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The Meeting Materials for the September 25, 2019 OGCC Special Meeting are now available.  Please see the Commission Meetings page for more information.

The transcript from the September 9, 2019 Just and Reasonable Hearing is now available.  Please see the Administrative Hearings page, Docket No. CC-2019-OGR-01-002 for more information.

The OGCC special meeting will be held on Wednesday, September 25, 2019 at 10:00am (MT).  The meeting will be held at the Idaho Department of Lands Boise Staff Office. Please see the Commission Meetings page for more information.

The July 2019 monthly report has been posted.  Please see the Monthly & Annual Reports page for more information.

Mick Thomas

Division Administrator, Oil & Gas

Secretary to the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

This update was sent to the Commission on Friday, September 6.

Current Items:
IOGCC Annual Conference
Town Hall
Special Meeting
Transportation – Purchaser Reports
News Article(s) of Interest

IOGCC Annual Conference
Program Manager James Thum, Inspector Dave Schwarz and I went to Medora, North Dakota August 24-28 for the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission Annual Conference. As the Chairman of the Council of Regulatory Officials I moderated the session that included officials from 22 states discussing issues facing their states and the industry as a whole. The main issues discussed were:

The need for infrastructure and refining capacity continues to limit production in states other than Texas and North Dakota. This is especially true in the west, where the limited transportation capacity to pacific markets is impacting the commodity prices.  In states with a long history of oil and gas there is a backlog of orphan wells – wells that have finished their life cycle and need to be plugged and abandoned. Ohio and Kansas specifically cited a lack of contractor to do the work.
Significant improvements across the industry in inspection capacity and efficiency.

North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum is the chairman of the IOGCC and was the key note speaker for the annual conference. Governor Burgum shared his vision for the industry, the west, and how states can help. He discussed the following:

U.S foreign policy is no longer driven by scarcity of energy – Foreign policy since 1812 have been driven by scarcity management. Scarcity policy is focused on protecting the U.S. from a shortage of resources – most recently energy. This is no longer true. The U.S. is now in a position to be the largest energy and food exporter by 2025. To reach this position we need infrastructure.
Innovation, not regulation should be the goal – Governor Burgum discussed how North Dakota is working with communities and the industry to provide solutions to problems with new systems and policies. He discouraged the use of punitive actions to be the main driver of change. As an example the Governor shared how many western states are moving forward with Unmanned Arial Vehicles (UAV’s) to improve data collection. This data is used to improve safety, protect the environment and improve compliance. He stated that humans are poor at collecting data – high cost and low quality. UAV’s provide more data, faster, with less cost, and are not limited by geography and the road system.

Overall it was an exceptional meeting. The Oil and Gas Division appreciates the assistance of the IOGCC in providing guidance with our new industry.

Town Hall
Our next oil and gas town hall meeting will be held Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at the Payette County District Courtroom at 5:30pm.

Special Meeting
The Oil and Gas Conservation Commission will be holding a special meeting sometime in late September or early October to present the pending rule for IDAPA 20.07.02 Rules Governing Conservation of Oil and Natural Gas in the State of Idaho. More details to follow.

Transportation – Purchaser Reports
The Department continues to work with purchasers of hydrocarbons from the state of Idaho to bring all reporting entities into compliance. Additional reports for condensate sales for the first half of 2019 have been received and posted to the web page. Opportune Outsourcing has worked with the Department to revise fuel gas reporting and has submitted revised production / disposition reports for the first half of 2019. Additional reporting from other purchasing entities is expected within a week.

News Article(s) of Interest

LNG initiative expands south of the boarder:
https://www.gjsentinel.com/news/western_colorado/natural-gas-initiative-expands-outside-us/article_1be2e632-cd44-11e9-b57f-20677ce85d90.html

Crescent Point Energy unloads Uinta Basin assets:

NGL prices / MMBTU for first half of 2019:
https://www.eia.gov/dnav/ng/hist/ngm_epg0_plc_nus_dmmbtum.htm

The hearing to determine the scope of the terms “just and reasonable” will be held at the Payette County Courthouse on Monday, September 9, 2019 at 9:00am (MT).  Please see Docket Number CC-2019-OGR-01-002 on the Administrative Hearings page for more information.

The next town hall meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 22, 2019 at 5:30pm (MT).  Please see the Town Hall Meetings page for more information.

The January 2019 – June 2019 monthly reports have been updated with current information including production reports and purchaser reports.  Please see the Monthly & Annual Reports page for more information.

Mick Thomas

Division Administrator, Oil & Gas

Secretary to the Oil & Gas Conservation Commission

This update was sent to the Commission on Friday, August 23.

Current Items:
New Subscription feature on OGCC Website
Well Activity
IOGCC Annual Conference
OGCC Meeting next week
News Article(s) of Interest

New Subscription feature on OGCC Website
A new function has been added to the OGCC Website. On the Home page and Contact Us page there is a button called “Subscribe to News and Updates”. We plan to use this to send out oil and gas updates and information to those who have signed up. We sent out our first update last Friday, August 9 which included the last Secretary Update. These Secretary Updates will be posted to the OGCC Website the week after being sent out. Every Friday, an email will be sent out showing all of the ‘posts’ from the website that week. We hope to use this functionality to improve communication and transparency.

Well Activity
Payette County
The status of the two Kauffman wells have been changed to ‘Shut-In’ due to each well having six or more continuous months of no production. The maps have been updated and can be found on the Maps page of the OGCC website.

IOGCC Annual Conference
Program Manager James Thum, Inspector Dave Schwarz and I are going to Medora, North Dakota this weekend through next Wednesday for the Interstate Oil and Gas Compact Commission Annual Conference.
The IOGCC represents Oil and Gas producing states and is an ongoing source of knowledge and experience – critical for Idaho as we develop regulations for our young oil and gas industry. The guidance provided by the IOGCC includes recommendations on regulatory enforcement, just and reasonable terms for stakeholders and operators as well as improved processes to ensure operator compliance.
The concurrent inspector’s forum provides ongoing training and certification for our oil and gas inspection program at no cost to the state.

OGCC Meeting next week
The next regularly scheduled OGCC meeting is next Thursday, August 29 @ 1:00pm at the Capitol Building in EW42. The agenda is posted on the Home page and the Commission Meetings page of the OGCC Website.

News Article(s) of Interest

Big West releases August crude oil bulletin / prices:
http://www.bigwestoil.com/wordpress/crude-oil-bulletin 

ESA changes – How will they impact Idaho?
https://www.idahopress.com/eyeonboise/esa-changes-how-will-they-impact-idaho/article_5f55e114-49d0-533b-8969-e438d3fab4f8.html

EPA rules duplicative regulations are unnecessary:
https://mailchi.mp/mineralsmakelife.org/duplicative-regulations-hurt-us-mining-546525?e=567d948d63

The OGCC meeting is on Thursday, August 29, 2019 at 1:00pm (MT).  The meeting will be held in the Idaho State Capitol, room EW42.  More information can be found on the Commission Meetings page.