Kevin Ellis

Kevin Ellis

IOGAWV Continues to Be a Considerable Value Proposition

As we close out another fiscal year at IOGAWV, it is always instructive to look back at the collective accomplishments of the organization, as well as to identify opportunities going into the new fiscal year. And to be sure, FY20 was full of both. Let us start with a look at key successes. Unquestionably, due in major part to IOGAWV’s leadership and policy advocacy at the Capitol, the upstream oil and gas industry is the beneficiary of great new enactments. We have, of course, reported on these matters many times since, but they are worth repeating.

HB 4090, which changed the definition of marginal wells, reduced the taxes due on such wells and, importantly, directed that those monies paid by the industry will capitalize the state’s orphaned and abandoned well plugging fund. This bill will undoubtedly impact every producer in West Virginia and provides the state Office of Oil and Gas a dedicated revenue stream to do the important work of plugging abandoned wells. Equally important is SB 802, which deals with the ability of a producer of natural gas in WV to enter into direct agreements for the delivery to and consumption by end users. The creation of new, in-state demand opportunities for natural gas produced in West Virginia is both an important accomplishment and an opportunity for future efforts.

Additional and significant legislation that IOGAWV worked on in collaboration with other stakeholders included HB 4091 (creating an administrative process for producIOGAWV President ers to obtain expedited well work permits for horizontal wells), HB 4311 (modifying spacing rules for

“deep” horizontal wells to accommodate modern drilling practices) and a pair of bills (HB 4421 and 4019) dealing with tax incentives for downstream investment in facilities utilizing West Virginia produced natural gas liquids and derivatives.

Taken together, this year’s legislative session was a resounding success and a strong reminder to our members that the investments you make in IOGAWV are impactful and outcome-oriented.

IOGAWV also intervened in several matters at the WV PSC and FERC dealing with gathering line dispositions and abandonment petitions, general investigations and related matters. IOGAWV’s investment into these activities in FY20 through the procurement of legal services, expert witnesses and related expenses also resulted in important outcomes that will carry over into similar matters in the future – all to the benefit of IOGAWV members. For those members who are regular participants in Commerce Committee meetings, you know the value and importance of this key part of IOGAWV’s work on behalf of producers.

Finally, IOGAWV leadership responded immediately and aggressively to the COVID-19 pandemic by establishing a work group to deliver key information to members. As part of this effort, we have shared a number of Action Alerts on critical and timely topics related to the pandemic. In addition, we have delivered web-based video conferences on the SBA Paycheck Protection Program and CARES program opportunities and with the WV Secretary of State, the WV Attorney General and the Chief of the WV DEP Office of Oil and Gas. And, plans are in the works now for other, similar virtual meetings to bring to you the most current and up to date information about how the pandemic may IOGAWV Value Continued on page 12

2019-2020 OFFICERS BOARD MEMBERS

J. Kevin Ellis President Ben Sullivan Vice President/Program Chair Maribeth Anderson Secretary-Treasurer/Investment Comm. Chair Brett Loflin Immediate Past President

James W. Crews Director/Commerce Comm. Co-Chair Jon Farmer Director/Producers Issues Comm. Co-chair David Haney Director/ Producers Issues Comm. Co-chair Jon Hildreth Director Jeff Isner Director/Commerce Comm. Co-Chair Bob Radabaugh Director/Evironmental Committee Chair Sarah Smith Director/Govt. Affairs Comm. Chair Todd Tetrick Director/Saefety Committee Chair Chris Weikle Director/Comm. & Educ. Comm. Chair

Charlie Burd

IOGAWV Executive Director

Time Running Out on Getting a Dedicated Industry License Plate!!

For the past several months, IOGAWV has been asking its members (YOU!) to consider applying for a license plate dedicated to the oil and natural gas industry. WE ARE ABOUT 40 SHORT of hitting our minimum of 250 applications.

The West Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles (WVDMV) granted IOGAWV and WVONGA the right to pursue this customized WV State license plate dedicated to the oil and natural gas industry back in December 2019. At that time, the WVDMV provided exacting details on how securing such a customized license plate could be achieved and provided us with the official instructions and application (found on pages 18 and 19). MORE IMPORTANTLY, this triggered a hard deadline of July 24, 2020, to have the 250 applications and fees submitted to the WVDMV.

As of June 25, we have secured 209 applications and checks. That means we need at least 41 more applications! This should be an easy goal for such an outstanding industry! We have a hard deadline

of July 24 and, if missed, the industry is locked out for two years before it can reapply for a plate.

PLEASE….complete the official application found on page 19 and submit it to IOGAWV with a check for $91.50 to cover the first-year cost of the customized plate.

Once IOGAWV accumulates the MINIMUM of 250 license plate applications and checks, it can then submit the applications and money to the WVDMV. It is at this point,

Remember to practice these safety measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 to yourself and your family, coworkers, friends, neighbors and others:

Practice “social distancing” Avoid contact with people who are sick Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds (it’s longer than you think — try saying the Pledge of Allegiance twice or sing “Happy Birthday” twice, too). Use an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (at least 60% alcohol) if soap and water are not available Avoid touching your eyes, nose, and mouth with unwashed hands

and only at this point, the WVDMV will assign its graphic artist to our project to design the plate with our input and approval. Charlie Burd

After lisExecutive Director tening to the many inquires as to why the oil and natural gas industry did not have its own plate, it is very surprising that we find ourselves darn near begging you to help this get accomplished.

This plate is important and shows others the importance of the oil and natural gas industry to the State and Nation. Natural gas is the future of West Virginia. Having this plate identifies you, and your company, as part of the West Virginia oil and natural gas industry just as other specialty plates identify various other industries and special interest groups.

If we do not answer the call on getting another 40 or 50 application over the next few days, we miss this opportunity. Please, take time now to complete and submit the application. Make your check payable to: IOGAWV -- Special License Plate. Send both the application and check to:

IOGAWV

C/O: Charlie Burd 300 Summers St., Suite 820

Charleston, WV, 25301

Please, let’s not allow this to slip through our fingers!

Charlie Burd

From the Burd’s Nest: To Infinity and Beyond!

This phrase, likely familiar to everyone reading this, is the famous catchphrase of “Buzz Lightyear” from the Toy Story films and the TV series Buzz Lightyear of Star Command. Buzz is that infamous brave space ranger action figure that works for “Star Command” and who has sworn to protect the galaxy from the “Evil Emperor Zurg.” In case you did not know, Buzz Lightyear was named in honor of Apollo l1 astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, the second person to walk on the Moon.

In real life, on May 30, 2020, SpaceX made history when it launched into space carrying NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken aboard its Crew Dragon spacecraft using a Falcon 9 rocket to rendezvous with the International Space Station. The launch is the final demonstration mission of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Falcon 9. Once this mission is complete, the launch vehicle will finally be certified for operational use for regular transportation of people to space. This is the first time ever that humans have been aboard a SpaceX vehicle as it previously delivered multiple cargo payloads to orbit. Behnken and Hurley are the first people to make the trip with the private spaceflight company.

The Falcon 9 is a partially reusable two-stage-to-orbit medium-lift launch vehicle designed and manufactured by SpaceX in the United States. It is powered by Merlin engines, also developed by SpaceX, and propelled by burning cryogenic liquid oxygen and rocket-grade kerosene (RP-1), an especially clean kerosene. Both propellants are chilled under their regular temperaExecutive Director, IOGAWV tures to increase their densities. The BFR, the next generation of SpaceX rocket and currently under development, will use LOX and liquid methane (natural gas) to get a bit more efficiency; both again are chilled under their natural state for higher density.

Interestingly, 51 years after that historic July 16, 1969 launch of the Apollo 11 mission with its command and service module “Columbia” and lunar module “Eagle” sitting atop that Saturn V rocket, the fuel source for the May 30, 2020 SpaceX launch of its Crew Dragon spacecraft sitting above its Falcon 9 rocket was virtually the same RP-1. Thus, both historic achievements rest, in part, on the mid-1850’s discovery on how to process and refine kerosene from coal, then later and more cheaply, from petroleum.

Decades of rocket engine research and testing led to the Saturn V’s five Rocketdyne F-1 engines. “The F-1 remains the most powerful single-combustion chamber liquid-fueled rocket engine ever developed,” according to David Woods, author of How Apollo Flew to the Moon, 2008. The Rocketdyne F-1 engines were fed 15,471 gallons of RP-1 per minute into their thrust chambers. The Saturn V’s upper stages burned highly volatile liquid hydrogen (liquid oxygen was used in all three stages). The five-engine main booster held 203,400 gallons of RP-1. After firing, the engines emptied the giant fuel tank in 165 seconds. The Apollo 11 landing crowned liquid-rocket fuel research in America dating back to Robert H. Goddard and his 1914 “Rocket Apparatus” powered by gasoline.

Fast forwarding to May 30, 2020, the SpaceX also successfully launched then landed its first stage booster from the Falcon 9 (and also fueled by RP-1), which means it will recover the first private spacecraft booster that has ever delivered human astronauts to space. It’s been multiple decades since a human took off from U.S. soil on a brand new launch vehicle, and this is also the first time anyone has flown to space from an American launch site since the Space Shuttle program was officially retired in 2011.

We in the energy industry have always known that it is petroleum, and those thousands of products made from petroleum, that make the “world go around.” It’s just as exciting to know that it is petroleum and products made from petroleum that makes things “go around the world”!! As Buzz might say, “To Infinity and Beyond”--powered by petroleum”!!