American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016 - 91

tions over which it has jurisdiction."
"The RRC is becoming much more
efficient and transparent," Stevens affirms.
"It has spent millions of dollars reconstructing its information technology, which
is helping its ability to handle permits,
reports and hearings, and the information
is more readily available to operators and
the public."
The Alliance's third sunset principle,
Stevens says, deals with the commission's
tighter budget amid an industry downturn
that has slowed applications for permits
to drill and other fee-based services that
fund the agency. "We hope the legislature
will authorize some general revenue funds
or provide a way for the RRC to access
general revenue," he relates. "Severance
tax revenues have been at all-time highs
during the last several years. That has
been great for the state, but now that that
is not the case, it makes perfect sense for
the state to provide some funds."
Legislative Interim
About four years ago, Stevens says
he started noticing a widespread-albeit
subtle-presumption among policymakers
that lean years were a thing of the past.
"Legislators would discuss the state's
needs in areas such as water and transportation infrastructure, and they spoke
as if the good times were going to go on
forever," he describes.
Now that reality has intruded, Stevens
says, "I try to educate politicians-particularly those who feel the industry has
gotten far better than it deserves-about
today's conditions. Even though there
are articles in numerous publications,
some still seem to believe the oil and gas
industry is getting away with something.
That is tough to overcome, even at times
like this, because those are deep-seated,
emotional thoughts without any basis in
reality."
Since Texas' legislature is not in session
during 2016, the industry is not expecting
any immediate help from Austin, Stevens
says. However, he recalls some of the industry's appeals during past downturns.
"Oil had been $6 a barrel in December
1998 as we were coming into the 1999
session," he recounts. "There was an oil
field workers march about midsession,
which included a couple thousand oil
field hands, trucks and a rally. Then we
went into the Capitol and asked legislators
to reduce severance taxes 50 percent, because 4.6 percent on a $6 barrel of oil
was such a big piece of the potential
margin."
Although the legislature did not meet
that request, Stevens continues, the event
helped lawmakers recognize the industry's
problems and prompted them to approve

$50 million for specific marginal wells.
"I cannot remember all the parameters,"
he admits. "But the essence was that it
allowed producers to seek rebates for 50
percent of their severance taxes from
those wells for a certain period while the
$50 million lasted."
Happily, he adds, producers claimed
only about half that fund because prices
soon exceeded the statutory threshold.
"By the time it took effect and people
got rebates, the oil price had risen,"
Stevens recalls. "I think it is good to
remind our elected officials of that."
Leal notes that the speaker and lieutenant governor have issued their interim
charges for committees to consider during
the legislative interim. "There is a slew
of them," she relates. "Many of the charges
deal with oil and gas, water, property
taxes, and more."
Meanwhile, Stevens says the Alliance
will be dealing with what appears to be a
particularly fiscally conservative group
of legislators. "Many of them seem to
feel their mandate is to not spend any
money," he relates. "Change is coming
to the makeup of both chambers."
❒

W&T Offshore Reports
Second Discovery In Gulf
HOUSTON-The Ewing Banks 954
A-8 exploratory well operated by W&T
Offshore Inc. penetrated 150 feet of
measured depth hydrocarbon pay contained in two sands. The company says
the well represents the second discovery
in a two-well drilling program from the
EW 910 platform in the deepwater Gulf
of Mexico.
W&T Offshore says following facility
tie-in, it expected first production during
the first quarter of 2016. Although no
well flow tests had been conducted, the
company says based on formation evaluation data, it anticipated producing the
well from the two zones at a restrained
gross rate of 2,300 barrels of oil equivalent a day.
Completion operations were under
way with a planned two-zone completion, the company says.
W&T Offshore is the operator of the
EW 910 field, and owns a 50 percent
working interest in the well. The company has 1.0 million gross acres under
lease on the Gulf of Mexico Shelf, with
400,000 gross acres in the deep water.
Tracy Krohn, chairman and chief executive officer of W&T Offshore, comments, "We are especially pleased with
the high-quality pay sands found in the
A-8 well, which should allow for higher
reserve recovery."
❒

Oilfield Improvements®
WHEELED ROD GUIDE®
COUPLINGS
For Deviated,
Directional and
Horizontal Wells
Used Successfully for Over
27 Years by Over 90% of
Major Oil & Gas Companies
in Over 40 Countries -
Onshore and Offshore
Wheels are
Field-replaceable

Call
800-537-9327
or Your Oilfield
Supply Store
www.rodguides.com

1902 N. Yellowood Ave.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 U.S.A.
7/6 -(?

Oilfield Improvements®
ULTRA-FLOW®
FIELD-INSTALLED

CENTRALIZERS/
PARAFFIN SCRAPERS

Full-circle Wiping
of Tubing I.D.
More Gripping
Force on Sucker Rods
More Fluid Flow-by
Volume
Longer Useful LIfe
from Longer Vanes
& Bearing Surfaces
Positive Wear
Indicators
Amodel with Glass Fill
CALL 1-800-LES WEAR
(800-537-9327) OR YOUR
Oilfield Supply Store

www.rodguides.com
®

1902 N. Yellowood Ave.
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma 74012 U.S.A.
7/6 FAX 918-250-4666

MARCH 2016 91

American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - March 2016