The Texas Groundwater Protection Committee has a new website that provides a wealth of information and links for those interested in groundwater resources and regulation in Texas. The Committee was created by the Texas Legislature in 1989 to provide coordination among nine state agencies that deal with groundwater: the Texas Water Development Board, the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, the Texas Railroad Commission, the Department of State Health Services, the Texas Department of Agriculture, the Texas State Soil and Water Conservation Board, the Texas Alliance of Groundwater Districts, Texas A&M AgriLife Research, the Bureau of Economic Geology, and the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation. The TGPC’s website provides helpful links to maps of Texas aquifers, groundwater management areas and groundwater conservation districts, regulations covering drilling of water wells, groundwater conservation and contamination, injection and disposal wells, and classroom resources. Bookmark this site.
Two Interesting Graphs from EIA
The Energy Information Administration continues to produce fascinating graphs. Two recent ones are below.
Natural gas hammered coal last year. Low natural gas prices still made electricity cheap. West Texas Intermediate Crude declined, while Brent crude increased.
Electricity generated from natural gas equaled that generated from coal for the first time in April 2012:
Taylor and Ellis Introduce Forced Pooling Bill in Texas Legislature
State Representative Van Taylor, R-Plano, and Senator Rodney Ellis, D-Houston, have introduced a bill to allow for forced pooling in Texas. The House bill, HB 100, may be viewed here.
The bill would allow an operator to force-pool mineral, royalty and leasehold interests into a unit if the operator obtains agreement from 70% of the leasehold owners and 70% of the royalty owners in the area to be unitized. Unleased mineral owners could be pooled, and would be treated as owning a 1/6 royalty interest and a 5/6 working interest. The unit operating agreement can provide for a “sit-out” penalty of no more than 300% for a working interest owner who elects not to pay its share of the well costs. The bill does not allow force-pooling of mineral or royalty interests owned by the State.
Here is just one interesting provision in the bill:
Two Good Energy Websites
Here are two good websites that provide interesting and balanced views about energy production and consumption: The Rational Middle, and Think Progress. The Rational Middle is a series of films by the people that produced the movie Haynesville – A Nation’s Hunt for an Energy Future. Its goal is to encourage rational thinking about our energy future and establishing achievable goals toward sustainable energy. The films about unconventional resources and the risks of hydraulic fracturing are worth looking at.
Think Progress’s climate page introduces thought-provoking statistics about our nation’s energy sources and uses. For example:
56.2% of the nation’s energy is wasted each year – from the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory:
George Mitchell – The Man Who Figured Out Fracing
I recently heard an interview with George Mitchell, the independent operator who found the key for combining hydraulic fracturing technology and horizontal drilling to unlock vast reserves of gas in the Barnett Shale, the first shale play. And it only took him 17 years to figure it out. Now 93 years of age, Mr. Mitchell was interviewed by American Public Media’s Marketplace radio program. You can view the interview here.
Mr. Mitchell has some unorthodox views for a wildcatter. First, his foundation, the Cynthia and George Mitchell Foundation, has given millions of dollars to support development of clean energy resources. And he supports a carbon tax on hydrocarbons.
Mr. Mitchell also supports tough regulation of independent operators. “I’ve had too much experience running independents,” Mitchell says. “They’re wild people. You just can’t control them. And if it doesn’t do it right, penalize the oil and gas people. Get tough with them.” Earlier this year, Mr. Mitchell told Forbes magazine that he is in favor of federal regulation of hydraulic fracturing by the U.S. Department of Energy.
NASA Night Photo of Eagle Ford Shale Play
Amazing image. No better way to illustrate the activity in the Eagle Ford.
University of Texas Withdraws Study on Hydraulic Fracturing
The University of Texas withdrew a study published earlier this year by UT Austin’s Energy Institute, “Fact-Based Regulation for Environmental Protection in Shale Gas Development,” after review by an independent commission appointed by the University. That review was prompted by a report of the Public Accountability Initiative, a non-profit watchdog group, which revealed that Dr. Charles Groat, professor at the Jackson School of Geosciences at UT and director of the study, sits on the board of Plains Exploration and Production Company and received cash and stock compensation from Plains of more than $1.5 million since 2007, but did not reveal that relationship in connection with the report. Dr. Groat has since retired, and the Head of the Energy Institute, Dr. Raymond Orbach, has resigned as head of the institute.
The independent review commission found that Dr. Groat’s failure to disclose his ties with Plains was “very poor judgment,” and that UT’s conflict of interest policy should be strengthened (UT has done so). The commission also found several other faults with the report:
- The report was presented as having scientific findings, but most of it was based on “literature surveys, incident reports and conjecture,” and was not in fact “fact-based”.
Switch – Documentary on Energy
I recently had the opportunity to view a documentary, “Switch,” produced by Dr. Scott Tinker, Director of the Bureau of Economic Geology at the University of Texas and the State Geologist of Texas, and Harry Lynch, documentary filmmaker. Dr. Tinker uses as the premise for his film the question – When will the world ultimately switch from fossil fuels to cleaner, alternative energy sources? In the process, he examines the sources and uses of energy worldwide, their costs and benefits, in an engaging film that takes him from the huge open-pit coal mines in Wyoming to offshore oil rigs to a hydraulic energy plant in the Netherlands, from the top of a wind turban to solar energy farms, and from driving Tesla to installing more efficient heating and lighting systems in the home. In the process, he does what no film I have seen does — provide a balanced, informed view of the role of energy in our modern world and where we are heading.
In addition to the film, Dr. Tinker has created a website, http://www.switchenergyproject.com/ , that provides additional short videos and other resources to further explore questions surrounding energy, including carbon capture, global warming, hydraulic fracturing, and alternative energy technologies. He interviews many world experts on global energy issues. The five energy issues you need to know, according to Dr. Tinker:
1. Energy drives the modern world and underpins every other issue.
Sunset Advisory Commission Issues Report on Texas Railroad Commission
Texas’ Sunset Advisory Commission has issued its recommendations for changes at the Texas Railroad Commission. The report can be found here.
The RRC was up for regular Sunset review in 2010, and the Sunset Commission issued a report recommending several changes then, including abolishing the three-member elected Commission and replacing it with a single appointed Commissioner. Largely due to debate over that recommendation, most of the Sunset Commission’s 2010 recommendations were not enacted, and the Legislature told the Sunset Commission to issue a new report for its 2012 legislative session.
In its current report the Sunset Commission no longer recommends replacing the three elected Commissioners. It recommends changing the Commission’s name to the Texas Energy Resources Commission; limiting the time when Commissioners can solicit campaign contributions and prohibiting a Commissioner from accepting contributions from any party with a contested case before the Commission; requiring a Commissioner running for another elected office to resign; and requiring the Commission to adopt a recusal policy rule.
Herein of “Production Sharing Agreements” and “Allocation Wells”
I have recently become aware of recent changes in Texas Railroad Commission policies regarding “production sharing agreements” and “allocation wells” that deserve some comment. Some background is necessary to understand these recent developments.
Over the last couple of years I have been asked to review and explain proposed “production sharing agreements” sent to royalty owners. Operators in the Haynesville came up with the concept of production sharing agreements when they were faced with trying to drill wells in areas that were held by production from large pooled units producing from vertical Cotton Valley wells. The pooled units were not configured to allow for efficient drilling of Haynesville horizontal wells. Operators wanted to drill laterals crossing the boundaries of the pooled units, and apparently the pooled units covered the Haynesville depths as well as the Cotton Valley. So, they came up with the idea of production sharing agreements. The agreements provide that the royalty owners in the two existing units agree that production from the horizontal well will be “shared” between the two units based on the percentage of lateral length on each unit, and production allocated to each unit will be treated for lease and royalty payment purposes as if produced from the unit. Devon was a big proponent of these agreements. From the royalty owner’s point of view, the agreements have advantages and disadvantages. The advantage is that the royalty owner will get royalties on production from a new well that might not be drilled unless a production sharing agreement is signed to allow drilling across lease or unit boundaries. The disadvantage is that production from one well serves to keep all of the leases in both units in effect for as long as it produces.
A well drilled across lease or unit boundaries pursuant to a production sharing agreement is referred to at the RRC as a “PSA” well, because the permit is granted based on the operator’s assertion that it has production sharing agreements with royalty owners for allocation of production between or among tracts; or as an “allocation well,” because production from the well is allocated to two or more separate leases or units. When operators began applying for drilling permits for these wells, there was discussion at the RRC about how to handle them, because they did not fit the standard model of pooled units. Eventually, the RRC staff adopted an informal, unwritten policy that, if the operator would represent in its permit application that it had production sharing agreements from at least 65% of the royalty owners in both units, the RRC would grant the permit. The RRC has created a new form, the “PSA-12” form, to replace the Form P-12 that operators must file to represent that they have the right to create a pooled unit. If the operator submits the PSA-12 form, the RRC grants a PSA well permit, based on its informal 65% joinder policy.