to the West Virginia Department of Labor identifying all full- and part-time employees by city and state of residency. Further, a failed amendment would have also required these same companies to identify all job descriptions and annual average wage. (As of this writing this bill has been tabled.)

As I close, I want to thank each of the members who have been so quick to respond with calls and emails on important matters. Over the course of the next two weeks we could see more legislation introduced that will affect IOGAWV and its members—some good and some bad. Please keep a watchful eye for more calls to action on legislative issues.

Strength in numbers: sign up a new member today.

15

Mark Taylor WeatherBELL Analytics

WeatherBELL Winter Commentary

Image: Image: WeatherBELL Temperature Anomaly Forecast – March 2018 For more information about WeatherBELL’s services and to get the hot-off-the-press winter forecast, please visit our website www.weatherbell.com or contact Mark Taylor at (770) 649-0000/taylor@weatherbell.com.

As expected, the cold air backed off in late January (the January thaw), and we saw another round of harsh weather in early February across the Midwest, though it was warmer along the East Coast. A very warm back half of the month brought spring-like temperatures to most of the East.

In March, a cold and stormy period is expected to open the month, with persistently chilly weather through the first half of the month.

The Southwest will see an early spring. Look for periodic warm bursts to go into the Southeast later in March.

Stay tuned to WeatherBELL energy services for the latest monthly and weekly forecast updates. Our first summer forecast was released to our clients on February 28.

300 Summers Street, Suite 820 Charleston, WV 25301 Phone (304) 344-9867 Fax (304) 344-5836

Presort Standard U.S. Postage PAID Charleston, WV 25312 Permit No. 175