pbog january

January 2011

P e r m i a n B a s i n P e t r o l e u m A s s o c i a t i o n • w w w . p b p a . i n f o • 4 3 2 - 6 8 4 - 6 3 4 5

The Permian Basin Petroleum Association Magazine

IN THIS ISSUE

82nd Legislative Session

Burmass Tools of the Trade Conference

Oilfield History: A Lesson in Housing

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D E P A R T M E N T S 4 From the Chairman of the Board 6 From the President 8 New Members 30 Legislative Calendar 30, 36 Industry Reports 41 News Reviews 44 Training & Education Calendar 46 Back In The Day 47 PBPA Calendar of Events

10 February PBPA LuncheonThe PBPA luncheon set for Feb. 24 will take place at the Petroleum Club in Midland beginning at 11:30 a.m.

12 PBPA Top Hand BanquetFor his support of the oil and gas industry, Tom Craddick will be honored as the recipient of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association’s annual Top Hand Award on Jan. 20 at the Petroleum Club in Midland. H Sponsorship Form

14 82nd Legislative Session When the Texas Legislature convenes on Jan. 11, expect the oil and gas industry to be directly in the crosshairs of much of the debate. A week later, the 50th New Mexico Legislative Session begins, and the oil and gas industry will certainly draw much of the attention in the Land of Enchantment as well.

32 Burmass Tools of the Trade ExpositionThe First Annual Burmass Tools of the Trade Exposition, March 8-9 at Midland’s Horseshoe Arena, will offer a unique networking venue for oil and gas companies that do business or are seeking to do business in the Permian Basin.

38 Oilfield HistoryLiving conditions have always been a problem for oilfield hands. Beginning with that first Texas oil boom at Spindletop and continuing until the present, the type of labor performed by oil and gas industry workers has, by its transient nature, created difficult living situations.

Permian Basin Oil & Gas

PB OiL & GAS Is the OFFICIAL PUBLICAtION OF the PermIAN BAsIN PetrOLeUm AssOCIAtION

www.pbpa.info • 432-684-6345 • [email protected]

ContentsVolume 6 • Issue 1 January 2011

On the Cover:Cable Tool at Sunrise | Photo by Andy Cobb, Senior Safety & Environmental Specialist, ENERGEN

Ben Shepperd PBPA President [email protected]

Julie Anderson

PERMiAN BASiN PETRolEuM ASSociATioN STAff

PERMiAN BASiN oil & GAS MAGAziNE STAff

Nicole Osburn PBPA Office

Manager [email protected]

The Permian Basin Petroleum Association is a non-profit organization for the promotion of business efficiency and the betterment of Permian Basin oil businesses through cooperative efforts and the exchange of ideas. Published on the 5th of each month. Opinions expressed in this magazine are those of the writers and do not necessarily represent the views of the magazine or the Association.

PB Oil & Gas is published monthly by Zachry Publications, LP. All materials copyright 2011 by Zachry Publications, LP. Reproduction of contents in whole or part without expressed written consent of publisher is prohibited. All rights reserved. Monthly PB Oil & Gas Magazine single copy price is $2. Annual subscriptions are free to members of PBPA or online at www.pbog.com. Address all purchase requests, subscriptions, news items and inquiries to: PB Oil & Gas, 500 Chestnut St. Ste. 2000, Abilene, TX 79602, 325-673-4822, FAX 325-677-2631.

EDITORIALJulie Anderson, Editor 432-367-1564 Fax 325-677-2631 [email protected]

H.C. Zachry Publisher

Becky Frost President

Katie Kaufman Art Director

ADvERTISINg SALESRich Rayburn Director of Sales 325-673-4822, ext. 224 Cell: 325-665-3213 Fax 325-677-2631 [email protected]

4 January2011|www.pbog.com

Chairman of the BoardDoug robison ExL Petroleum, LP

PresidentBen shepperdPermian Basin Petroleum Association

immediate Past Presidenttaylor mayne Mayne & Mertz

Chairman-Electmark merritt Fasken Oil & Ranch, Ltd.

Vice President at Largesteve Pruett Legacy Reserves, LP

Honorary Vice Presidentharry spannaus Permian Basin Petroleum Association

Area Vice Presidentmike robinson Robinson Drilling of Texas

Area Vice Presidentray Brazzel Bandera Drilling Co., Inc.

Area Vice PresidentDennis Johnson Summit Petroleum

Secretary/Treasurersteven Jeffcoat Johnson, Miller & Company

General CounselBrad miller Fletcher Law Firm

Executive Committee

As major issues continue to clarify in Austin, the need for a healthy and active Perm-ian Basin Petroleum Association is of utmost importance to our local industry. Due to an ex-tremely effective membership drive the last half of 2010, the PBPA is financially healthy to the extent that the board has approved an additional staff position. This staff member will serve as office backup for PBPA President Ben Shep-perd, assist with legislative efforts in Texas and New Mexico, and maintain our current drive for new members.

PBPA will hit the ground running in 2011. Both Ben and I have been spending significant time in Austin working with the Sunset review

of the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC) and rulemaking by the Texas Com-mission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ). PBPA has adopted an early position of support for a fully funded RRC, and we are willing to discuss with the Sunset Commission and the Legislature the means of providing that funding to the RRC. PBPA also supports the current structure of a three-member elected Commission. Debate about the structure and funding of the RRC will be a major issue during the session (see our Legislative story, page 14).

Perhaps even more significant than the Sunset review of the RRC is the poten-tial impact of TCEQ air quality rulemaking. By the time this article is published we should have an idea as to the extent that the TCEQ rulemaking will be applied to the Permian Basin. I have traveled to Austin a number of times to meet with TCEQ commissioners and to testify in TCEQ rulemaking proceedings. PBPA’s position is that the current rulemaking has been necessitated by events in the Barnett Shale and should not be applied as a whole to the Permian Basin. The TCEQ rulemaking is over 1,400 pages in length and is the most far-reaching set of environmental standards to be applied to the Texas upstream oil and gas industry. Our argument to the TCEQ has been that rulemaking of this scope must meet the needed environmental standards in ways that do not cripple our ability to develop and produce the reserves of the Permian Basin. Operational standards that apply to the Barnett Shale do not necessarily apply in the same manner to other parts of the State of Texas. The Permian Basin deserves TCEQ rulemaking that results in best management practices for our types of operations and production. Work on the TCEQ rulemaking will be intense and ongoing during all of 2011.

We will also be hosting our first PBPA Day at the Texas State Capitol. This event is scheduled for February 14th and 15th in conjunction with Midland-Odessa Day in Austin. As mentioned in my December column, the purpose of PBPA Day will be to follow up the “Call to Action” made to our members. We will be introducing the attending PBPA members to the legislative process. As our work in Austin with both the Legislature and TCEQ continues, our members will be asked to offer their testimony before these bodies and to meet with crucial representatives and senators.

Finally, PBPA will also be offering to its membership an accelerated number and quality of seminars specifically in the area of environmental compliance. This will be to ensure that all PBPA members have the ability to stay up-to-date on all regulatory requirements. It is going to be a busy year, and your support of PBPA and its work is very much appreciated.

FromtheChairmanoftheBoard

Doug Robison PBPA Chairman of the Board


IMPORTANT! ADDRESS CHANgES!

It is important to the Association that the names and addresses of all members be kept current. Please use the blanks below to notify PB Oil & Gas of any personnel changes. Mail to: PB Oil & Gas, 500 Chestnut St., Ste 2000, Abilene, Texas 79602. Fax: 325-677-2631

Old Information:

Name ________________________________________________________

Position ______________________________________________________

Mailing Address _______________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________

New Information:

Name ________________________________________________________

Position ______________________________________________________

Mailing Address _______________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________________

FromthePresident

Ben Shepperd President

Happy New Year, everyone! New legislative ses-sions are set to begin in Austin, Santa Fe, and Washington, D C. One thing is for sure…there are many new faces to deal with all around. While that might be a good thing in several

instances, there remains a great deal of uncertainty regarding what to expect with respect to oil and gas issues.

Governor-elect Susana Martinez has hit the ground running by surrounding herself with great senior advisers. She has already demonstrated her willingness to revisit the “pit rule.” Although total

repeal of the rule may be unlikely and unwise, some “tweaks” are necessary.

It is also likely that legislation will be filed relat-ing to the recent New Mexico Environmental Im-provement Board’s decision to make New Mexico the only state in the Union to regulate greenhouse gasses. Another “pore space” bill will also be filed. At the end of last session, there was some general agreement on language that most folks were willing to accept. That legislation failed but will likely be the starting point for this year’s bill. You can also expect some of the usual anti-industry legislation this session as well. What’s different this time is we have a more business-friendly governor and Legislature.

Back in Texas, we have spent the last year ad-dressing two issues of primary importance to us: the TCEQ proposed new Permit by Rule and the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC or Commission) Sunset recommendations. These issues remain at the fore-front, even as the Legislature convenes.

PBPA Chairman Doug Robison and I have spent a great deal of time in Austin pleading the industry case to both RRC and TCEQ commissioners. Last month, TCEQ commissioners agreed to postpone final ruling on their proposed rules until this month. Furthermore, when they do pass a final rule, they will implement it in the Barnett Shale first and then the Permian and other parts of the state next year. They have also agreed to form several committees to allow more in-dustry expert input on some of the more technical as-pects. You can find a copy of the proposed new rules on the PBPA website.

The other primary issue is the RRC Sunset hear-ings that both Doug and I have attended. There were numerous Sunset recommendations that the PBPA Legislative Committee disagreed with, but the most controversial was the issue of RRC funding. The Sun-set Commission staff report states that the industry needs to pay its fair share to support the funding of the RRC. If the Oil Field Cleanup Fund is taken into consideration, the industry supports about half of the RRC budget. Additionally, according to the most recent data, the oil and gas industry employs 315,000 Texans, providing payroll and benefits of over $30 billion in Texas alone. The oil and gas industry is the largest taxpayer in Texas, and in fiscal year 2009 paid approximately $8.5 billion to state and local treasur-ies. The industry pays approximately $26,958 in total

PBOil&GasMagazine 7

Texas taxes per job, whereas the average business pays $4,769 per job. In addition, large associated cap-ital investments by the oil and gas industry generate significant secondary economic benefits for Texas. We will continue to remind decision makers about those economic realities.

That being said, industry may be forced to help fund the Commission by increasing fees. Should these discussions continue, PBPA and others will be active participants in determining which fees get raised and by how much.

The other Sunset issue raised would replace the three-member, elected Commission with a five-mem-ber, part-time appointed board. As proposed, three of the five commissioners could not have oil and gas ex-perience. The PBPA Legislative Committee disagrees with this recommendation. Although not always per-fect, the Commission has done a good job for the last 100 years regulating oil and gas in Texas. You don’t need to look very far for examples of states whose reg-

ulatory agencies are much more difficult to deal with.There are many other considerations regarding the

Sunset process, and we will continue to be very active on these issues.

Finally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service took action last month to “protect the dunes sagebrush liz-ard” by proposing it as endangered under the Endan-gered Species Act (ESA). Fish and Wildlife has also determined that critical habitat for the dunes sage-brush lizard is prudent – but not determinable – at this time. A 60-day public comment period will begin upon publication of this proposal in the Federal Register. According to Fish and Wildlife, habitat loss and fragmentation due to oil and gas development is a measurable factor impacting the species due to the removal of shiner oak and creation of roads and pads, pipelines, and power lines. This is bad, very bad. At this time we are still determining our course of action. We are doing the same thing with respect to the Lesser Prairie Chicken.

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PB Oil & Gas Magazine

MEMBER NEws

The PBPA Welcomes the Following:

Carter CopelandMineral Technologies, inc.Midland, TX

Carles GibsonOilfield Fishing & RentalMidland, TX

Reed Gilmore, Jr.Antelope Permian, LLCMidland, TX

Greg HughesCatalyst Capital CorpAtlanta, GA

John L. KennedyLPC Crude Oil, inc.Midland, TX

David LeeperLeeper Oil Exploration & ProductionMidland, TX

David LusterAcacia Drilling, LPSeminole, OK

Brady McConatyTabula Rasa EnergyHouston, TX

Mike McWilliamsBrowning Oil CompanyDallas, TX

Joseph PayneChesapeake EnergyMidland, TX

Phillip RogersMaximus Alliance Partners, LLCDallas, TX

Randall RossRandall Ross ConsultingSan Angelo, TX

Maner B. ShawShaw interests, inc.Midland, TX

Gene SledgeHG Sledge, inc.Midland, TX

Norma Viney-BurkeRalph H. Viney & Associates, inc.Midland, TX

For information about joining the PBPA, call the Permian Basin Petroleum Association at 432-684-6345. to view a list of the Permian Basin Petroleum Association membership, or fill out an application online, go to www.pbpa.info.

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Permian Basin Petroleum Association

February Luncheon

Keynote Speaker

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Thursday, February 24, 2011

The Petroleum Club of Midland

11:30 AM

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For reservations call: 432-684-6345

Email: [email protected]

Register online, www.pbpa.info. Log-in then go to upcoming events.

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Permian Basin Petroleum Association

2010 TOP HAND RECEPTION AND TOP HAND AWARD BANQUET

honoring

Former Texas Speaker of the House and

Texas State Representative

Tom Craddick

Thursday, January 20, 2011 The Petroleum Club of Midland

6:00 P.M. – Reception

7:00 P.M. – Dinner in the Ballroom Business Attire

Award Banquet Tables (check one): ( ) Top Hand Platinum $5,000 ( ) Top Hand Gold $3,000 ( ) Top Hand Silver $1,000

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Mail to:

PBPA

P.O. Box 132

Midland, TX 79702

Fax: 432-684-7836 Questions: E‐mail Nicole Osburn, [email protected], or call the office at 432-684-6345.


When the 82nd Texas Legislative Session convenes on Jan. 11, expect the oil and gas industry to be directly in the crosshairs of much of the debate. A week later, the 50th New Mexico Leg-islative Session begins, and the oil and gas industry will certainly draw much of the attention in the Land of Enchant-ment as well.

Texas Oil and Gas Association President Rob Looney claimed this year may present the greatest challenge in the 90-plus years of his organization, predicting the upcoming session of the Texas Legislature will be the “hardest session we have ever had.”

He acknowledged that the state’s budget shortfall will force the oil and gas industry to defend its tax incentives for drilling and enhanced oil recovery. Both the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), which regulates the oil and gas industry, and the Texas Com-mission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are up for Sunset review this session.

“We will have to defend the (Rail-road) Commission,” Looney stated. “Then we will have redistricting (the redrawing of district boundaries for state elected representatives that occurs every 10 years) on top of all that. It is going to be a killer session for every-body.”

PBPA Chairman of the Board Doug Robison, of ExL Petroleum, agreed with Looney.

“The Sunset Advisory Com-mission report on the RRC has some substantive, far-reaching proposals, including going from a statewide elect-ed three-member Commission to an

Capitol Boundappointed five-member Commission,” he said. “The state’s budget shortfall is estimated to be $25 billion. That will have a large impact on what the Legislature does. Then in the midst of all that, this is the year that the Legisla-ture has to do redistricting. It is hard to believe that they will be able to get all that done in 140 days. I would have to believe that a special session – or ses-sions – is a given.”

Railroad Commission Changes

The Sunset Advisory Commis-sion, which was created by the Texas Legislature in 1977 to identify and eliminate waste, duplication and inef-ficiency in government agencies, has proposed a number of major changes in the 120-year-old Railroad Commis-sion of Texas that the Legislature will consider.

The state’s five oil and gas as-sociations, including the PBPA, are gearing up to present a united front in fighting changes they believe to be detrimental to the state’s petroleum industry and supporting changes that they consider to be beneficial.

One of the issues which the Leg-islature will have to address is RRC funding, Robison said.

“There is unanimous agreement (among the state’s oil and gas associa-tions) that the RRC must be at least funded at its current level,” he stated, “and it needs more funding. The sala-ries of RRC staff are not competing well with other state agencies.”

Ben Shepperd, PBPA president, said there are two components to the

funding issue. “One is how to keep the funding

at current levels,” he explained. “We feel the Railroad Commission has been chronically under-funded, compared to the industry as well as other state agencies. With a $25 billion shortfall, how do we advocate increased tar-geted funding levels, such as improved salaries for field and permitting staff? And two, should the industry step up to the plate to increase fees to come up with the funding for the entire cost of the Railroad Commission? If you are getting run out of town, you better step to the front and lead the parade. All aspects of state government will be cut. Our regulators can’t stand any more cutting. The industry will have to step up. We are willing to do that if it is not too onerous, if it is fair, and if the targeted fees make sense.”

Even though the oil and gas in-dustry already pays billions of dollars in severance taxes, and “we pay more taxes than any other industry,” Robison emphasized, the state’s budget shortfall will probably force the industry to pay for the operation of the RRC.

The Sunset Advisory Commission report stated: “Unlike most regulatory programs, the Oil and Gas program at the Railroad Commission is not self-supporting. Instead, the program’s $52.5 million budget for fiscal year 2011 relies on about $23.4 million in General Revenue. Of the remaining budgeted amount, about $27.5 million appropriately comes from fees, fines and other miscellaneous revenues lev-ied on the oil and gas industry. In con-trast, other regulatory agencies have

industry Braces as Lawmakers Gather

PBOil&GasMagazine 15

statutory means to ensure fee revenues cover the costs of regulation. Modify-ing the agency’s method of financing to rely on industry-paid fees, instead of General Revenue, would align the Commission’s Oil and Gas program with most other regulatory programs in the state and provide the agency with needed flexibility to respond to industry changes.”

If the industry is going to volun-tarily tax itself to pay for the Railroad Commission, however, Robison said the industry should have a say in how that revenue is generated.

“The oil and gas industry is very diverse,” he explained. “We want to structure fees that are equitable. For example, if you had a purely oil sever-ance tax, that would primarily be com-ing out of the Permian Basin. I chaired a committee in 2001 that came up with a fee schedule that paid for the Clean-up Fund (which has $27 million in it to clean up plugged and abandoned wells and provide site remediation). It spread the pain among all segments of the industry. I see doing something similar to pay for operation of the Railroad Commission. If there is a consensus among the five associations, the industry will voluntarily pony up the money.”

Another recommendation in the Sunset Advisory Commission’s report calls for a change from three full-time commissioners who are elected state-wide to a five-member Commission

that is appointed – three by the public and two by the industry.

The PBPA is opposed to that change, Robison maintained.

“That would mean the major-ity who are appointed know nothing about our industry,” he countered. “We need a formidable, knowledgeable Commission. The RRC and the TCEQ have been effective environmental regulators. Texas has the healthiest oil and gas industry in the country. One reason Texas has enjoyed high levels of success in the oil and gas industry is that we have a healthy regulatory environment. If that changes and Texas is no longer a friendly environment for

the oil and gas industry, those rigs will move to the other regions of the coun-try where they have the most profitable opportunities.”

Shepperd concurred that having a five-person Commission to include three from non-oil-and-gas back-grounds would “stack the deck against how our industry works.

“We don’t agree with that,” he continued. “We think the elected struc-ture is the best.”

Among the many other recom-mendations from the Sunset Advisory Commission is changing the name of the Texas Railroad Commission to the Texas Oil and Gas Commission to

PBPA Day Feb. 14-15 in AustinThe Permian Basin Petroleum Association will sponsor “PBPA Day” in Austin Feb. 14-15 to give Associa-

tion members the opportunity to become engaged in the legislative process that impacts their industry.“We want our members to get involved,” said Doug Robison, PBPA chairman of the board. “This is a call to

action. We want them to bring the same intensity they bring to their jobs to the issues confronting the oil and gas industry.”

The 82nd Texas Legislative Session begins Jan. 11 in Austin.“We will try to meet with the chairmen and as many legislators as possible,” Robison explained. “It will be

‘Oil and Gas 101.’ We also want to show our members what a hearing looks like and ask operators to testify at hearings. I hope those who attend will be back later in the session. It is amazing to see the impact that it has on the Legislature when men and women who make a payroll everyday take time to go to Austin and tell their story. The issues facing the oil and gas industry are important, and we are trying to activate our membership.”

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“We have opposed a name change in the past because of the historical nature of the name,” Shepperd stated. “But in this environment, it might be warranted. A name change would give the public a better idea who regulates the oil and gas industry and who to call if there is a problem. We are OK with a name change.”

TCEQ Review The Texas Commission on Envi-

ronmental Quality is also up for Sunset review. Robison said he hadn’t heard much yet about the Sunset Advisory Commission’s recommendations re-garding the TCEQ.

“I know the TCEQ staff is work-ing with the Sunset Commission,” he noted, “and my understanding is the changes will not be as far-sweeping as the proposals for the Railroad Com-mission.”

He added that a strong state regu-latory agency such as the TCEQ is preferential to the federal Environmen-tal Protection Agency.

“The TCEQ is more responsive to the needs of the state than the EPA,” he claimed. “We are in favor of a strong, independent Railroad Commission and TCEQ to handle regulation of our industry.”

Eliminating IncentivesOther issues that the oil and gas

industry will be watching closely are the drilling tax incentives, high-cost gas exemptions, and enhanced oil recovery tax credits that some fear the Legislature might try to eliminate.

“We have incentives to promote exploration and enhanced oil recov-ery,” Robison said. “Since the Legis-lature is facing budget deficits, they are looking everywhere they can to tap into revenues. We need to defend the incentives that we can justify. The oil and gas industry pays five times more taxes than any other industry. They need to be careful about adding addi-

tional tax burdens. That will be the No. 1 negotiation.”

“There are concerns that they will try to take away those incentives and raise other taxes,” Shepperd added. “An-other issue is county mineral appraisals, trying to determine the market value of property that has minerals on it.”

Pre-filing of bills began in No-vember for the upcoming session. State Sen. Wendy Davis (D-Fort Worth) has filed several bills that could impact the natural gas industry in Texas, especially in the Barnett Shale play in the Fort Worth Basin.

Senate Bill (SB) 102 requires the TCEQ to conduct air monitoring tests to evaluate levels of air contaminants. It also amends the Health and Safety Code to allow for 5 percent of the money in the fund to be used for the clean fleet program and 5 percent al-located to the TCEQ for continuous air quality monitoring.

SB103 allows the installation, maintenance, operation, and reloca-tion of wastewater pipeline facilities that transport produced water in ex-ploration and production (E&P) that contains salt and other substances. If enacted, Davis believes this could re-duce truck traffic significantly.

SB104 restricts the release of gas in the air in counties with 1.4 million people or more, and gives municipali-ties the authority to adopt ordinances to regulate gas releases.

SB105 restricts the disposal of E&P wastes to the Ellenburger forma-tion or deeper from commercial dis-posal wells in counties of 1.4 million people or more.

Finally, SB106 requires pipelines to provide 60 days notice to a munici-pality of the proposed route of con-struction of a pipeline; the municipality would have the ability to approve or disapprove.

“There are proposals to enhance local government’s ability to regulate the oil and gas industry,” Shepperd pointed out. “Some communities want more ability to regulate. Cities have the

authority to regulate regarding health and safety, but it is not clear how much authority counties have or want. We are opposed to anything that takes regulating away from the Railroad Commission.”

New Mexico Changes Over the past few years, the oil

and gas industry in New Mexico has been battling what has been called an “overzealous regulatory environment” from the anti-oil-and-gas and other environmental groups that in some cases caused operators to pull out of New Mexico.

Shepperd is optimistic that is changing with the November election of Republican Governor-elect Susana Martinez. Republicans also picked up eight seats in the New Mexico House.

“There have been some positive changes in the last election,” he said. “Gov. Martinez has pledged to ad-dress the pit rule, and she has pledged to address the recently adopted New Mexico greenhouse gas regulation. Both the pit rule and the greenhouse gas rule were passed administratively. The governor and the Legislature will be taking a new look at those regula-tions. When that begins, we will be at the table. No one wanted to listen to us in the previous administration (Demo-crat Gov. Bill Richardson).”

On Nov. 2, the New Mexico Environmental Improvement Board adopted the New Mexico Greenhouse Cap-and-Trade Regulation, whose provisions are designed to reduce the state’s greenhouse gas emissions.

New Mexico is facing budgetary challenges, too, like Texas, according to Shepperd.

“All taxes are on the table,” he re-lated. “I’m glad we have someone full-time (Mike Miller) in New Mexico.”

Just as it is doing in Texas, the PBPA will join forces with other oil and gas associations in New Mexico to defend the petroleum industry in that state’s upcoming legislative session.

– By Al Pickett, Special Correspondent

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Legislative Lexicon Part OneThe Texas Legislature, like most organizations, has a specialized vocabulary and that vocabulary

may prove to be confusing to those unfamiliar with the legislative process. The ability to understand and clearly communicate within the halls of the Capitol, its chambers,

and its committee rooms can be crucial in determining a participant’s success in the legislative realm. The Senate Research Center offers this Legislative Lexicon to provide users with

clear definitions of many of the words, terms, and phrases used in the legislature.

Part Two will appear in our February issue.

Aact — Once legislation (a bill) is ap-

proved by both houses of the legisla-ture and the governor, it takes effect as an act of the legislature. It is a per-manent measure, having the force of law until repealed.

action — A step that a bill undergoes as it moves through the legislative process.

actuarial impact statement — A document prepared by the Legislative Budget Board that states the actuarial impact of any bill or joint resolution that proposes to change benefits or participation in benefits of a public retirement system.

adjournment — The termination of a meeting or session. Adjournment oc-curs at the close of each legislative day, with the day and hour of the next meeting set before adjournment.

adjournment sine die — See sine die.

adoption — Approval or acceptance of a resolution or of an amendment to a bill.

advise and consent — Process by which the senate gives approval to (con-firms) the appointments made by the governor to state offices, boards, and commissions. The house of represen-

tatives plays no role in the confirma-tion of gubernatorial appointments.

agency — A statutorily or constitu-tionally established entity which is authorized to act on behalf of and as an agent of the state and which is usually funded by the General Ap-propriations Act.

agency goals — The general ends toward which an agency directs its efforts. A goal addresses issues by stating policy intention. Goals are both qualitative and quantifiable, but specific goals are not quantified.

agency mission — The reason for an agency’s existence. An agency mis-sion succinctly identifies what the agency does, why it does it, and for whom it does it.

agenda, senate — An official daily pub-lication prepared during a legislative session that contains: (1) the intent calendar; (2) a list of senate bills re-turned from the house of representa-tives with amendments; (3) the status of bills in conference committee; (4) the local and uncontested calen-dar; (5) gubernatorial appointments reported favorably from the Senate Committee on Nominations; (6) committee hearings scheduled, with a list of measures to be considered by the committees; (7) the regular order of business, listing bills that have

been reported favorably from com-mittee; (8) senate floor action from the previous day; and (9) senate com-mittee action from the previous day.

amendment — Any alteration made or proposed to be made to a bill or section thereof, by adding, deleting, substituting, or omitting.

American Recovery and Reinvest-ment Act (ARRA) — A federal statute enacted by Congress in 2009 with three stated goals: create new jobs and save existing ones; spur economic activity and invest in long-term growth; and foster accountabil-ity and transparency in government spending.

apportionment — The proportionate distribution of elected representa-tives.

appropriated — Refers to the dollars or associated full-time equivalent positions authorized for specific fis-cal years, and to the provisions for spending authority.

appropriated receipts — Fees and other revenue usually collected for services performed by a state agency and reappropriated to the agency to help recover the agency’s costs for performing the services.

appropriations act — A bill that allo-cates funds for various departments


of the government. (See also General Appropriations Act.)

Appropriations, House Committe on — The house committee with jurisdiction over all appropriations, allocations, and diversions of money from the state treasury.

archives — See Library and Archives Commission, Texas State.

article — A major division of a bill or statute. Used in the general appro-priations bill to group agencies with similar functions.

as filed — The original version of a bill, as filed in the originating chamber.

assessment of agency performance — Semiannual and annual evaluations derived from analysis and interpreta-tion of data submitted by agencies and institutions. Assessments are intended to aid in monitoring the extent to which specific performance objectives are being achieved and in denoting significant trends, patterns, and emerging conditions.

author — The legislator who carries a bill in the chamber in which the bill originates is designated as the author; if the bill passes that chamber and goes to the other chamber, it is carried in the second chamber by a sponsor.

Available School Fund — A constitu-tionally created fund consisting of the distributions made to it from the total return on all investment assets of the Permanent School Fund, the taxes authorized by the Texas consti-tution or general law to be part of the Available School Fund (ASF), and appropriations made to the ASF by the legislature. A portion of the ASF is transferred to the State Textbook Fund to provide textbooks for chil-dren attending the public schools and the balance of the ASF is allocated to school districts. (See also Permanent School Fund.)

Bbase of reference budget — A budget-

ary forecast sometimes produced by the Legislative Budget Board (LBB) that projects the budgetary needs of Texas state government for succeed-ing fiscal years based on current law.

base period — The fiscal year, bien-nium, or other period that is the basis for budget or performance projec-tions.

biannual — Occurring twice a year. (Sometimes confused with biennial.)

bicameral — A legislature consisting of two houses, such as a house of repre-sentatives and a senate. In the United States, Nebraska is the only state without a bicameral legislature. (See also unicameral.)

biennial — Occurring once every two years; the Texas legislature has a bi-ennial regular session.

biennial revenue estimate (BRE) — Article III, Section 49a, of the Texas Constitution requires the comptroller of public accounts to submit to the governor and the legislature upon its convening a statement showing the fi-nancial condition of the state treasury at the close of the fiscal period and an estimate of the probable receipts and disbursements for the current year, as well as an itemized estimate of the anticipated revenue to be credited during the succeeding biennium.

biennium — A two-year period; in Texas the state biennium runs from September 1 of an odd-numbered year until August 31 of the next odd-numbered year.

bill — A document set forth by a legisla-tor that proposes to add to, delete, or change existing law or create entirely new law. Any bill may originate in ei-

ther house of the legislature, with the exception of revenue (i.e., tax) bills, which must originate in the house of representatives.

bill analysis — A document prepared by the Senate Research Center that accompanies each bill filed in the senate and any house bill considered in the senate, presenting in nonlegal language the bill’s background, pur-pose, and rulemaking authority and a synopsis of the legislation.

bill book — A binder placed on the sen-ate chamber desk of each senator that holds copies of senate committee reports.

bill number — A unique number as-signed to each bill filed with the secretary of the senate or the chief clerk of the house. Bills are numbered chronologically and a bill retains its number throughout the legislative process. For example, the twelfth bill filed in the senate would be num-bered as S.B. 12 and retain that des-ignation when moving through the house of representatives.

bipartisan — A term used to refer to an effort endorsed by both major politi-cal parties or a group composed of members of both major political par-ties. (See also nonpartisan.)

bracketing — (1) Language in a bill that is being deleted from existing law is bracketed and stricken through. (2) Language in a bill that restricts the applicability of the legislation to one entity or unit of government.

briefing document — A document occasionally produced prior to the beginning of a legislative session that provides legislators with an overview of functional areas and the major agencies within each function. Included are current funding and per-formance data, the impact of major

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legislative changes, significant ap-propriations request items, interstate comparisons, and selected issues by function.

budget document (legislative budget estimates) — A biennial document prepared by Legislative Budget Board (LBB) staff that contains fund-ing and performance data for previ-ous years, budgeted data for the cur-rent year, agency requested data for the next biennium, and LBB appro-priation recommendations for state agencies and institutions. The docu-ment is introduced into the legislature at the start of each regular session.

budget execution — Authority granted to the governor and the Legislative Budget Board to make transfers of appropriations between agencies and items within the adopted budget.

budgeted — Refers to the planned level of expenditures, performance, or number of positions for a particular fiscal year.

Ccalendar — A printed list of pro-

posed legislation that may be considered by the full house of representatives or senate. (See also daily house calendar.)

calendar clerk — A non-legislator officer elected by the members of the senate. All senate bills and resolutions are filed with the calendar clerk, who is the custo-dian of all legislative documents awaiting action in the senate.

Calendar Committee — See Committee on Calendars.

calendar day — A day of the year on which the legislature is in session. (See also legislative day.)

call of the senate; call of the house — A procedure used to compel the attendance of legis-lators who are absent from the chamber and to compel those members already in attendance to remain in the chamber.

called session — A meeting of the legislature other than at the constitutionally mandated time; called by the governor. During a called session, which may last a maximum of 30 days, the legislature may consider only those subjects designated by the governor.

capital budget — That portion of an agency’s appropriation that is restricted to expenditures for designated capital construction projects or capital acquisitions.

capital improvements — Building or infrastructure projects that will be owned by the state and built with direct appropriations or with the proceeds of state-issued bonds.

caption — A statement that gives the legislature and public rea-sonable notice of the subject of a bill or resolution. On a bill it is the first sentence of text.

caucus — A closed meeting of members within a legislative body.

certification estimate — A docu-ment certifying that the amount appropriated in the General Ap-propriations Act is less than or equal to the amount estimated to be available. This document is produced by the comptroller of public accounts to help fulfill the requirement in the Texas Constitution that the state not spend more money than it has.

chair — A legislator appointed to preside over a legislative com-mittee. The lieutenant governor

appoints the chairs of senate committees; the speaker of the house appoints the chairs of house committees.

chamber — (1) An official hall for the meeting of a legislative body. (2) A legislative body. There are two chambers in the Texas Legislature: the senate and the house of representatives.

chief clerk — The chief clerical officer of the house of repre-sentatives, custodian of all bills and resolutions in the house and responsible for keeping a com-plete record of their introduction and all subsequent actions taken on them.

classification plan — Schedule of position titles, job descriptions, and pay levels that all state agencies, with the exception of higher education and legislative agencies, must use in establish-ing and filling non-exempt posi-tions.

classified positions — Those posi-tions identified in the General Provisions of the General Ap-propriations Act that are estab-lished in accordance with the State Classification Act of 1961.

coauthor — A legislator autho-rized by the primary author to join in the authorship of a bill or resolution. A coauthor must be a member of the chamber in which the bill or resolution was filed.

code — A compilation of laws and their revisions according to subject matter, arranged by title, chapter, and section; the official publication of the statutes.

committee — A body of members appointed by the presiding of-ficer (lieutenant governor or speaker) to consider, take testi-


mony on, and make recommen-dations for the disposal of bills and resolutions. (See also con-ference committee and interim committee.)

committee charges — Topics or items which the lieutenant gov-ernor or speaker assigns to a legislative committee for study and recommendations.

committee clerk — A legislative employee appointed to handle parliamentary and administra-tive functions of a legislative committee.

committee coordinator, house — A legislative employee responsible for scheduling and posting committee hearings during sessions and interims and retaining the official minutes and witness affirmation statements pro-duced in each committee of the house of representatives.

committee coordinator, senate — A legislative employee within the office of the secretary of the senate respon-sible for scheduling and posting com-mittee hearings during sessions and interims.

committee of the whole — Either house of the legislature sitting in its entirety as a committee.

Committee on Calendars, House — A committee in the house of represen-tatives that schedules or declines to schedule bills for hearing by the full house. There is no equivalent com-mittee in the senate. The lieutenant governor has sole discretion to deter-mine which bills are considered by the senate.

committee report — Official release of a bill or resolution with a specific rec-ommendation that the measure pass, pass as amended, pass as substituted, or not pass. In addition to the recom-mendation, the report contains a copy of the bill; a bill analysis; a fiscal

note; a witness list; impact state-ments, as appropriate; and a record of the vote by which the bill was passed from the committee.

committee substitute — A bill reported by a committee in lieu of another bill that was originally referred to the committee for consideration.

companion bill — A bill filed in one chamber that is identical to a bill filed in the other chamber. Companion bills are used to expedite passage of legislation as they allow simultaneous committee consideration; a compan-ion bill that has passed one house can then be substituted for the companion bill in the second chamber.

comptroller of public accounts — The comptroller of public accounts, or comptroller, is the chief fiscal officer of the state, elected in a statewide election to a four-year term. The comptroller provides the legislature with revenue estimates and certifies that the budget adopted by the legisla-ture will balance.

concurrence — Agreement by the origi-nating chamber with changes made to a bill or resolution by the other chamber.

concurrent resolution — A measure that requires passage by both legisla-tive chambers and is used to convey legislative sentiment or to offer a commendation, memorial, welcome, or request for action by another gov-ernmental body.

conference committee — A committee composed of members from both leg-islative houses specifically appointed to reconcile the differences between the house and senate versions of a bill or bills.

conference report — A report to both houses of the legislature by the mem-bers of a conference committee ap-pointed to resolve the differences be-

tween the house and senate versions of a bill. Each chamber then votes to accept or reject the conference report without further amendment.

confirmation — Senate approval of gubernatorial appointments to state agencies, commissions, and boards.

congratulatory and memorial calen-dar — A list of congratulatory and memorial resolutions scheduled by the House Committee on Rules and Resolutions for consideration by the house of representatives. The calendar is required to be printed and distributed to representatives 24 hours before the house convenes.

consent calendar — See local and un-contested calendar and local, consent, and resolutions calendar.

constituent — A citizen residing in the district of an elected official.

constitutional amendment — A change to the state constitution. A constitu-tional amendment is proposed in a joint resolution and requires a favor-able vote from two-thirds of the vot-ing members of each chamber and a majority vote of the voters in a con-stitutional election to be adopted. The governor may not veto a proposed constitutional amendment.

constitutional limit — Any of three constitutional provisions that restrict amounts which the legislature may appropriate for expenditure. Article III, Section 49a, of the Texas Consti-tution limits appropriations to those revenue amounts estimated by the comptroller to be available for the appropriations period. Article VIII, Section 22, limits the rate of growth of appropriations from non-dedicated state taxes. Article II, Section 51a, limits the state’s expenditures to needy disabled children and their caretakers, elderly people, and people with visual impairments.

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contingency appropriations — Appro-priations contingent upon passage of legislation or upon certain conditions being met. For example: Contingent upon its moving from its current loca-tion, the Department of Health is ap-propriated an additional $400,000 for relocation expenses.

contingency clause — A provision in a bill that makes the validity of the legislation contingent upon passage of accompanying legislation.

convene — To assemble or call to order the members of a legislative body.

co-sponsor — A legislator who joins the primary sponsor to guide a bill or resolution through the opposite chamber after it has passed the origi-nating chamber. A co-sponsor must be a member of the opposite chamber from the one in which the measure originated.

council document number — The unique number assigned to each bill or resolution prepared by the Texas Legislative Council; it appears in the lower left-hand corner of the page.

criminal justice policy impact state-ment — A statement prepared by the Legislative Budget Board that estimates the policy impact of a bill or joint resolution that authorizes or requires a change in the sanctions applicable to felony or certain misde-meanor crimes.

current services — An estimate of the anticipated costs and funding neces-sary to continue programs at their present service levels without chang-es of policy or legal requirements.

DDaily Floor Report — A collection of

bill analyses for bills scheduled on the house daily calendar for floor debate

on a particular legislative day, pre-pared by the House Research Organi-zation, consisting of a digest of each bill’s provisions, background, argu-ments for and against, and additional pertinent information.

daily house calendar — A list of new bills and resolutions scheduled by the House Committee on Calendars for consideration by the house; it must be printed and distributed to the repre-sentatives 36 hours before the house convenes in a regular session and 24

hours before the house convenes dur-ing a special session.

dean — An informal term used to refer to the senator with the longest con-tinuous service. The current dean of the senate is John Whitmire of Hous-ton (in office since 1983; dean since 2003).

declared an emergency — A designa-tion by the governor that allows leg-islation on the subject so declared to be considered within the first 30 days


of a regular legislative session or to be filed after the sixtieth day of the regular session.

dedicated funds — Funds in the General Revenue Fund that hold revenue dedicated for a particular purpose. Funds can be dedicated either constitutionally or statutorily.

died in committee — The defeat of a bill by not returning it from the committee to which it was referred for consideration by the full house or senate.

discretionary revenue — Revenue not dedicated for specific purposes. Revenue falling into this category is generally deposited to the Gen-eral Revenue Fund.

district — The geographic region represented by a member of the legislature. Each district contains a substantially equal population.

division of a question — When the main question is composed of more than one distinct proposition, it may be divided so as to enable legislators to vote on each proposi-tion separately. Each proposition into which it is proposed to sepa-rate the question must be distinct and capable of standing by itself as a substantive proposition, so that either can be adopted alone without the other or others and still be an intelligible expression of the opin-ion of the chamber.

doorkeeper — A non-legislator of-ficer of the senate or house of rep-resentatives whose duties include controlling access to the floor of the chamber.

duplicate bill — A bill that is identi-cal to another bill filed in the same chamber. (See also companion bill.)

Eeconomic impact statement — A state-

ment prepared by a state agency, at the request of the lieutenant governor or the speaker of the house and in coordination with the Legislative Budget Board, that details the manner and the extent to which a proposal, if enacted, will affect employment in the state, affect the construction, modification, alteration, or utiliza-tion of any asset in the state, result in changes in costs of goods and ser-vices in the state, result in changes in revenue and expenditures of state and local governments, or produce other economic impacts within the state.

Economic Stabilization Fund — A special fund within the state treasury to which certain excess oil and gas production taxes are transferred. Money in the fund may be used by the comptroller to prevent or elimi-nate a temporary cash deficiency in general revenue, and may be appro-priated by the legislature in certain circumstances. Commonly known as the “Rainy Day Fund.”

effective date — A law generally be-comes effective, or binding, either upon a date specified in the legisla-tion itself or, in the absence of a speci-fied date, a fixed number of days after the final adjournment of the session during which it was enacted or after signature by the governor.

efficiency — A criterion used to mea-sure a program’s inputs relative to its outputs. An efficient program is one which uses the least possible re-sources while achieving its intended outcomes.

efficiency measure — One of four types of performance measures used in strategic planning. An efficiency measure gauges resource cost in dol-lars, employee time, or equipment used per unit of product or service

output. An efficiency measure relates agency efforts to agency outputs.

election — The method of choosing government officials through a vote of the citizens.

elements of cost — Categories of appro-priation and expenditure used for cer-tain institutions of higher education.

emergency clause — A provision in legislation that allows a suspension of certain constitutional rules regarding consideration of the bill or that allows the bill to take immediate effect. As a result of constitutional revisions made in the 1990s, emergency clauses are no longer used in Texas.

emergency order — See declared an emergency.

enact — To pass a bill into law.

enacting clause — A section of a bill required by the Texas Constitution to precede the body of each bill, reading as follows: “Be it enacted by the Leg-islature of the State of Texas:”

engrossed — A bill or resolution that has passed the chamber in which it originated is deemed to have been engrossed

engrossing and enrolling clerk (senate) — A non-legislator officer elected by the members of the senate to oversee the Engrossing and Enrolling (E&E) Department. E&E produces the of-ficial senate committee printing and the engrossed and enrolled versions of legislation that passes out of the senate, drafts and produces senate bills and resolutions, and undertakes special research projects.

enrolled — A bill or resolution that has passed both houses of the legislature is deemed to have been enrolled.

equalized education funding impact statement — A statement prepared by the Legislative Budget Board that estimates the funding impact of a bill

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or joint resolution that authorizes or requires a change in the public school finance system.

estimated — In an agency’s Legislative Appropriation Request, estimated refers to the estimated expenditures or number of full-time equivalent positions for the first fiscal year in the current biennium. Because these numbers are developed later in the fiscal year, they are considered to be more accurate than are “budgeted” numbers.

estimated to be — Used in conjunction with appropriations made in the Gen-eral Appropriations Act, the spending limitation established by the appro-priation amount is only an estimate and actual expenditures may exceed that amount.

ethics — The rules and standards gov-erning the conduct of public officials.

Ethics Commission — See Texas Eth-ics Commission.

executive order — A gubernatorial di-rective that carries the force of law.

executive session — A session exclud-ing from the chamber or committee room all persons other than members and essential personnel.

exempt position — A position that is exempted from the position clas-sification plan. Generally listed in the General Appropriations Act (see schedule of exempt positions), ex-empt positions are designated by the governor, under authority of the State Classification Act of 1961. Article IX of the General Appropriations Act establishes conditions for exempt positions.

ex officio — A member of a governmen-tal body who holds his or her position as a result of holding another govern-ment position.

expended — Refers to the actual dollars or positions utilized by an agency or

institution during a completed fiscal year and may refer to the total for an agency, a goal or strategy; an object of expense; or an amount from a par-ticular method of finance.

explanatory/input measures — One of four types of performance mea-sures used in strategic planning. An explanatory/input measure provides information to help users assess the significance of performance re-ported in other types of measures. An agency may have limited control or no control over factors addressed by explanatory/input measures, includ-ing environmental or demographic characteristics related to agency target populations. However, explanatory/input measures may also focus on variables over which an agency has significant control, such as staffing patterns for specific functions.

Ffiled — The stage in a bill’s legislative

process when it is given a bill num-ber and introduced in the legislature. House bills are filed with the chief clerk of the house; senate bills are filed with the secretary of the senate. (See also as filed.)

filibuster — The prolonged discussion of a bill to delay legislative action; filibusters are permitted in the senate but not in the house.

filing deadline — The last date on which the original version of a bill may be filed; set in the legislative rules as the 60th calendar day of a regular ses-sion, with exceptions.

Finance, Senate Committee on — The senate committee with jurisdiction over appropriations, allocations, and diversions of money from the state treasury and measures to raise rev-enue for the use of the government. These legislative functions are di-

vided in the house of representatives between the House Committee on Appropriations and the House Com-mittee on Ways and Means.

first reading — The first presentation of a bill for consideration, at which time it is referred to a committee. (See also second reading and third reading.)

fiscal — Of or relating to government expenditures, revenues, and debt.

fiscal note — A document prepared by the Legislative Budget Board staff that estimates the fiscal implication and probable revenue gain or loss from a bill or joint resolution for each year of the first five years of its imple-mentation and states whether there will be an additional cost involved thereafter. A fiscal note is required to be attached to each bill or joint reso-lution considered by the legislature.

Fiscal Size-Up — A biennial document prepared by the Legislative Bud-get Board staff that describes state agency operations and summarizes the appropriations made during the preceding legislative session.

fiscal year (FY) — A 12-month period at the end of which accounts are rec-onciled. In Texas, the fiscal year runs from September 1 of one year until August 31 of the next year.

floor — That portion of the legislative chamber reserved for members and officers of the legislative chamber and their guests granted privileged access.

floor action — Action taken by the full house or full senate on a bill or reso-lution reported by a committee. Floor action may include debate, amend-ment, and a vote or votes on final pas-sage (adoption).

formal meeting — A meeting of a house committee or subcommittee during which formal action may be taken on any measure before the committee or


subcommittee. Public testimony may not be heard during a formal meeting.

Foundation School Fund — A fund administered by the Texas Education Agency to pay for teacher salaries, administration, and educational re-source costs.

full-time equivalents (FTEs) — Units of measure that represent the monthly average number of state personnel working 40 hours a week.

function — A grouping of state agen-cies that provide related services; a function forms the basis of articles in the General Appropriations Act, e.g., General Government, Health and Hu-man Services, or Education.

functional goals — The general ends toward which the state directs its ef-forts. Functional goals address the primary issues facing the state within broad groupings of interrelated state concerns. Functional goals are found-ed on the statewide vision and may involve coordination among several agencies with similar functions.

fund — A constitutionally or statutorily authorized repository of revenue which is used for financing appro-priations and which consists of either: (1) an independent fiscal entity with a self-balancing set of accounts, e.g., the State Highway Fund; or (2) a category of revenues of receipts, e.g., federal funds.

Ggallery — The balcony of the legislative

chamber from which visitors may view the proceedings of the legisla-ture.

General Accounting Standards Board (GASB) — An independent organi-zation established in 1984 as a com-ponent of the Financial Accounting Foundation to establish and improve standards of accounting and financial

reporting for state and local govern-ments in the United States.

As an example, GASB recently established Rules 43 and 45, which require that all pension sponsors report the annual cost of “other post-employment benefits” (OPEBs) and that all pension funds report the spon-sors’ required contribution and fund-ing progress.

A majority of public pension sys-tems have been funding their OPEBs, which consist primarily of healthcare benefits, on a pay-as-you-go basis and were not calculating the total cost of these obligations over time, result-ing in an eventual funding shortfall for their healthcare benefits. Under GASB 43 and 45, public pension systems and plan sponsors must now calculate and disclose the future lia-bility (or total cost) of their healthcare benefits so that these costs are known.

General Appropriations Act — The law that appropriates biennial fund-ing to state agencies for specific fiscal years and sets provisions for spending authority.

general appropriations bill — The ap-propriations legislation as it moves through the legislative process and before it is approved and signed into law by the governor.

General Revenue (GR) Fund — The fund (No. 001) that receives state tax revenues and fees considered as available for general spending purposes and certified as such by the comptroller of public accounts.

general revenue–consolidated — Ac-counts that have lost their dedication of revenue and whose unexpended balances can be lapsed to the General Revenue Fund. Essentially these ac-counts have been completely merged with the General Revenue Fund.

general revenue–dedicated — Ac-counts that can be counted as general revenue but must be used for the pur-poses identified in general law to the

extent such funds are appropriated in the General Appropriations Act.

general revenue related funds — The General Revenue Fund, the Available School Fund, the Foundation School Fund, and the State Textbook Fund. Also referred to as “funds affecting certification.”

germane — The technical term for “rel-evant.” Amendments are said to be germane or non-germane to a bill.

gerrymander — To divide a political subdivision into election districts in such a manner as to give an unnatural advantage to a person, political party, or ethnic group over its opponents. The word was coined in the early 19th century by combining the name of Elbridge Gerry, a Massachusetts practitioner of the art, with the sala-mander one of his districts was said to resemble.

governor — The chief executive of the state; elected statewide to a four-year term with no limits on the number of terms

Hhigher education impact statement —

A statement prepared by the Legisla-tive Budget Board, after consultation with the Texas Higher Education Co-ordinating Board, that estimates the impact of a bill or joint resolution that authorizes or requires a change in the classification, mission, or governing structure of an institution of higher education or that would establish such an institution.

historically underutilized business (HUB) — A business in which at least 51 percent of ownership is by one or more persons who: (1) are so-cially disadvantaged because of their identification as African Americans, Hispanic Americans, women, Asian Pacific Americans, or Native Ameri-

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cans, and have suffered the effects of discriminatory practices; and (2) have a proportionate interest and participa-tion in the control, operation, and management of the business.

house of representatives — One of two bodies, or chambers, in the Texas Legislature. The house of representa-tives is composed of 150 members elected to two-year terms; each mem-ber of the house represents approxi-mately 140,000 Texans.

Iimpact statement — See actuarial

impact statement, criminal justice policy impact statement, economic impact statement, equalized educa-tion funding impact statement, higher education impact statement, open government impact statement, and water development policy impact statement.

inputs — The resources that an agency uses to produce services, including human, financial, facility, or material resources.

intent calendar — A printed list of mea-sures that may be taken up by a leg-islative body in a particular session. In the Texas Senate, a bill normally may not be brought up for consider-ation unless it is listed on the intent calendar.

interim — The interval between regular sessions of the legislature.

interim committee — A committee established to study or investigate certain matters between regular ses-sions of the legislature and report to the next legislature on its findings and recommendations for legislative action.

introduced — The version of a bill or resolution as it was originally filed in the house or senate.

issue docket — A document prepared for the conference committee on appropriations identifying the differ-ences of line item amounts and rider language between the house and sen-ate versions of the general appropria-tions bill.

Jjoint committee — A committee com-

posed of members appointed from both houses of the legislature.

joint resolution — A resolution which proposes to amend the Texas Consti-tution, ratify a proposed amendment to the United States Constitution, or request the creation of a constitutional convention to propose amendments to the United States Constitution.

joint session — A combined meeting of the senate and the house in the house chamber or elsewhere.

journal — The official chronological record of the actions taken in a ses-sion of the legislature; there is both a House Journal and a Senate Journal.

journal clerk — A non-legislator officer elected by the house or the senate to prepare, produce, and maintain the journal for that legislative body.

Kkey performance measure — A mea-

sure that indicates the extent to which an agency is achieving its goals or objectives and which is identified in the General Appropriations Act along with targeted performance objectives for each year of the biennium. These can be outcome, output, efficiency, or input/explanatory measures.

Llame duck — An elected official who

has been defeated for re-election or who has chosen not to run for re-elec-tion but whose current term of office has not yet expired.

last action — The most recent step a bill has gone through in the legislative process.

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legislation — A proposed or enacted law or group of laws.

legislative appropriation request (LAR) — A formal request for fund-ing made by each state agency and institution.

Legislative Budget Board (LBB) — A permanent joint committee of the Texas Legislature that develops rec-ommendations for legislative appro-priations for all agencies of state gov-ernment. The LBB is composed of two co-chairs (the lieutenant governor and house speaker), three automatic members (the chairs of the House Appropriations Committee, House Ways and Means Committee, and Senate Finance Committee), and five appointed members (three senators appointed by the lieutenant governor and two representatives appointed by the speaker).

Legislative Council — See Texas Legis-lative Council.

legislative day — The period from con-vening after an adjournment until the next adjournment. One calendar day may contain one or more legislative days; one legislative day may also span more than one calendar day.

legislative intent — The purpose for which a measure is passed.

Legislative Reference Library (LRL) — A legislative agency established to satisfy the reference and research needs of the legislature, its staff, and its committees. The LRL maintains a specialized collection of materials designed to support legislators in their work, including legislative bill files from the 63rd Legislature (1973) for-ward; books and reports on issues of interest to the legislature; documents published by Texas state agencies and universities; legislative interim re-ports and minutes from state agency meetings; and a state and federal legal collection which includes Texas reference books such as Gammel’s Laws, Texas Statutes, General and Special Laws of Texas, House and

Senate Journals, West’s Texas Digest, Texas cases from the Southwestern Reporter, Texas Register, and the Texas Administrative Code. Federal holdings include statutes from all 50 states, United States Code Annotated, Federal Register, and Code of Federal Regulation. The LRL is located on the second floor of the Capitol Build-ing, in the north wing.

legislator — An elected member of a legislative body.

legislature — The lawmaking body of the State of Texas, consisting of a senate and a house of representatives. (See also senate and house of repre-sentatives.)

Library and Archives Commission, Texas State — An agency estab-lished to preserve the record of gov-ernment for public scrutiny, to secure and make accessible historically significant records and other valuable resources, to meet the reading needs of Texans with disabilities, to build and sustain statewide partnerships to improve library programs and services, and to enhance the capacity for achievement of individuals and institutions. The Lorenzo de Zavala State Archives and Library Building is located on Brazos Street to the east of the Capitol Building.

lieutenant governor — The presiding officer of the Texas Senate. A mem-ber of the executive branch, the lieu-tenant governor is elected statewide to a four-year term; the governor and lieutenant governor do not run on a ticket together and may be from op-posing parties. When presiding over the senate, the lieutenant governor is the president of the senate and is ad-dressed as Mr. or Madam President; when not presiding, is commonly addressed as “governor.”

line item — An element of spending authority granted to an agency or institution in an appropriations bill. Literally, a line in the General Appro-priations Act specifying an agency’s appropriations for a specific desig-

nated use. In Texas, the governor may veto a line item.

line item veto — The governor’s author-ity to veto spending on a line item basis. Allows the governor to veto spending for a particular item without eliminating total agency funding.

list of items eligible for consideration — Prepared by the chief clerk of the house of representatives, upon request of the speaker, when the vol-ume of legislation warrants (normally during the last few weeks of a regular session). The list must be distributed six hours before it may be considered and contains: (1) house bills with sen-ate amendments eligible to be con-sidered; (2) senate bills for which the senate has requested the appointment of a conference committee; and (3) conference committee reports eligible to be considered.

lobby — The act of a person or group of persons seeking to influence mem-bers of the legislature for or against proposed legislation. (See also third house.)

lobbyist — A person who lobbies.local and uncontested calendar — A

list of bills that are noncontroversial or that apply only to a local area scheduled by the Senate Committee on Administration for consideration by the senate. The local and uncon-tested calendar is generally heard early on Thursday mornings during a regular session, and the calendar must be distributed to senators by noon the previous day.

local bill — Legislation that applies only to a discrete community or area rather than to the entire state.

local, consent, and resolutions calen-dar — A list of noncontroversial bills and local bills scheduled by the House Committee on Local and Consent Calendars for consideration by the house. The calendar is required to be distributed to representatives 48 hours before the house convenes to consider bills on the calendar.

82nd LEGiSLATuRE


Mmajor fund revenue — State revenue

within the funds affecting revenue (i.e., general revenue related funds). Also known as “available revenue.”

majority — A number of members that is greater than half of the total membership of a group and that has the power to make decisions binding on the whole. There are two types of majorities that may be required for legislative approval of bills and other actions — a simple majority and an absolute majority. A simple majority consists of more than half of those members present and voting. An absolute majority consists of more than half of those members entitled to vote, whether present or absent.

markup — The period of time during which the Senate Finance Committee or the House Appropriations Com-mittee makes changes to the general appropriations bill.

master list of classifications — A de-tailed listing of all authorized classi-fied position titles which appears in the general provisions of the General Appropriations Act, including job class numbers, titles, and salary groups.

measure — A general term for a bill or resolution.

method of finance — The term usu-ally appears as a heading for a table which lists the sources and amounts authorized for financing certain ex-penditures or appropriations made in the General Appropriations Act. A source is either a “fund,” an “ac-count” established by the comptroller, or a category of revenues or receipts (e.g., federal funds).

minority report — A committee report issued by one or more members that disagrees with the report adopted by the majority of the committee.

minutes — A document prepared after each committee hearing which con-tains the order of committee business and lists the committee members present at the hearing, the votes taken on legislation, and witnesses testify-ing for, against, and on legislation. The minutes are not a transcript and do not summarize testimony.

mission — An element of an agency’s strategic plan that describes the rea-son for the agency’s existence.

motion — A formal suggestion pre-sented to a legislative body for action by one of its members while the body is meeting.

Nnon-budgetary elements — Strategic

planning goals, objectives, or strate-gies created to convey an agency ac-tivity or service that is not separately and directly costed or funded. Non-budgetary elements are not included as a distinct and separate item in the agency’s appropriations request and may have measures which remain internal to the agency and are not re-ported on a routine basis to oversight entities.

nonpartisan — Free from party domi-nation.

number of positions (FTEs) — The total number of positions shown for a strategy, goal, or agency includes full-time exempt positions, full-time clas-sified positions, and full-time hourly and seasonal positions. In addition, it includes those positions which are not full-time regular positions, but are converted to full-time equivalents.

Oobject of expense — An expense cat-

egory used in an agency’s Legislative Appropriation Request covering

payments for a time or class of items. For example, “personnel” covers payments for the services of agency employees, i.e., salaries and benefits.

objectives — Clear targets for specific actions. These mark interim steps toward achieving an agency’s long-range mission and goals. Linked di-rectly to agency goals, objectives are measurable, time-based statements of intent.

omnibus bill — A bill regarding a single subject that combines many different aspects of that subject.

open government impact statement — A statement prepared by the Leg-islative Budget Board that estimates the impact of proposed changes in a bill or resolution on public access to government information or to the transaction of public business.

open meetings law — A law requiring government meetings and proceed-ings to be open to and accessible by the public, with limited exceptions.

open records law — A law requir-ing that all books, papers, maps, photographs, cards, tapes, discs, dis-kettes, software, recordings or other documentation, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that are pre-pared, owned, used, in the possession of, or retained by a public agency be available to the public, with limited exceptions.

order of business — The defined rou-tine of procedure in the legislative body each day.

other funds — Any funds not included in the other methods of finance (General Revenue funds, General Revenue-dedicated funds, and federal funds). Other funds include the State Highway Fund, trust funds, bond proceeds, interagency contracts, cer-tain revenue held in higher education “local” accounts, and constitutional funds (except the Available School Fund).


outcome measures — One of four types of performance measures used in strategic planning. An outcome mea-sure indicates the actual effect upon a stated condition or problem. These measures are tools to assess the effec-tiveness of an agency’s performance and the public benefit derived.

outcomes — Quantified results or im-pacts of government actions.

output measures — One of four types of performance measures used in strategic planning. An output measure is a tool or indicator used to count the services and accomplishments produced by an agency. The number of people receiving a service or the number of services delivered are of-ten used as measures of output.

override — See veto override.

Ppairing — A procedure for voting

whereby, under a formal agreement between two members of a legislative body, a member who will be pres-ent for a vote agrees with a member who will be absent for a vote that the member who is present will not vote but will be “present, not voting.” When two members are paired, the journal reflects how each member would have voted. Two members may be paired only if one would have voted “aye” and one would have voted “nay” on a particular measure or motion.

parliamentarian — An officer of the house or senate appointed by the pre-siding officer to provide the presiding officer with guidance on the rules of the house or senate.

parliamentary inquiry — A question posed by a legislator to the presiding officer for clarification of the proce-dure or business before the legislative body.

passage — Approval of a measure by the full body of the senate or house.

per diem — Literally, per day; daily expense money paid to legislators in an amount set by the Texas Ethics Commission.

Performance Report — A biennial document prepared by the Legislative Budget Board that compiles selected performance evaluations. The docu-ment is submitted to the legislature at the start of each regular session.

performance target — Quantitative performance standards set by the legislature in the General Appropria-tions Act.

Permanent School Fund (PSF) — The PSF was created in 1854 expressly for the benefit of the public schools of Texas. The Constitution of 1876 stipulated that certain lands and all proceeds from the sale of those lands should also constitute the PSF. Ad-ditional Acts later gave more public domain land and rights to the PSF. All of the proceeds from the sale or rental of those lands, including lease rentals, bonuses, and royalty pay-ments, become the corpus of the PSF. Currently, most of the principle assets of the PSF are in securities. (See also Available School Fund.)

personal privilege speech — A state-ment by a legislator that is not rel-evant to pending legislative business and that is in response to an event or statement that either impugns the integrity of the institution or of a member of the institution in his or her legislative capacity.

pocket veto — An indirect veto of legislation achieved by waiting until after the legislature adjourns to veto it, which prevents the legislature from voting to override the veto.

point of order — A question by a leg-islator to the presiding officer call-ing attention to a breach of order or breach of the legislative rules.

prefiling — Filing of proposed legisla-tion by members of the legislature prior to the convening of a session of the legislature.

president of the senate — The lieuten-ant governor of Texas is the president of the senate and is addressed as Mr. or Madam President. Any person pre-siding in the absence of the lieutenant governor during a legislative session is said to be “occupying the chair” or to be “in the chair” and is addressed as Mr. or Madam President.

president pro tempore (pro tem) — A member of the senate designated to act in the absence of the lieutenant governor; the president pro tem is that member of the senate who has served the longest without having previously been president pro tem.

presiding officer — The officer who presides over a deliberative assem-bly. The speaker of the house is the presiding officer of the Texas House of Representatives and the lieutenant governor of Texas is the presiding officer of the Texas Senate.

printing — Senate rules require that ev-ery committee report be printed. After printing, the senate committee report is placed in the bill book on each senator’s desk in the senate chamber.

privilege of the floor — Permission to view legislative proceedings from the floor of the chamber rather than from the public gallery.

prospective clause — A provision that defers enforcement of a bill or of a provision of a bill to a future date.

public hearing — A meeting of a house or senate committee or subcommittee during which public testimony may be heard and formal action taken on any measure or matter before the committee or subcommittee.

Lexicon Courtesy of Texas Senate Research Center

Continued in next month’s PBOG.

82nd LEGiSLATuRE

W W W . Z A C H R Y I N C . C O M

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brochure or as complex as strategic planning for a product

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meet the goals for your company.

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RIG COuNT December 17, 2010provided by

sOuThEasT NEw MEXICO

wEsT TEXas

County Rigs

County RigsANDreWs 37

BOrDeN 1

COChrAN 1

CrANe 2

CrOCKett 7

CULBersON 5

DAWsON 4

eCtOr 24

GAINes 5

GArZA 2

GLAssCOCK 22

hOCKLeY 4

hOWArD 9

IrION 5

KeNt 3

LOVING 3

mArtIN 40

mIDLAND 23

PeCOs 5

PresIDIO 1

reAGAN 18

reeVes 18

rUNNeLs 1

sChLeICher 3

sCUrrY 3

sUttON 1

terrY 1

tOm GreeN 1

UPtON 28

WArD 9

WINKLer 1

YOAKUm 2

TOTals: 289

ChAVes 3

eDDY 37

LeA 20

TOTals: 60


aCTIvITy REPORT

82nd Session of the Texas Legislature:

IMPOrtANt DAtEsJanuary 11, 2011

82nd Legislature convenes at noon.

May 30, 2011 Last day of 82nd Regular Session; corrections only in

House and Senate.

June 19, 2011 Last day governor can sign or veto bills passed dur-

ing the regular legislative session.

August 29, 2011 Date that bills without specific effective dates (that

could not be effective immediately) become law.

50th Session of the New Mexico Legislature:IMPOrtANt DAtEs

January 18, 201150th Legislature convenes at noon.February 17, 2011Deadline for introduction.

March 19, 2011Last day of 50th Regular Session.

April 8, 2011Legislation not acted upon by governor is pocket

vetoed.

June 17, 2011Effective date of legislation not a general appropria-

tion bill or a bill carrying an emergency clause or other specified date.

82nd LEGiSLATuRE


PERMIaN BasIN RIG COuNT TRENd yEaRly avERaGE

‘03 ‘04 ‘05 ‘06 ‘07 ‘08 ‘09 ‘10

400-

300 -

200 -

100 -

0 -

RIG COuNT suMMaRy MONThly avERaGE provided by

wEsT TEXas RRC dIsTRICTs 7C, 8, 8aJAN-03 101 JAN-04 113 JAN-05 171 JAN-06 188 JAN-07 220 JAN-08 260 JAN-09 115 JAN-10 188FeB-03 112 FeB-04 130 FeB-05 160 FeB-06 189 FeB-07 221 FeB-08 259 FeB-09 83 FeB-10 208mAr-03 116 mAr-04 136 mAr-05 160 mAr-06 198 mAr-07 224 mAr-08 266 mAr-09 69 mAr-10 225APr-03 123 APr-04 140 APr-05 163 APr-06 194 APr-07 216 APr-08 269 APr-09 67 APr-10 238mAY-03 120 mAY-04 151 mAY-05 170 mAY-06 206 mAY-07 217 mAY-08 289 mAY-09 80 mAY-10 242JUN-03 123 JUN-04 147 JUN-05 172 JUN-06 220 JUNe-07 206 JUNe-08 303 JUNe-09 90 JUNe-10 255JUL-03 117 JUL-04 151 JUL-05 172 JUL-06 222 JULY-07 219 JULY-08 314 JULY-09 96 JULY-10 274AUG-03 124 AUG-04 150 AUG-05 182 AUG-06 232 AUG-07 223 AUG-08 308 AUG-09 112 AUG-10 268seP-03 114 seP-04 147 seP-05 182 seP-06 230 seP-07 235 seP-08 307 seP-09 130 sePt-10 272OCt-03 113 OCt-04 153 OCt-05 178 OCt-06 226 OCt-07 246 OCt-08 287 OCt-09 144 OCt-10 292NOV-03 113 NOV-04 160 NOV-05 183 NOV-06 212 NOV-07 236 NOV-08 223 NOV-09 155 NOV-10 289DeC-03 117 DeC-04 150 DeC-05 178 DeC-06 223 DeC-07 235 DeC-08 178 DeC-09 175avG-03 98 avG-04 144 avG-05 173 avG-06 212 avG-07 224 avG-08 272 avG-09 110 avG-10 250

sOuThEasT NEw MEXICO JAN-03 46 JAN-04 59 JAN-05 77 JAN-06 76 JAN-07 60 JAN-08 59 JAN-09 32 JAN-10 43FeB-03 52 FeB-04 63 FeB-05 80 FeB-06 76 FeB-07 57 FeB-08 70 FeB-09 30 FeB-10 45mAr-03 60 mAr-04 65 mAr-05 81 mAr-06 77 mAr-07 56 mAr-08 66 mAr-09 23 mAr-10 42APr-03 65 APr-04 57 APr-05 82 APr-06 75 APr-07 49 APr-08 61 APr-09 21 APr-10 51mAY-03 62 mAY-04 63 mAY-05 76 mAY-06 76 mAY-07 53 mAY-08 63 mAY-09 25 mAY-10 54JUN-03 63 JUN-04 68 JUN-05 74 JUN-06 74 JUNe-07 58 JUNe-08 64 JUNe-09 28 JUNe-10 54JUL-03 59 JUL-04 70 JUL-05 72 JUL-06 76 JULY-07 60 JULY-08 65 JULY-09 32 JULY-10 54AUG-03 67 AUG-04 74 AUG-05 75 AUG-06 74 AUG-07 52 AUG-08 71 AUG-09 35 AUG-10 58seP-03 61 seP-04 76 seP-05 81 seP-06 77 seP-07 47 seP-08 77 sePt-09 34 sePt-10 60OCt-03 63 OCt-04 77 OCt-05 78 OCt-06 82 OCt-07 52 OCt-08 76 OCt-09 38 OCt-10 63NOV-03 63 NOV-04 74 NOV-05 72 NOV-06 71 NOV-07 58 NOV-08 52 NOV-09 43 NOV-10 60DeC-03 59 DeC-04 79 DeC-05 79 DeC-06 68 DeC-07 58 DeC-08 45 DeC-09 42avG-03 52 avG-04 69 avG-05 77 avG-06 75 avG-07 55 avG-08 64 avG-09 32 avG-10 53


aCTIvITy REPORT


When Zachry Publications dis-covered they could not obtain booth space at the 2006 International Oil Show in Odessa, and again in 2008, they began to look at the possibility the petroleum industry needed another networking venue but with a different focus.

They were right. A survey of industry personnel in the Permian Ba-sin indicated almost 60 percent thought a trade show would be beneficial to them. Zachry cre-ative minds looked at the Basin, the industry, and issues that would interest

many of the employers. Thus was born the first Burmass Tools of the Trade Exposi-tion planned for March 8-9 at Midland’s Horseshoe Arena.

“Part of the survey asked the respon-dents what topics they would be interested in,” said Becky Frost, conference organizer and president of Zachry Publications, based in Abilene.

“Safety and safety training were big concerns listed by many of the people who responded to the survey,” she said. Teach-ing companies of all sizes how to market themselves was another request that is be-ing answered in the two-day event.

Primary sponsors as of press time include Finley Investigations and Security,

Burmass Tools of the trade expositionMarch 8-9, Midland horseshoe arena

inaugural Conference to provide networking niche

and Mud Dawg/Mudsmith.“This exposition will be a good

place to showcase what we do,” said Tom Finley, president of his firm. A native of Andrews who chose law enforcement as his career, Finley knew firsthand about the theft problems in the oilfield. After retiring in 1998 from his 25-year law enforcement career, Finley started his investigation firm and recently added a security component. The office is located at 7500 N. County Road 1294, just west of FM 1788 between Midland and Odessa.

“There’s always been theft in the oilfield,” he noted. As the price of oil rises and the number of rigs increase, Finley expects to see a stronger need for his com-pany’s services. The private investigation arm looks into theft that has occurred, while the security division can place armed or unarmed personnel in an office or on a job site.

Mudsmith is a regionally focused independent wholesale and retail drilling fluids company located in Midland, said President Ken Goldsmith.

“Our customer base includes op-erators, drilling contractors, and cement vendors involved in the Permian Basin drilling industry. Now in our 12th year, Mudsmith has serviced more than 3,000 wells. However, there are many active operators in our area who don’t know us,” he explained.

Tools of the Trade will allow Mud-smith to get the word out about the com-pany in a one-stop shopping atmosphere, and that is one reason Goldsmith decided to sign up as a sponsor.

“This show offers an opportunity for service companies to connect with a broad range of decision makers who live and work in the Permian Basin region. Mid-land is the home of many of these decision makers.”

The large international oil show attracts hundreds of people and compa-nies, but it’s not the best atmosphere for Mudsmith to promote its services, he continued.

“Since we only focus on servicing the Permian Basin region, it’s difficult for a small company to stand out in the bigger national and international shows,” Gold-smith maintained, “and only a fraction of the attendees at these shows are interested in our service area. Our hope is to ‘make a bigger splash in a smaller pond.’ ”

Seminars at the First Annual Burmass Tools of the Trade Exposition are spot-lighting business promotion and safety improvement for employees and company owners.

The first seminar, at 3 p.m. March 8, will feature H. Jeff Warr, Ph.D., who will show attendees how to maximize their trade show ROI (return on invest-ment). He will start at the beginning of the process with pre-conference planning (to include booth design, ad buys and post-show promotions), take it to the confer-ence events with on-site lead generation and elevator speeches, and end with post-show measurement techniques.

Safety is the focus of seminars on Wednesday, March 9.

Two agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Al DiMarzio and Cory Richardson, will reveal the latest trends in theft of intellectual and physical property and offer practical solutions to minimize risk, reduce losses, and ultimately increase the bottom line.

Two sessions on H2S will allow for H2S certification by the end of the day. Heading those sessions will be Darrel Canada, president of Canada & Associ-ates Safety Training, a company based in Abilene with offices in Midland and Snyder. Following Canada will be Burt

Expo speaker Darrel Canada, president of Canada & Associates Safety Training

Expo speaker Burt Burnett, attorney with The Burnett Law Firm


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Burmass Tools of the trade expositionMarch 8-9, Midland horseshoe arena

inaugural Conference to provide networking niche

Burnett, an Abilene attorney who has rep-resented victims of oilfield accidents.

“We still don’t know everything about H2S,” said Canada, who has taught certification classes since 1998. “In 2000, I investigated the case of a man who had cirrhosis of the liver. We found he devel-oped it after drinking water that had been exposed to H2S. Some companies think they can do H2S training in an hour, but they’re not doing H2S certification. Some men think they are trained on where to wear their H2S monitors. They don’t real-ize that on a hot day, the H2S rises until it is at the level of their head. The monitor doesn’t need to be behind an ear or on a boot.”

Canada recalled the time he went to a rig site and saw an employee with a goatee.

“Employees can’t have facial hair and be on a site that has an H2S atmo-sphere,” he said. “For example, there is no tank battery that does not have H2S. So do landfills, sewer systems, fisheries and paper mills.

“There’s a big difference between H2S safety awareness and certification,” he added. “At this conference we’ll show people the difference. If they are not certi-fied, OSHA will be the least of the own-er’s worries after an attorney gets through with them.”

Burnett has secured settlements, both small and large, for many of his clients. At the Burmass Tools of the Trade Exposi-tion, he plans to relate how he identifies opportunities for his clients after finding holes and deficiencies in the defendant’s cases.

He works on two premises: to ensure the safety of employees and compliance with governmental agencies and regula-tions.

“All the studies show that if a com-pany dedicates its resources and time to safety, it creates a dynamic atmosphere that involves more productivity and profit-ability,” said the attorney with The Burnett Law Firm. “It’s a good place for everyone, from the workers up to the CEO. Once a

company is recognized for its safety mea-sures, people are attracted to it as employ-ees and investors.”

During down times in the oilfield economy, companies tend to cut back on safety education, Burnett continued.

“They don’t think they profit from spending money on safety education. But they need to continue their safety poli-cies,” he added. Burnett will also address

what items could be cut from a company’s budget instead of safety measures.

“We’re looking forward to a great first year,” Frost said of the exposition. “We plan to sponsor this exposition for many years to come.”

For more information on booth space or to register, go to www.burmasstools.com.

– By Lana Cunningham

Tuesday, March 8, 20113:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Exhibitor Training: Maximize your Trade Show ROI.

Speaker: H. Jeff Warr, Jr, Ph.D.From pre-conference planning and promotion (booth design, ad buys, post-show promotions), to on-site lead generation and elevator speeches, to post-show measurement techniques, Dr. Warr will help you stretch those trade show dollars to drastically increase your ROI.

4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Preview PartyCome early, grab a cocktail and wander through the exhibits. Catch a first glimpse of the wide array of service companies gathered for this event.

WedNesday, March 9, 20118:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. Breakfast in the exhibit hall

8:30 a.m. – 9:20 a.m. Protecting Your Assets; Real Stories and Prevention TechniquesSpeakers: Mr. Al DiMarzio, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Cory Richardson, Special Agent, Federal Bureau of Investigation.Next to work place injury, theft is one of the biggest threats to profitability for oil & gas companies in the Permian Basin. Special Agents DiMarzio and Richardson will speak about the latest trends in the theft of intellectual and physical property and offer practical solutions to minimize risk, reduce losses and ultimately increase the bottom line.

9:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. H2S Certification – Session 1Speaker: Mr. Darrel Canada, President, Canada & Associates Safety TrainingHydrogen sulfide is a colorless, poisonous and flammable gas found in many Permian Basin production areas. Identification and detection of H2S is a critical safety concern for people working in the oil & gas industry of West Texas. Mr. Canada plans to provide basic levels of training and certification for dealing with H2S situations most common in our area.

11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch – Grab a plate of BBQ and a glass of tea – take this time to make new friends and to catch up with the old.Sponsored by: MudSmith

1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. H2S Certification – Session 2Speaker: Mr. Darrel Canada, President, Canada & Associates Safety TrainingParticipants must complete both sessions to receive certification.

2:10 p.m. – 3:00 p.m. Guilty! The Legal Ramifications of Ignoring Safety TrainingSpeaker: Mr. Burt Burnett, Attorney, The Burnett Law FirmMr. Burnett represents victims of accidents. He has considerable experience working with events, companies and injuries in the oil & gas industry. His efforts have secured settlements, large and small, for many of his clients. He will discuss how he identifies opportunities for his clients after finding holes and deficiencies in the defendant’s cases and through his experiences will help you identify and develop methods to protect yourself and your company from making those same mistakes.

3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. Happy Hour! The bar opens for a mid-afternoon pick me up. Take this time to complete your tour of the trade show, enjoy some light snacks and great company.

Registration is underway for the 1st Annual Burmass Tools of the Trade Conference and Exposition. The show is scheduled for March 8-9, 2011, at the Midland Horseshoe Arena.

Event Schedule

Who should exhibit at this event?

Oil & gas companies that do business or want to do business in the Permian Basin. This trade show is designed to provide buyers and sellers the annual opportunity to gather and learn about new products and technologies, see old friends and take care of business.

With just over 100 exhibit booths available for this show – it’s sure to sell out! Securing your booth location this year will give you first right of refusal for future shows. This is your opportunity to get in on the ground floor and secure your position not only for this year, but future events as well.

Who should sponsor this event?

People who are looking to create a larger footprint in the Permian Basin market. We’ve designed a sponsorship package with different levels that is guaranteed to give you the biggest bang for your buck.

Complete conference information and the ability to register are available on the website, www.burmasstools.com.

eXhIBIT sPace sTILL aVaILaBLe. reGIsTer ONLINe @ WWW.BurMassTOOLs.cOM

Who should attend this event?

People who are interested in learning about new trends in the prevention of oilfield theft should attend. People who may be exposed to Hydrogen Sulfide in their work environment and need certification should attend. People who are interested in protecting themselves and their companies from potential injury-related law suits should attend. And finally, people who are interested in the oil & gas business, and interested in learning about the new technologies and products out there to help reduce costs and increase the bottom line, should attend.

***This agenda, including topics and speakers, is subject to change.


For the purposes of this publication, Permian Basin Oil & Gas, the Permian Basin Producing Area includes the majority of the counties in Railroad Commission of Texas Districts 7c, 8 and 8a and Southeastern New Mexico.

PB Oil & Gas Magazine aCTIvITy REPORT

*PERMIaN BasIN OIl & Gas PERMITs FIlEd / OIl & Gas PROduCING wElls / OIl & Gas sPud REPORTs By COuNTy November 2010

COuNTy PERMITs PROduCING

sPuds

FIlEd wEll COuNT

wEsT TEXas


sPuds

FIlEd wEll COuNT

NOLAN 8 796 0

PECOS 5 5,259 6

REAGAN 31 4,953 39

REEVES 14 1,090 7

RuNNELS 1 549 4

SCHLEiCHER 11 1,163 8

SCuRRy 7 4,338 3

STERLiNG 1 2,146 0

STONEWALL 6 867 0

SuTTON 5 5,791 4

TERRELL 0 586 0

TERRy 1 1,261 1

TOM GREEN 1 799 1

uPTON 39 4,716 36

WARD 15 4,180 10

WiNKLER 3 3,118 4

yOAKuM 5 4,467 9

TOTAL 588 121,399 451

ANDREWS 113 9,323 89

BAiLEy 0 0 0

BORDEN 4 883 1

COCHRAN 5 2,824 4

COKE 0 550 0

CONCHO 0 357 1

CRANE 5 6,422 7

CROCKETT 2 7,854 8

CROSBy 0 539 5

CuLBERSON 2 211 1

DAWSON 5 1,547 3

DiCKENS 2 249 4

ECTOR 61 8,957 39

FiSHER 4 581 0

GAiNES 20 5,065 13

GARzA 3 2,447 4

GLASSCOCK 37 1,789 27

HOCKLEy 11 5,433 6

HOWARD 16 4,554 7

HuDSPETH 0 0 0

iRiON 16 1,941 12

JEFF DAViS 0 0 0

KENT 2 749 4

KiNG 0 614 0

LAMB 0 158 0

LOViNG 4 1,000 0

LuBBOCK 1 577 0

LyNN 1 105 0

MARTiN 43 2,775 41

MiDLAND 77 4,528 34

MiTCHELL 1 3,278 9

* Indicates information not available

sOuThEasT NEw MEXICO


sPuds

FIlEd wEll COuNT

CHAVES 5 2,300 *

EDDy 40 12,033 *

LEA 19 14,389 *

ROOSEVELT 0 226 *

TOTAL 64 28,948 *

NOV. TOTAL 652 150,347 451

PERMITs PROduCING sPuds

FIlEd wEll COuNT


PERMIaN BasIN OIl & Gas PROduCING wEll COuNT By MONTh

12/0

9

1/10

2/10

3/10

4/10

5/10

6/10

7/10

8/10

9/10

10/1

0

11/1

0

1,100 -

1,000 -

900 -

800 -

700 -

600 -

500 -

400 -

300 -

200 -

100 -

0 -

PERMIaN BasIN OIl & Gas PERMITs FIlEd By MONTh

12/0

9

1/10

2/10

3/10

4/10

5/10

6/10

7/10

8/10

9/10

10/1

0

11/1

0

160,000 -

150,000 -

149,000 -

148,000 -

147,000 -

146,000 -

145,000 -

144,000 -

143,000 -

142,000 -

141,000 -

140,000 -

12/0

9

1/10

2/10

3/10

4/10

5/10

6/10

7/10

8/10

9/10

10/1

0

11/1

0

500 -

450 -

400 -

350 -

300 -

250 -

200 -

150 -

100 -

50 -

0 -

PERMIaN BasIN OIl & Gas sPud REPORTs FIlEd By MONTh

Rese

rve Yo

ur

Space

Today!

REGISTER TODAY @ W

WW

.BURMASSTOOLS.COM

March 8-9, 2011 at the M

idland Horseshoe A

rena


Living conditions have always been a problem for oilfield hands. Be-ginning with that first Texas oil boom at Spindletop and continuing until the present, the type of labor performed by oil and gas industry workers has, by its transient nature, created difficult living situations. How that dilemma has been dealt with over time serves as an inter-esting study in human ingenuity, which illustrates why “that roughneck don’t live there no more.”

The earliest Texas discoveries along the Gulf Coast during the first years of the 1900s set the tone for what was to follow for the next half century. Transportation had much to do with the situation. Travel distances during that era were limited because all local transport was either animal or human powered. Consequently, workers were forced to live at or very near their work sites. That created an environ-

ment dominated by small boom towns that sprang up adjacent to each new discovery. Most of those temporary towns disappeared within a year or so as drilling slowed and new discoveries developed at other locations, although a few did survive as viable entities.

The sudden influx of workers into those sparsely populated areas created oil booms where adequate housing was almost non-existent. That need was filled by every type of dwelling imaginable. Tents and half-walled tents abounded, shacks of every descrip-tion appeared, large and flimsily built rooming or cot houses developed al-most overnight, and a scene of general social chaos prevailed. But that never lasted long because new discoveries developed in rapid succession, and when work slowed at a particular site the scene simply repeated itself at some other oil discovery.

Out of this seemingly uncontrolled situation a pattern soon developed. Those towns already in existence when the boom arrived usually became per-manent regional supply and financial centers for the burgeoning petroleum industry. Meanwhile, those newly formed towns without an established infrastructure tended toward provid-ing oil boom towns with much of their wild and wooly reputation before they faded from the scene along with the boom that created them. A good example is Beaumont, which was a thriving regional lumber town when the oil boom struck. The town rapidly transformed into a regional petroleum administrative center while Gladys City, established at the Spindletop site only a few miles away, disappeared into obscurity. A little later Houston also assumed a leadership role as discoveries reached that area. Later

That Roughneck Don’t Live There No More

By the end of the Snyder boom in the early 1950s, the housing situation of oilfield workers was in a much more stable situation, attracting a more reliable worker in the form of the family man instead of the younger single worker who dominated the work force during those earlier booms.


Wichita Falls, San Angelo, Amarillo, Midland, Odessa, Tyler, and others be-came regional oil centers while untold numbers of smaller more temporary entities dwindled to a much smaller size or even disappeared entirely as the booms came and went.

Over time, as this process contin-ued, the type of housing also changed due in large part to a changing tech-nology and the need to attract a more dependable work force. The first seri-ous effort to do something about the situation developed early in 1919 when the Texas Gulf Coast and Louisiana Oil and Gas Association appointed a committee to survey living conditions among petroleum workers in the Gulf Coast region. They were appalled at the squalid housing available to work-ers in the industry and made a series of recommendations to alleviate the prob-lem. That activity marks the beginning of serious oil camp development by the major oil companies and most of the independents.

A year earlier one of the first big camps had already been built by the Prairie Oil and Gas Company at Ranger, Texas, but further construction on similar projects ceased due to World War I rationing of building materi-als. When the war ended in late 1919, camp building began in earnest, and during the mid-1920s camp construc-tion reached a fever pitch as drilling activities escalated in the Permian Basin and the Panhandle. The Permian Basin was particularly affected because the region was so sparsely populated as to be an almost uninhabited region where counties like Winkler with 81 citizens and Crane with 37 set the tone. There were so few towns from which to operate that the oil companies were forced to build hundreds of camps ranging in size from a few houses to those with more than 100 or more

structures. The largest of those camps had recreational facilities like baseball fields and swimming pools, and all of them provided an infrastructure that included water, electricity, gas, and all the amenities of a well-ordered city provided to company workers at a mi-nuscule monthly fee.

By contrast the contractors were pretty much left to fend for themselves in order to find adequate housing. Con-sequently tents and shacks clustered around drill sites in isolated locations became the norm for working man living quarters. A host of new towns that catered to the contract labor sud-denly appeared. Most like Best and Santa Rita (1924) have long since disappeared, but others like McCamey (1925), Iraan (1926), Crane (1926), and Wink (1927) have remained more or less viable entities. Those towns were stereotypical oil boom towns where all sorts of minimal housing represented the norm, and the shotgun house and the half-walled tent became the hallmark of their existence. Thus a pattern developed in the western part of Texas that featured raw new towns housing drilling rig workers and

other contractor personnel who lived under less-than-optimal conditions. By contrast those towns were ringed by modern, well-maintained camps that housed the oil company personnel. The difference in living conditions was dramatic.

As the boom situation waxed and waned over time, technological change in housing began to appear. One of the most influential aspects was the intro-duction of trailer houses, or house trail-ers as they were called in those days. The first mention of trailer houses in the oil patch came in 1936 when ad-vertisements placed in Oil Weekly by the Stephens Hiway Home Company of Kansas City offered 8-foot-wide models in 14-, 16-, and 18-foot lengths that provided “real comfort at little cost for field workers.”

During the 1930s those trailer houses began to make inroads in the oilfield housing situation. At first they appeared at drill sites where they pro-vided living quarters for geologists and petroleum engineers who were finally being accepted by the industry as a necessity of the modern oilfield. By 1939 when the Denver City boom

That Roughneck Don’t Live There No More

When the war ended in late 1919, camp building began in earnest, and during the mid-1920s camp construction reached a fever pitch as drilling activities escalated in the Permian Basin and the Panhandle.


developed on the northern edge of the Permian Basin it was described as con-taining large numbers of trailer houses. Denver City was one of the last old fashioned boom towns where shacks, tents, and other shoddy types of hous-ing predominated. But change was in the air.

With the advent of World War II in 1941, a general demand for oilfield labor swept across the West Texas oil patch when so many experienced hands were drafted into the military. To meet the resulting housing needs, the federal government stepped in and established a federally subsidized housing program for various industries considered to be vital to the war effort. Among those projects was a two-city block area in Andrews called Deep Pay Village. It consisted of trailer houses that after having their wheels removed were placed on concrete pads. Deep Pay Village was capable of housing 200 families, and it was filled to capac-ity immediately upon completion.

By the end of the war trailer houses were becoming well accepted as an efficient and economically viable housing choice for oilfield workers and especially the drilling crews who had to move so often. The last big boom in West Texas that approximated the early day phenomena was the Snyder boom that began in Scurry County late in 1948. Within a year of the discovery Snyder had grown from a small county seat of slightly under 4,000 to a city with a population in excess of 20,000 and growing by the day. However, it never achieved the notoriety of earlier booms like Borger or Wink or Ranger due to its already well-established infrastructure and to the different style of housing. It is estimated that 3,200 trailer houses were crowded into the town that housed largely family groups instead of single men. Thus Snyder never experienced the multitude of shacks and tents that characterized those boom towns that preceded it; the predominance of those trailer hous-ing units are generally credited with

preventing a general housing crisis that was one of the overriding factors in preceding situations.

By the end of the Snyder boom in the early 1950s, the housing situa-tion of oilfield workers was in a much more stable situation. That attracted a much more reliable worker in the form of the family man instead of the younger single worker who dominated the work force during those earlier booms. Better means of transporta-tion also had much to do with the situation. For example the Spraberry boom which came hard on the heels of Snyder never developed into a boom town frenzy. Although the discovery was located in the midst of the Permian Basin in a relatively deserted region some distance from the nearest urban center, no boom town developed. Improved roads and transport of the post-war period allowed workers to drive a maximum of 100 miles to their workplace and return home each day with relative ease. Consequently, both Midland and Odessa became the cen-trally located places where most of the workers lived.

Odessa, quickly gained the reputa-tion as the home of the workers, and Midland became known for its loca-tion as regional company headquarters. Housing in Odessa amply illustrates the changing structure of oilfield work-ers’ housing. In 1946 shortly after the end of World War II the town had only two trailer parks. Two years later that number had grown to 34, and by 1960 Odessa boasted 60 trailer parks hous-ing an estimated 10,000 residents. That was in a city whose total population stood at 80,000. Indeed it was a place where roughnecks who were tradition-ally prepared to move on to the next boom ruled. Additionally, both cities instituted major housing projects that assured a much more orderly future growth.

In 1956, 10-foot-wide trailer houses were introduced, and the term mobile home came into general use. It was in that same general time frame

that the oil companies began to dis-mantle their camp system. Once again technological innovation in trans-portation negated the need for those expensive-to-maintain camps. Families who lived there, many of them for 20 years or more, were offered the chance to own their erstwhile rental homes with little or no expense beyond pay-ing for having them moved to a new location off oil company property. That massive change in lifestyle was dif-ficult for many to accept as the realities of trading minimal monthly payments to the company for the responsibility of paying utility bills, property taxes, insurance, and general home mainte-nance costs came to bear.

Today there are still housing problems among oilfield workers as they follow the changing fortunes of the patch. But the hardships of the past have largely disappeared due to the flexibility of housing provided by mo-bile homes and the ability to establish a home-based living location engendered by the greater distances workers can travel to be at their work locations. Even the drill sites have a different look which sometimes assumes the appear-ance of small trailer parks where large numbers of mobile homes are clustered on the location in order to house the many specialists deemed necessary to keep a modern drilling rig operable.

So it can be truly said of the changing aspects of oilfield hands’ lives that it is proper to say “that rough-neck don’t live there no more.”

– By Bobby Weaver, Ph.D.Bobby D. Weaver, Ph.D., grew up in Odessa,

where he spent almost 20 years laboring in the oil patch before he finally figured out he was not going to get rich wearing a pair of greasy overalls. So he decided to go to college. As it turned out, going to school was so much easier than working for a living that he settled in for the long haul. Eventually, the people at Texas Tech Universi-ty gave him a Ph.D. in history just to get rid of him. After that, he put in another 25 years working in museums, where he built several oil-related exhibits and published a variety of articles on the history of the Texas oil and gas industry. More recently, he has been lecturing widely on life, labor and folklore in the oil patch. The year 2010 was a particularly exciting year for him with the publica-tion of “Hotter ’N Pecos and Other West Texas Lies” by Texas Tech University Press and “Oilfield Trash: Life and Labor in the Oil Patch,” by Texas A&M University Press. He can be contacted through his website at www.bobbydweaver.com.


Permian Basin NEws REvIEws

The state’s Sunset Advisory Commission, which reviews the needs for Texas government agen-cies, will consider eliminating the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), which oversees the oil and gas industry. The advisory staff proposed to replace the RRC with a new agency called the Texas Oil and Gas Commission with a major change – oil and gas commissioners would be appointed by the governor, not elected as RRC commissioners are now.

“Critics argue that elected com-missioners pose a conflict for the agency’s regulatory role, as the costs of a statewide campaign often rely on campaign contributions from the regulated industry,” the staff report states. “Compounding these con-cerns is the potential for voters and the public in general to be confused about the actual duties of the office given its outdated name.”

According to the Dallas Morn-ing News, the idea of eliminating elected positions irked some in the oil and gas industry. “Such a change is an example of growing govern-ment and a move away from the democratic process,” the Texas Oil and Gas Association said.

RRC Chairman Victor Carrillo also questioned the proposal. He said the chairman should be elected even if other members are appointed.

“Whatever its final form, I be-lieve firmly that it should be at least headed by a statewide elected offi-cial,” he said.

Sunset Advisory Commission members will vote whether to pro-pose the staff’s recommendations to the Legislature. (See in-depth story, page 14)

H

Approach Resources, a Fort Worth-based oil and gas producer, said most of its $100 million capital budget for 2011 will go toward drill-ing new wells in the Permian Basin. Technological advances have boost-

bounded somewhat in 2009 and have generally stayed in what the industry regards as a healthy, stable range of $70 to $85 for more than a year.

Approach’s ambitious 2011 plans call for drilling a net seven horizontal wells targeting the Wolf-camp, 19 net vertical wells tapping the Clear Fork, Wolfcamp and Can-yon Sands, and 16 net vertical wells that first will target the deep Canyon Sands and then be completed again in the Clear Fork and Wolfcamp for-mations in 2012.

CEO Ross Craft, who founded Apache in 2002, told the Star-Tele-gram the company expects to recov-er about 60 percent oil and natural gas liquids and 40 percent natural gas from the Wolffork wells. Ap-proach hopes to recover the equiva-lent of 300,000 to 350,000 barrels of oil from each horizontal well over its lifetime.

H

Kirby-Smith Machinery of Oklahoma City announced plans at the recent Permian Basin Inter-

ed oil production, while weak natural gas prices have sent energy produc-ers scurrying to the Permian Basin in search of more attractively priced oil and natural gas liquids.

The Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports that more producers are spending money in the Permian Ba-sin through acquisitions of oil and gas properties costing hundreds of millions of dollars. Apache Corp., Pioneer Natural Resources, Devon Energy, and Chesapeake Energy are among the active companies. Lease bonuses for mineral rights owners, once $150 to $200 an acre, are now topping $10,000 an acre in choice drilling locations, Midland oilman Jim Henry told the Star-Telegram.

“The Permian Basin is hotter now than when oil was $140 (a bar-rel),” Ben Shepperd, president of the Permian Basin Petroleum Associa-tion, said. “It may be hotter now than it has ever been.”

Oil hit a record $147.27 a barrel July 11, 2008, but plunged below $40 before the year ended. Prices re-

• Independent engineering

• Independent market analysis

• Independent energy team

• Independent local decisions

• Fast turnaround

Call our Energy Team today at 432.685.8400. We are uniquely qualified to be your Independent Oil and Gas Advantage for the Permian Basin.

LENDERJUMP TO IT

Left to right:

Misty ClaryVice President

Shane LouderSenior Vice President

Rick MitchellAssistant Vice President


national Oil Show to build a full-service facility on I-20 between Mid-land and Odessa to open as early as first quarter 2011. Glen Townsend, vice president and general manager, said it will offer sales, service, parts and rentals; shop bays; and a yard to store equipment.

Founded in 1983, Kirby-Smith sells, rents and services new and used heavy construction equipment and cranes. The recent acquisition of Continental Equipment gives Kirby-Smith locations in Lubbock, Ama-rillo, Abilene, Dallas and Fort Worth along with its existing locations in Oklahoma City, Tulsa, St. Louis and Kansas City.

H

Berry Petroleum Co. of Denver has entered into agreements with a group of sellers to acquire interests in properties on about 9,300 net acres in the Wolfberry trend in West Texas for a combined purchase price of $180 million. The properties are expected to add about 2,200 barrels of oil equivalent per day to Berry’s production during 2011.

Since entering the Permian Ba-sin in March 2010, Berry has accu-

mulated about 19,350 net acres in the Wolfberry trend. The $313 million of acquisitions in 2010 is expected to provide a five-year drilling inventory in the Wolfberry of 400 locations on 40-acre spacing with an additional 400 potential locations on 20-acre spacing.

Robert Heinemann, president and CEO, told the Midland Reporter-Tele-gram that Berry’s existing Wolfberry assets acquired earlier in 2010 are performing in line with expectations.

H

Concho Resources of Midland has acquired additional oil and gas assets predominately located on the New Mexico shelf of the Permian Basin for about $285 million, ac-cording to the Midland Reporter-Telegram.

Concho and Apache Corp. will be partners in most of the proper-ties, after resolving recent litigation involving BP America Production, with Apache serving as the operator.

H

The Railroad Commission of Texas recently adopted new rules for the underground storage of man-made carbon dioxide for facilities

that plan to store CO2 not associated with enhanced oil recovery opera-tions.

The rules adopted implement Senate Bill 1387, passed by the 81st Legislature in 2009, and amend the Texas Water Code and the Texas Natural Resources Code to provide for the implementation of projects involving the capture, injection, sequestration, or geologic storage of carbon dioxide. The purpose of the rule is to ensure that companies injecting CO2 into underground for-mations for the purpose of long-term storage use best practices.

The RRC said Texas’ rules pro-vide a framework to allow the state to lead the nation in developing a market approach to carbon dioxide management.

RRC Chairman Victor Carrillo said, “As an undisputed world en-ergy leader, Texas is uniquely quali-fied to undertake this critical task in defining the evolution of our energy future. We have in Texas some of the best geology in the nation for large-volume CO2 sequestration.”

The RRC rules are consistent with the U.S. Environmental Protec-tion Agency’s new rules finalized Nov. 22, 2010.

FROM THE RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS

The Texas average rig count as of Nov. 12, 2010, was 726, repre-senting about 44 percent of all active land rigs in the U.S. In the last 12 months, total Texas reported produc-tion was 351 million barrels of oil and 7.3 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. Texas natural gas production represents about 29 percent of total U.S. natural gas demand.

The Commission’s estimated final production for September 2010 is 29,738,198 barrels of crude oil and 529,429,553 Mcf (thousand cubic feet) of gas well gas.

The RRC derives final produc-

PB Oil & Gas Magazine NEws REvIEws


tion numbers by multiplying the preliminary September 2010 produc-tion totals of 28,153,714 barrels of crude oil and 488,629,029 Mcf of gas well gas by a production adjust-ment factor of 1.0563 for crude oil and 1.0835 for gas well gas. (These production totals do not include cas-inghead gas or condensate.)

Texas natural gas storage report-ed to the Commission for October 2010 was 455,184,728 Mcf com-pared to 458,359,717 Mcf in October 2009. The November 2010 gas stor-age estimate is 463,200,224 Mcf.

The RRC Oil and Gas Division set initial December 2010 natural gas production allowables for prorated fields in the state to meet market de-mand of 13,887,404 Mcf. In setting the initial December 2010 allow-ables, the Commission used histori-cal production figures from previous months and producers’ demand forecasts for the coming month, then adjusted the figures based on well capability. These initial allowables will be adjusted after actual produc-tion for December 2010 is reported.

FROM THE U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION

The U.S. Energy Information Administration expects the price of West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil to average about $84 per barrel this winter (Oct. 1 to March 31), more than $6 higher than the average price last winter. Projected WTI prices rise to $89 per barrel by the end of 2011, a $2 per barrel in-crease from last month’s forecast as U.S. and global economic conditions improve.

The EIA’s forecast assumes U.S. real gross domestic product (GDP) grows 2.7 percent in 2010 and 2.1 percent in 2011, while world real GDP (weighted by oil consumption) grows by 4.0 percent in 2010 and 3.2 percent in 2011.

EIA expects regular-grade mo-tor gasoline retail prices to average $2.88 per gallon this winter, 22 cents per gallon higher than last winter. Projected retail diesel fuel prices av-erage $3.14 per gallon this winter, an increase of 35 cents per gallon over last winter. Residential heating oil prices average $3.17 per gallon this winter.

In 2011 higher crude oil prices combined with higher refiner mar-gins push annual average prices for motor gasoline to $3.00 and diesel fuel to $3.23 per gallon.

Natural gas working inventories end November 2010 at 3.8 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), slightly less than last year’s record-setting level for the end of November. The projected Henry Hub natural gas spot price averages $4.37 per million Btu (MMBtu) for 2010, a $0.42-per-MMBtu increase over the 2009 average. EIA expects the Henry Hub spot price to average $4.33 per MMBtu in 2011.

EIA expects average household expenditures for space-heating fu-els to total $962 this winter, about the same as last year. EIA projects higher expenditures for heating oil and propane, but lower expenditures for natural gas and electricity. This forecast reflects higher prices for all the fuels, although electricity prices increase by only 1 percent.

However, a forecast of milder weather than last winter in all the regions except the Northeast leads to lower fuel consumption in those areas.

EIA projects an increase of 3.9 percent in 2010 for U.S. CO2 emis-sions from fossil fuels, which fell by 7.0 percent in 2009. In 2011 project-ed CO2 emissions remain relatively flat as the increase in emissions from growth in petroleum consumption is offset by a decline in emissions from natural gas and coal because of re-duced summer electricity use based on a projected milder summer.

– Compiled by Garner Roberts

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PPDC 2011 January-February Classes Midland College

Petroleum Professional Development Center Courses

To register and to see the complete schedule, go to the PPDC website: www.midland.edu/ppdc or call 432-683-2832.

C02 SchoolInstructor: Stephen Melzer, Robert Trentham, Ph.D.;

Robert D. KikerJanuary 24-27, Mon-Thu, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$1,895; Out of State, $1,920Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Well Control SchoolInstructor: Larry ChapmanJanuary 24-27,

Mon-Wed, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm; Thu, 8:00 am - 12:00

$700; Out of State, $725Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

SQL - Application to Oil/Gas Relational DatabasesInstructor: Celia PayneJanuary 25, Tue, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm$195; Out of State, $220Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Conventional Arrangements for Exploration, Development, and ProductionInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldJanuary 26-27, Wed-Thu, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$410; Out of State, $435Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

understanding and Effectively Settling Surface Damage ClaimsInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldJanuary 28, Fri, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$250; Out of State, $275Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Land Personnel and the Effective use of Due Diligence in the Acquisition and Divestiture of Oil and Gas PropertiesInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldJanuary 29, Sat, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$250; Out of State, $275Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Managing Sucker Rod Lift Well FailuresInstructor: Kent GantzFebruary 3, Thu, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$195, Out of State, $220Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

An Overview of Oil and Gas ProductionInstructor: John RoamFebruary 8-9; Tue-Wed, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$430; Out of State, $455Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

iHS: Overview of Power ToolsInstructor: Danielle HarrisFebruary 8, Tue, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$215; Out of State, $240Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Polymer Gels for Conformance-improvement Treatments: What it Takes to Be SuccessfulInstructor: Randy SerightFebruary 15, Tue, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$300; Out of State, $325Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

The Oilfield from Planning to PluggingInstructor: T.E. GillFebruary 15-16, Tue-Wed, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$430; Out of State, $455Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Operating and Other Agreements Among Production Owners: Developing the Prospect After the Test Well - nEWInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldFebruary 16, Wed, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$250; Out of State, $275Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Economic and Financial Methods and Successful use of Hedging in the Oil Patch - nEWInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldFebruary 16, Thu, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$250; Out of State, $275Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Oil and Gas Law for the Petroleum industry: Critical ConceptsInstructor: Dr. Patrick FitzgeraldFebruary 18-19, Fri-Sat, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$410; Out of State, $435Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

PETRAInstructor: Greg HinterlongFebruary 17-18, Thu-Fri, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$625; Out of State, $650Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

An introduction to Coiled TubingInstructor: Jeff HarrisFebruary 17, Thu, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$195; Out of State, $220Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Seismic Exploration for Non-GeophysicistsRegistration Deadline: February 8thInstructor: Bill Nickerson, Ph.D.February 22-24, Tue-Thu, 8:30 am - 4:30 pm$1,575; Out of State, $1,600Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

OFM introductionInstructor: Celia PayneFebruary 22-23, Tue-Wed, 8:00 am - 4:00 pm$870; Out of State, $895Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Natural Fractures in Hydrocarbon ReservoirsInstructors: Dr. John C. Lorenz and Scott CooperFebruary 28-March 1, Mon-Tue, 8:00 am - 5:00 pm$765; Out of State, $790Midland College PPDC Building, 105 W. Illinois

Midland College is an Equal Opportunity Employer/Educator. Midland College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of

Colleges and Schools to award certificates and associate and baccalaureate degrees. Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500

for questions about the accreditation of Midland College.

Permian Basin TRaINING & EduCaTION

current schools Gauging, Testing, and Running of Lease Tanks February 9–10, 2011 February 10–11, 2011

ValvePro® Certified Valve Maintenance Technician March 7–11, 2011 Natural Gas Measurement–Fundamentals March 14–16, 2011 Natural Gas Measurement–Design/Application/Inspection March 17–18, 2011 Petroleum Fundamentals April 18–22, 2011

Elementary Drilling May 9–13, 2011

Field Handling of Natural Gas May 16–20, 2011

Serving the oil and gas industry as a leading training provider since 1944.

PeteX West teXas training centerthe university of teXas at austin Permian Basin CamPusFor more information call 800.687.7052 or email [email protected].

the university of teXas at austin

West teXas training center®

View course schedule at www.utexas.edu/ce/petex

Reserve YourSpace Today!

REGISTER TODAY @ WWW.BURMASSTOOLS.COMMarch 8-9, 2011 at the Midland Horseshoe Arena


Back in the Day

Renfrow No. 13 in Bartlesville, Oklahoma in January 1905. Photograph by Drum.

Photo courtesy of The Petroleum Museum, James Flowers Collection.”

www.petroleummuseum.org

January Calendar of events

lunCh and leCtureThursday, January 20, 2011

Dr. Eileen Piwetz

“Out of Africa: An African

Photographic Safari”

11:30 a.m.Dessert and drink provided,

bring a brown bag lunch.


advERTIsING INdEX

2011PBPACalendar Jan. 11 82nd Texas Legislative Session Begins

Jan. 18 50th New Mexico Legislative Session Begins

Jan. 20 Top Hand Award BanquetPetroleum Club of midland

Feb. 14-15 PBPA Day & Midland - Odessa Day at the CapitolAustin, texas

Feb. 24 Membership Luncheon11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Mar. 24 Membership Luncheon11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Mar. 28-30 Executive Oil Conferencemidland Center

Apr. 21 BOD Meeting11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Apr. 25 PBPA Annual Golf TournamentGreen tree Country Club, midland

May 19 New Mexico Legislative Session Ends

May 30 Texas Legislative Session Ends

June 10 PBPA Annual Sporting Clay ShootWindwalker Farms, midland

July 21 BOD Meeting11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Sept. 15 Membership Luncheon11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Oct. 12 BOD Meeting5:30 pmPetroleum museum

Oct. 12-13 PBPA Annual MeetingPetroleum museum/Petroleum Club of midland

Nov. 17 Membership Luncheon11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Dec. 15 BOD Meeting11:30 amPetroleum Club of midland

Anvil International Inc. ..................11

Arthur J. Gallagher risk management .....................10

AsCO .........................................BC

Burmass Directory ....................8, 33

Burmass tools expo .....34-35, 37, 46

Community National Bank ............41

Control microsystems, Inc. ..............7

eC tools and supply .....................13

Lawrence hall ................................5

University of texas - Petroleum extension services (PeteX) .........45

rig testers ....................................15

smith Pipe of Abilene ...................42

snelling staffing services ..............43

tarpon Pipe & supply ...................10

texas mutual Insurance Co. ...........21

United Filtration ...........................25

UPCO, Inc. ....................................8

Wellkeeper, Inc. .............................2

Zachry Publications ......................29

Join PBPA today!

You’ll find our Membership Application Form

on page 9.

PRSRT STDU.S. Postage

PAIDPermit No. 1467Fort Worth, TX

We sell, rent, lease, RPO, long term lease and finance new and used equipment. As the authorized dealer for many lines of major construction machinery, material handling equipment and

contractor supplies we provide full warranty and service support for each!

Lubbock, TX 2102 E. Slaton Rd 806-745-2000Amarillo, TX 7576 I40 East 806-372-8386Odessa, TX 3412 Kermit Hwy 432-337-2823Perryton, TX 2604 S. Main 806-435-7773

Midland, TX 1200 Cotton Flats Rd 432-685-9999Clovis, NM 108 S. Maple St. 575-742-2726Wichita Falls, TX 2900 Henry S. Grace Hwy 940-687-2726Dalhart, TX 12400 U. S. Hwy 385 806-244-1840

Abilene, TX 3010 S. Treadaway Blvd 325-698-2726San Angelo, TX 700 Knickerbocker Rd 325-655-5666San Antonio, TX 4146 IH-10 East 210-333-8000Manor (Austin), TX 12805 Hwy 290 East 512-272-8922

Toll Free: 800-687-0008Website: www.ascoeq.com

With Offices to serve you in 12 locations from Eastern New Mexico to South Texas:

Not authorized dealer for all lines at all locations. Not all lines available at all locations.

pbog january

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