American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 108

ConventionSection: Independent Oil & Gas Association of New York

IOGA NY Sees Opportunities
In A Time Of Challenges
By Dan Holder

HAMBURG, N.Y.-In the wake of its
December decision to ban high-volume
hydraulic fracturing, New York may legitimately claim the title of the worst state
for oil and gas operations, opines Brad
Gill, executive director of the Independent
Oil & Gas Association of New York.
However, he says the group recognizes
how bad the state's regulatory climate is
and is shaping its annual convention to
reflect those conditions. "The meeting
theme is, 'Extreme Challenges Create
Extreme Opportunities,' and the meeting
itself is going to be pretty upbeat. We
will discuss how not just to survive, but
thrive in this low-price New York environment," Gill says.

"This is not just false optimism," he
asserts. "Yes, the industry is down in
New York, but I think this annual meeting
really is going to appeal to a lot of
industry people."
IOGA NY will hold its 35th annual
convention Oct. 21-22 at the Buffalo
Marriott Niagara in Amherst, N.Y.
The state's oil and gas industry in
some ways is a victim of its own success,
Gill assesses.
"This industry is very cyclical," he
points out. "But the dynamics now are different. Twelve or 15 years ago, we never
had a downturn where there was this much
natural gas-discovered, proved reserves
in the ground-and where there had this
many wells drilled and shut in, waiting to
go on line, with storage fields full. This

IOGA NY Annual Meeting - Amherst, N.Y.
Wednesday, Oct. 21

6-8 p.m. Beer and Bull Reception, Buffalo
Marriott Niagara

Thursday, Oct. 22

8 a.m. Registration, Buffalo Marriott Niagara
9 a.m.-12:15 p.m. General Session
Donny Beaver, Halen Hardy LLC, "Reducing Costs and Eliminating Waste
while Improving EHS in Tough Economic Times"
David Stein, L.J. Stein & Co. Inc., "ReEvaluating Risk Management Assumptions in a Persistent Low-Price Environment"
Josua Sandberg and James Richert, GZA
GeoEnvironmental Inc., "Cost Avoidance
through Proactive Safety Measures-A
Case Study"
Break
David Schlein, Lumsden & McCormick
LLP, "Powering Up Your Business:
Strategies for Today's Economic Landscape"
Glenn Wiggle, Michael Lomas and John
Thur, Independent Solutions Wealth
Management, "Energy Sector Opportunities and Stock Market Update"
12:15 p.m. IOGA NY Annual Business

Meeting
12:15-1:30 p.m. Lunch
Speaker: Robert Boulware, Seneca Resources Corp., "The New Realities of
Dealing with Public Perception in the
Oil and Gas Industry"
1:30-4:30 p.m. General Session
Theodore Loukides, N.Y. State Department
of Environmental Conservation, Division
of Minerals, "NYSDEC Oil and Gas
Regulatory Update 2015"
Cynthia McCarran and Kevin Speicher,
N.Y. State Department of Public Service,
"The Future of Gas Demand in New
York State"
Paul Hartman, America's Natural Gas Alliance, "From Wellhead to Market-
There's Opportunity in that Pipeline"
Break
Matt Vavro, Vavco LLC, "Energy Choices-Do We Really Have a Choice?"
David Morabito, "David vs. Goliath: How
to Sue the State of New York"
4:30-5:30 p.m. Meet and Greet Cocktail
Reception
5:30 p.m. Dinner
Speaker: Bernard Weinstein, Maguire Energy Institute, Southern Methodist University, "Turmoil in the Energy Markets:
How Long Will it Last?"

108 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

low-gas-price climate is here for the foreseeable future, in my opinion."
Those market conditions are high hurdles for New York operators not impacted
by the fracturing prohibition, who typically
target the Medina formation with vertical
wells, Gill says.
"The economics for most of New
York's conventional wells just are not
there at this time. I don't think the future
looks quite as bleak for oil as it does for
gas. Oil will rebound; it is just a matter
of when," he predicts. "There are not a
lot of conventional oil operators active
in New York or northern Pennsylvania."
IOGA NY President Ernest Rammelt
says the state continues to present challenges to the industry, ranging from regulatory issues to political battles.
"However, we have weathered similar
storms through the decades and we will
survive this one, too," asserts Rammelt,
president of Chautauqua Energy Inc. in
Westfield, N.Y. "IOGA NY continues to
strive to improve our interactions and relationship with state regulators, and it is
making good progress to help operators
thrive during these lean times."
Replacing Hydraulic Fracturing
Several landowners in Tioga County,
N.Y., are considering a well project that
doesn't depend on high-volume hydraulic
fracturing, Gill reports. While the state
bans stimulations that require more than
300,000 gallons of water, he says those
do not include using gelled propane.
He notes that more than 1,000 North
American wells have been completed using either propane or butane, and that
Chevron and Quicksilver Resources have
reported using gelled propane.
"Propane fracturing is one of the more
interesting developments," Gill assesses.
"The technique holds some promise for
New York. The last time I talked to the
New York Department of Environmental
Conservation, it said it was reviewing
the Tioga County permi. The proposal
has drawn opposition groups out of the
woodwork again. They are saying it needs
to be studied more and that is inherently
unsafe, even though the company has

American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015

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