.The Texas Energy Report

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.The Texas Energy Report

RRC Commissioners Assess $800,000 in Penalties: RRC

May 10, 2020

AUSTIN – The Railroad Commission of Texas assessed $801,781 in fines involving 146 enforcement dockets against operators and businesses at the Commissioners’ Conference on May 5. The Commission has primary oversight and enforcement of the state’s oil and gas industry and intrastate pipeline safety.

Twenty-one dockets involved$386,847 in penalties after operators failed to appear at Commission enforcement proceedings. Details on these Master Default Orders can be found on the RRC website here.

Operators were ordered to come into compliance with Commission rules and assessed $137,934 for oil and gas, LP-Gas or pipeline safety rule violations. Pipeline operators and excavators were assessed $277,000 for violations of the Commission’s Pipeline Damage Prevention rules. Details on all these Master Agreed Orders can be found on the RRC website here.

In the absence of timely motions for rehearing, decisions are final as stated in these final orders….
 

Railroad Commission Launches Drone Program to Enhance Emergency Response: RRC

May 10, 2020

Taking advantage of 21st century technology, the Railroad Commission of Texas launched a statewide drone inspection team last month. Drones will help inspectors to quickly respond and inspect sites that are unsafe or inaccessible during emergencies such as fires, flooding and other natural disasters. Drones can also assist in situations, such as the current COVID-19 pandemic, where they provide an alternative to in-person inspections…..
 

Report: COVID & the New Norm

May 17, 2020

The wide economic and narrower energy crises aside, we’re all trying to come to terms with professional, personal and economic uncertainties both in the present and the future as a pandemic continues to sweep America.

Let’s try to remove politics for a few moments to come to a clearer picture of both. I’m not an expert, I’m a reporter and researcher doing my job.

 

The Latest On SARS-CoV-2

 

The name of the virus is SARS-CoV-2, while the sickness it engenders is called COVID-19. Those are the names given it by the World Health Organization.

We are easily misled by the “latest” number of virus cases, but they needn’t be alarming. There is a false impression that today’s “new number of cases” is a reliable and very useful metric and is being reported with up-to-the-minute stats daily.. However, some of the positive tests could be days old, considering how long it takes between the time someone is tested and the time news of that test is reported.

Virus case counts are estimates, are totally reliant on health care reporting (which can be spotty during a health emergency such as this, of course) and there are false (positive or negative) or misdiagnosed or misapplied SARS-CoV-2 tests Do not take daily “new case” numbers as entirely reliable and they are easily manipulated for political goals. See Nate Silver early on in the crisis.

Most important, though, the number of new cases is not a direct indicator — “new cases” generally means “the latest count of positive test results,” which could still be days old and certainly does not show the number of cases in the US. And it’s no indicator at all of how many people in any one area have been exposed to the virus.

A Stanford study from a month indicated that the number of actual infections could be “50 to 85 times more common than official figures indicated.”

(Note: “To give one example, Connecticut has done about twice as many tests per capita as Texas. Yet both states have roughly the same number of positive test results, despite the latter testing far fewer people per capita. Such a high positive test rate suggests that the real number of cases may be much larger than the official count.” — Vox)

Even the death tolls are subject to skepticism by the public. Certainly the “excess death numbers” are.

There are growing indications that the virus may have arrived in America before we even thought it was here, in California, in Texas,

The SARS-CoV-2 is an unprecedented phenomenon in the modern world because so little is understood about its workings and so little is understood in coping with it. (“What we are doing are really old-fashioned public health measures. We’re actually hiding from the virus by doing these social distancing measures, hoping to buy time to a point where a vaccine may be ready.”)

There appears to be a lot we do not know about this virus, including whether there is more than one strain.

There is no consensus over whether the virus is natural or man-made. There is no conclusive proof that it occurred naturally. There is no conclusive proof that it was man-made. Investigations are continuing. Wide discussion of the issue was driven by accusations made by both the United States and China. Those of good faith who worry about the virus being “man-made” apparently do not necessarily believe it was released as a bio-weapon.

Doctors, nurses and hospital administrators in addition to politicians have had to make situational decisions about handling the virus and its subsequent effects on society, decisions often with few facts to rely on. Blaming people for any aspect of this worldwide emergency is not productive.

Doctors and researchers are continually finding unexpected and at times devastating effects from the virus. And increased ways to catch it.

Newspapers, video and radio have for years distorted the importance of medical and scientific studies, implying that the conclusion of a single study is a pronouncement of drug or procedure effectiveness when in actuality it is simply part of an ongoing process of experiment and discovery.

There is no consensus among doctors and researchers over the use of medications to help patients fight the virus. It’s just too early in the fight, but physicians should be lauded for willingness to try anything pre-tested for safety that might save patients’ lives.

Hydroychloroquine is just one among medications are being tested each day for use against the virus. Despite negative pronouncements by some, hydroxichloroquine (which is available as a cheap generic and has a long history) is still being tested and widely used along with antibiotics to help battle the virus and appears to be effective when administered as early as possible.

A new National Institutes of Health study is underway. The drug is proven safe for most patients in fighting three illnesses (malaria, lupus, arthritis), so labeling it “unproven” may be misleading…….
 

Austin TV Series On Pipelines Falls Short on Facts: IPAA

May 6, 2020

Local Austin news station KXAN released an investigative series titled “Pipeline Exposed,” which is focused on pipeline safety during the construction process. While the three-part series specifically discusses the Permian Highway Pipeline, a 430-mile natural gas line running from the Permian Basin to the Texas Gulf Coast, the segments include many inaccuracies about the nature and safety of pipeline coating.

Let’s set the record straight on pipeline coating….
 

TXOGA Statement on Proration and Blue Ribbon Task Force Recommendations

A statement from Todd Staples, president of the Texas Oil & Gas Association:

“We are pleased that the Railroad Commission will not be pursuing proration because that approach would have made matters worse. The market is a much better arbiter of production than artificial government mandates. There are, however, solutions the Commission can adopt that will be helpful as operators weather this economic crisis. As a member of the Railroad Commission’s Blue Ribbon Task Force for Oil Economic Recovery, TXOGA welcomed the opportunity to work with other industry leaders to make comprehensive recommendations to the Commission on regulatory, operational, legal, and tax solutions that can allow Texas producers to recover within the context of the free market. We are encouraged that the Commission today adopted some of the recommendations and believe their action will be meaningful to maintain jobs for employees and survival for employers.”…..
 

Blue Ribbon Task Force for Oil Economic Recovery Encourages Regulatory Relief to Help Texas Producers: TIPRO

May 5, 2020

Today, the Railroad Commission of Texas convened for its monthly commissioners’ conference to discuss pending business and regulatory matters, as well as receive an update from the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Oil Economic Recovery. This task force was formed last month by the commission’s chairman, Wayne Christian, to evaluate solutions that will assist oil and gas operators and save jobs as the industry endures historic and unprecedented challenges. Ed Longanecker, president of the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association (TIPRO), provided testimony during Tuesday’s public hearing on behalf of the task force and its list of recommendations for consideration by the Railroad Commission. On Tuesday morning, leaders of the Railroad Commission also voted against a proposal to impose limits on oil production in Texas. The following statement can be attributed to Mr. Longanecker:

“On behalf of the Blue Ribbon Task Force for Oil Economic Recovery, I was pleased this morning to update the commissioners of our collective recommendations to keep oilfield workers employed and help Texas operators to survive these exceptionally difficult circumstances.

The recommendations developed by the task force are designed to be broad, yet comprehensive, and include fee relief, relaxed reporting requirements, additional deadline extensions and other mechanisms to expand storage capacity in Texas. The focus of the group’s suggestions is above all-else to provide small producers with regulatory relief at this time, though when possible, the task force encourages relief be granted to all operators, regardless of size, as this crisis does not discriminate and is negatively impacting every sector of the industry…..