North Dakota Petroleum News

North Dakota Petroleum Council E-News

September 2009









New Members – Thanks to the new Petroleum Council members: Crude Processing, Inc.; Lafarge Dakota, Inc.; Minot State University College of Business; Wenck Associates, Inc.; and Kodiak Oil & Gas.

Department of Mineral Resources (DMR) Releases Proposed Rules – The DMR is accepting comments on their proposed Administrative Rules through October 25. A public hearing will be held October 15 in the DMR conference room. The rules cover a variety of areas and mostly clarify existing practices by the agency. The rules include provisions relating to geophysical, risk penalty, plugging wells, surface owner notification, cementing of well bores, geological CO2 sequestration, and other items. We encourage you to review the rules and provide input to the Petroleum Council so that we may develop our comments. https://www.dmr.nd.gov/oilgas/

Culliton Moves On – Blaze Culliton, Membership/Communications Coordinator for the Petroleum Council, worked for the Petroleum Council for the past four months has accepted a new position at a local communications firm. Blaze was instrumental in assisting with the CookFest, Energy Citizens’ Rally, Annual Meeting and other Oil Can! and website outreach efforts. We wish him the best and thank him for his hard work.



Communications Manager Position Open – The Petroleum Council is seeking applicants for a Communications Manager. The successful applicant will need excellent writing and verbal communications skills and will be responsible for developing the Petroleum Council’s outreach efforts including Oil Can!, E-News, Oil & Gas Tidbits, and manage the association’s website and marketing efforts. Applications are available by contacting the Petroleum Council.



Land Department Develops New Method to Monitor Right-of-Way Applications – At the request of industry, the State Land Department has developed an enhanced mechanism that allows companies to check the status of their applications either by the Right-of-Way tracking number or by company name. You can go to the following website and choose “Track application by name” and then type in a minimum of three letters from the company name. The result will be a display of all of the applications and their status for that company. This process should be helpful for companies during busy times when there are many permits pending. http://www.land.nd.gov/surface/row/ If you have questions, contact Mike Brand, Director Surface Management Division at ND State Land Department at 701-328-1918 or email mbrand@nd.gov.



Dorgan, CO-OP Officials Kick-off Study of Refinery Potential in North Dakota – Senator Byron Dorgan, as chairman of the Senate Energy and Water Appropriations Subcommittee, secured funding for a study to analyze how to expand oil refining capacities in North Dakota. With that funding, an industry-led advisory board and steering committee will examine the costs and benefits associated with the expansion of refining capacity in the region, and what are the most promising alternatives to get a new refinery built. The steering committee’s primary job is to issue a request for proposals, select a consulting firm to conduct the study, and issue a final report to the U.S. Department of Energy. Dorgan says, “We expect a comprehensive look at the question of whether it makes sense to increase refining capacity, with no pre-determined outcome as to feasibility, plant location or ownership.” The members of the steering committee include Senator Rich Wardner; Representative Kenton Onstad; Dennis Hill, NDAREC; Ron Day, Tesoro; John Traeger, Cenex; Mel Falcon, Northwest Oil/Dakota Processors; Brad Aman, Continental Resources; John Paganis, Murex Petroleum Corp.; Dennis Krueger, Farstad Oil Inc.; Michael McCann, Tesoro Pipelines; Terry Kovacevich, Marathon Oil; and Rick Ross, Whiting Petroleum Corp.



Big Crowd for Petroleum Council’s Annual Meeting – More than 275 attendees enjoyed the great Medora weather at this year’s ND Petroleum Council Annual Meeting. Attendees packed the facility for the presentations, meals, and entertainment. 150 golfers played in the Oil PAC Golf Scramble and more than 100 people attended the Navigation Oil Development on Trust Lands Meeting. Thank you to the 61 sponsors who made the event possible. We appreciate their support. The list of sponsors and the presentations from the meeting are available at http://www.ndoil.org/?id=87. The 2010 Annual Meeting will be held September 21–23 in Minot, North Dakota.



Biberdorf Joins Petroleum Council Hall of Fame – Wayne Biberdorf, Hess, became the 7th inductee into the Petroleum Council Hall of Fame. He received BS degrees in Math and Physics from Minot State University and an engineering degree from the University of North Dakota. After teaching in the Minot Public School System, he began his employment with Hess Corporation in 1980. He has held various positions with Hess, including Operations Manager, District Engineer, Business Unit Manager and Manager of Strategic Projects. He is a member of the Society of Petroleum Engineers and has been on the Board of Directors and Executive Committee of the North Dakota Petroleum Council since 1997, serving as Chairman from 1999-2002 and has been instrumental in the changes at the Petroleum Council over the past 10 years. He is also on the Northwest Workforce Advisory Board and the North Dakota Training Advisory Board and was appointed by Governor Hoeven as one of the first members of the Oil and Gas Research Council, and served as its first chairman. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=163



Senator O’Connell Receives Outstanding Public Service Award – Senator David O’Connell from Lansford, North Dakota, represents District 6, which includes Bottineau, Kenmare, Westhope, and a large portion of the oil patch in the northern part of the state. He works in the oil patch and has a great understanding of the value of our industry to his district and the state. As the Senate Minority Leader, he has sponsored many of our key bills, including the tax incentive bills and last year he was our primary sponsor of a resolution opposing the proposed federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing, which would be a killer for our industry. Senator O’Connell has been a champion in helping the industry defeat an onerous stripper well tax increase during the past two legislative sessions. He knows the importance of stripper wells to our industry and has testified in opposition to bills at hearings for us, which rarely happens in the Legislature. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=159



Representative Berg Receives Outstanding Public Service Award - Representative Rick Berg from Fargo, ND, represents District 45. Representative Berg has served in the North Dakota House of Representatives since 1985. In his 25 year tenure in the Legislature, he has served as the Speaker of the House, Chairman of the Industry Business and Labor Committee, Appropriations Committee, and served two terms as the House Majority Leader in 2005 and 2007. He has been an advocate and a leader in helping improve the North Dakota business climate throughout his legislative career. As a business owner, he understands the value of a predictable and stable tax and regulatory structure and the value it brings to the state to be able to attract business investment. Berg was instrumental in Workforce Safety reforms in the mid-1980s when the agency and premiums were running out of control without taking care of injured workers. He, along with others, made the necessary changes to help North Dakota workers and businesses. He worked hard to implement a better tax structure and business climate for our industry and developed the idea for the tax incentive triggers of 75,000 barrels, or 18 months, which has helped encourage oil activity. In addition, he was a leader on the tribal lands issue in 2007 as it struggled to pass through the House. http://www.ndoil.org/?id=160



Plans are underway for the 2010 WBPC – We have begun working on the agenda, expo, and registration plans for the 2010 Williston Basin Petroleum Conference and Expo in Bismarck on May 2–4. We are looking for input on technical presentations, specifically for talks relating to drilling, completion, facility automation, Bakken/Three Forks, pipelines/transportation and other ideas on how to improve the conference. Please provide your input to us at ndpc@ndoil.org. Exhibit reservations and sponsorships will be available January 13, 2010.



The Oil & Gas Research Council Seeks Projects – The next grant round deadline for the Oil & Gas Research Council is November 1, 2009. The Council has $4,000,000 for research and education this biennium and will be giving priority to projects that:



Evaluate fracture treatment of Middle Bakken and Three Forks/Sanish laterals to determine the effect the location of the lateral has on creation of vertical fractures.


Projects that generate pressure isolation data that will assist in the determination of whether or not the Bakken and Three Forks/Sanish are separate reservoirs. The Council is specifically interested in testing Bakken or Three Forks/Sanish wellbores that have not previously been hydraulically fractured.


Projects that test the performance of fracture fluid proppants under Bakken and Three Forks/Sanish reservoir conditions.


The development of new or improved completion techniques in the Bakken and Three Forks Formations.


At the last meeting, the Council approved changes to their policies. These changes and applications for projects can be found at http://www.nd.gov/ndic/ogrp-infopage.htm.



2009 NDMCA Safety & Compliance Programming Offered for FREE - The 2009 North Dakota Motor Carriers Association Safety & Compliance Seminars will be offered for FREE! That’s right! The 2009 NDMCA Safety & Compliance Seminars in Bismarck (October 22-23) and Fargo (October 19-20) will be FREE thanks to a grant from Workforce Safety & Insurance. Four different classes will be offered during the two- day sessions. On day one, there will be a half-day session on DOT Compliance rules and regulations and building on the morning session, there will be a half-day session in the afternoon on Advanced DOT Compliance. On the second day, there will be concurrent sessions in the morning: Annual Vehicle Inspection and a session on CSA 2010, the FMCSA’s new safety auditing program. This session will also include an hour on dealing with sleep apnea. If you have questions, contact Tom Balzer, North Dakota Motor Carriers Association, 701-223-2700. For more information, or to register, go to http://www.ndmca.org/PDF/webbrochure.pdf.



Huge State Land Sale in November - The ND State Land Department’s quarterly oil and gas lease auction is scheduled for November 3 at the State Capitol in Bismarck. It’s shaping up to be one of the largest sales in recent history. Approximately 70,000 acres have been nominated, including 28,000 acres in McKenzie County and nearly 13,000 in Mountrail County. Only three other sales in the 21st century have contained more acres. The Department expects to have a complete sale list established by the first week in October. The sale list will be made available on the agency’s website at www.land.nd.gov.









For more information on any of these issues or to be removed from the mailing list, contact the North Dakota Petroleum Council at

(701) 223-6380, ndpc@ndoil.org, or see www.ndoil.org.







Marsha Reimnitz

North Dakota Petroleum Council

PO Box 1395

Bismarck ND 58502

701.223.6380

701.222.0006 fax

www.ndoil.org

ndpc@ndoil.org



What is a home without children? Too quiet.