American Oil and Gas Reporter - October 2015 - 127

LEFT: Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (left) presents the
Colorado Oil & Gas Association's Industry Advocate Award to Ted
Brown, retired vice president at Noble Energy Inc. RIGHT: Pete
Stark (left), senior upstream research director at IHS, accepts the
association's Lifetime Achievement Award from former COGA
Chairman Peter Dea, president & CEO of Cirque Resources. In his
56-year career, Dea said Stark had "perhaps done more to help

"We don't see any potential for a
really big price increase," he said.
Saying Bentek expects U.S. gas production "to be stagnating toward the end
of the year," Diaz reported the firm nevertheless expected year-end production
to be 4.0 billion cubic feet a day over
2014 levels.
Projecting out five years, "We expect
North American production growth of
20.5 Bcf/d," Diaz revealed, "with 14.5
Bcf/d of that coming from the Northeast."
Led by 5.4 Bcf/d from power generation and another 3.6 Bcf/d increase in
exports to Mexico, he said Bentek aggregated 9.9 Bcf/d in the U.S. and Mexican
markets by 2020. Throwing in LNG exports, Diaz said Bentek foresaw total de-

people around the globe to advance our industry than anybody I
can think of. Pete has been a true information technology pioneer,
bringing geology, technology and new production trends from
around the globe to our desktops." COGA acknowledged efforts by
Brown, who also is an association past chairman, to improve the
industry's public image, noting especially his work to develop
Noble Energy's Ambassador Program.

mand growth of 17.8 Bcf/d by 2020,
concluding, "11.5 Bcf/d of exports are
required to balance the U.S. market."
Gibb discussed where and how the
market might get to that volume.
Pointing to the 23 LNG export projects
that have been announced for the Gulf
Coast, he said Navigant expected five or
six of them ultimately would be developed,
adding that Dominion Cove Point in
Maryland also "is very likely to go."
Turning to the Pacific Northwest, he
said Jordan Cove at Coos Bay, Or., and
Oregon LNG in Warrentown both might
be completed, "but aren't big enough to
make much difference."
On up into western Canada, beyond
three he called boutique LNG facilities,

Gibb added, "You really have to start to
question whether a big one is going to go."
He termed the proposed 4.5 Bcf/d
Alaskan export project a wild card. "4.5
Bcf/d is a huge drop into LNG supply,"
he allowed. "One side says they can't afford not to do it, yet the other side says it
is going to get too balled up, now that
the governor has said he doesn't want
TransCanada involved."
Altogether, Gibb said Navigant projected 8 Bcf/d-10 Bcf/d of U.S. LNG export capacity would get developed, not
counting Alaska. "Whether it is going to
all be utilized, I don't know," he hedged.
"We think Canadian exports will be 2
Bcf/d, assuming one of the large facilities
goes."
r

Industry Acceptance Starts With 'Talk'
DENVER-Fear of the unknown may
be the greatest source of public opposition
to oil and gas development, as well as
fertile soil for the insinuations planted
by the industry's opponents.
The answer, suggested a number of
speakers at the Colorado Oil & Gas Association's Rocky Mountain Energy Summit, held Aug. 25-27 at the Colorado
Convention Center in Denver, may be as
simple as talking.
"The unknown always concerns people.
If you aren't aware of it, you imagine the
worst," posited David Stover, chairman,

president and chief executive officer of
Noble Energy Inc., during the final day
executive forum. "Most people do not sit
around thinking about the benefit of oil
and gas development."
Matt Owens, president of Extraction
Oil & Gas in Denver, voiced a similar
sentiment during a second-day session
devoted to community outreach and engagement, saying, "When people feel
you aren't telling them everything, they
get more defensive."
And Matthew J. Lepore, director of
the Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation

Commission, offered, "So much of the
conflict we have seen over these past
few years really arises from want of good
communication. If we have learned anything, it is that folks really don't like surprises as they relate to oil and gas."
Lepore opened the community outreach
session by recalling the COGCC's 201213 setback rule making, about which he
remarked, "I wish we had called it our
setback notification and comment rule
making because I think the most effective
parts have been the requirements around
notification to adjacent homeowners and
OCTOBER 2015 127

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