American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015 - 22

IndustryDigest
NSWA says the new full-time
position comes in response to calls from
association members to establish a
stronger Capitol Hill presence that will
represent the rights and best interests of
the more than 18,000 small
businessmen in the country's energy
industry.
Charters has more than 19 years of
congressional experience, most recently
serving as staff director of the Energy
and Mineral Resources Subcommittee
of the House Natural Resources
Committee. In addition, he served as
director of policy coordination for the
full committee.
From 2006-08, Charters was
legislative director for Representative
Steve Pearce, R-N.M., the senior
member of the House Financial
Services Committee and chairman of
the Western Caucus.
"Tim will be excellent for this
position, and his experience paints a
picture of somebody who will be a
successful advocate for NSWA in
Washington," says Mike Cantrell, the
association's chairman. "We are
confident he will offer the type of senior
leadership in our nation's capital that
the NSWA membership is expecting." Ì

New API Department To
Focus On Infrastructure
WASHINGTON-The American
Petroleum Institute is creating a
midstream department that it says will
focus on issues related to energy
infrastructure as well as oil and gas
transportation.
"In order for America's oil and
natural gas renaissance to continue, we
need a world-class infrastructure system
to deliver that energy to consumers,"
says API President and Chief Executive
Officer Jack Gerard. "Creating a
division within our organization focused
on midstream issues will enable the
industry to address the critical issues
around energy infrastructure."
Robin Rorick, who has 19 years of
experience in the oil and natural gas
industry, will lead the department as
group director of midstream and
industry operations. For the past five
years, he has served as API's director of
marine and security, with responsibility
for maritime transportation issues and
emergency response.
22 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

"American families and businesses
rely on oil and natural gas every day,
and it takes a strong and diverse supply
chain to meet America's needs," Rorick
says. "Every method of transportation
that we use has an important role to
play in the safe, reliable and efficient
movement of oil and gas from the
wellhead to consumers."
Harry Pefanis, president and chief
operating officer of Plains All American
LP, will serve as chairman of the
committee of API member companies
that will oversee the new department.
API says the midstream department
will encompass the organization's
policy work on transporting oil and gas
by pipelines, rails, ships and other
methods, adding those areas had been
split between API's upstream and
downstream departments. Ì

SafeLandUSA's Training
Reaches 750,000 Workers
WASHINGTON-The U.S. oil and
gas industry's safety orientation for
onshore workers, SafeLandUSA,
reached 750,000 workers in December.
The group points out that is an increase
of 400,000 workers receiving safety
training over the past two years.
SafeLandUSA attributes the
exponential jump in training numbers to
key individuals and organizations
representing upstream oil and gas
operators and contractors that have
joined forces to keep workers safe while
assuring regulators the industry can
satisfy their requirements.
Randy Golden, a staff environment,
health and safety representative at
Anadarko Petroleum Corp. and a
member of SafeLandUSA's executive
committee, says the organization is all
about quality of instructors and
consistency of the orientation provided
to land rig workers."
"Through this organization, we can
work together to address safety issues,
and help ensure that our workers make
it home after every hitch," Golden says.
In 2013, the most recent statistics
available, industry fatalities were down
54.0 percent from the previous year
while productivity jumped 11.2 percent,
SafeLandUSA says.
SafeLandUSA was founded in 2006
by an industry work group interested in

standardizing an orientation for land rig
workers. The curriculum and
accreditation criteria were implemented
in 2007, and by the end of 2010, 50,000
workers had received the orientation.
According to the organization,
accrediting groups PEC Safety,
International Association of Drilling
Contractors, and Energy Training
Council provide credentials to training
providers and instructors.
In December, the Occupational
Safety & Health Administration, the
National Service, Transmission,
Exploration & Production (STEPS)
Network, and National Institute for
Occupational Safety and Health signed
an alliance agreement to collaborate on
fostering safer and healthier
workplaces. SafeLandUSA says the
alliance specifically mentioned it in the
work plan for accomplishing this goal.
At the SafeLandUSA meeting in
December, the group elected several
executive committee members. Josh
Ortega, HSE supervisor at BHP Billiton
Ltd., was elected chairman, with
Golden selected as vice chairman.
Operator-at-large seats were filled by
Bill Walker with Halcon Resources
Corp., Bill Cottrell with Chevron North
America Exploration and Production
Co., and Terry Wingate, with Exxon
Mobil Corp. A drilling contractor-atlarge position was filled by Eddy Biehl,
with Stonebridge Oilfield Services. Ì

Gas Storage Levels
Decrease By 677 Bcf
WASHINGTON-Underground
natural gas storage in the United States
stood at 2.543 trillion cubic feet on Jan.
23, 3.0 percent below the five-year
average, according to the U.S. Energy
Information Administration. That was
down 677 billion cubic feet from the
3.220 Tcf reported by EIA on Dec. 26,
which was 2.5 percent below the fiveyear average. However, the Jan. 23
storage number was 324 Bcf more than
a year ago, when storage stood at 2.219
Tcf.
EIA reports gas storage in the
producing region stood at 887 Bcf on
Jan. 23, 4.6 percent below the five-year
average, and 212 Bcf less than the 1.099
Tcf reported in storage on Dec. 26,
which was 2.4 percent below the fiveyear average. The Jan. 23 storage
American Oil and Gas Reporter - February 2015

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