American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016 - 114

2016 RMES Ponders Energy Evolution
DENVER-Some years it is easier
than others to arrive at a theme for the
Rocky Mountain Energy Summit, and
organizers say this year has been especially challenging, given falling global
energy prices and layoffs across the oil
and gas industry.
According to Colorado Oil & Gas Association Chief Operating Officer Sarah
Sandberg, RMES conference director, it
seemed unadvisable to ignore the industry's overriding experience of the past
couple years, but there was no desire for
the event's unofficial motto to be some
variation of "woe are we."
"We did not want to set a negative
tone, however, we also did not want to
be naïve to the challenges our industry
faces with regard to commodity prices,"
Sandberg relates.
Ultimately, she suggests, RMES 2016
aims to strike the right balance between
acknowledging the industry's situation
while also striving to identify bright spots,
upsides and opportunities. Sandberg contends the theme chosen-"Our Energy
Evolution"-and its accompanying tag
line-"Opportunity through Challenge"-
find the sweet spot. She emphasizes that
COGA considers the rough waters the
industry has been navigating to be a
subject worthy of exploration, but especially in light of how companies have
managed to stay afloat.
"We are going to cover what is going
on with the commodity pricing environment and supply/demand markets around
the world, but also are going to focus on
our backyard and discuss developments
in the Denver-Julesburg and Piceance
basins," Sandberg previews. "The highlighted opportunities focus on the technologies, partnerships and collaborations
that have come out of this. And by adding
two technical panels, this conference focuses more on our industry's technical
side for the first time."
Days One And Two
The 2016 RMES gets under way on
Monday, Aug. 22, with a golf tournament
that runs from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. at Bear
Dance Golf Club in Larkspur, Co. The
day's schedule also includes an exhibitor
setup in the Mile High Ballroom at Denver's Colorado Convention Center and a
6 p.m. happy hour for exhibitors and
their clients.
As it does on the event's subsequent
days, the next day's schedule gets under
way at 7:30 a.m., when registration opens,
the expo begins, and breakfast is served

in the Mile High Ballroom.
The first executive forum will begin
an hour later with a panel that Sandberg
says exemplifies the conference's theme,
and will feature PDC Energy President
and Chief Executive Officer Bart Brookman and Synergy Resources Chairman
and CEO Lynn Peterson. Wall Street
Journal reporter Amy Harder will moderate. "That panel will look at how we
thrive through downturns," Sandberg says.
"Those companies' strategies are very
different, and so we hope our audience
can take away bits and pieces from both."
The morning's second session, a policy
panel that considers rule makings, ballot
initiatives, regulations and legal matters,
will feature Colorado Oil & Gas Conservation Commission Director Matt Lepore
and Jost Energy Law PC Managing Shareholder Jamie Jost. Denver Business Journal
reporter Cathy Proctor will moderate.
With efforts to obtain signatures to
place anti-oil and gas initiatives on Colorado's ballot in November, Sandberg
notes that RMES will transpire after the
deadline by which their backers must
submit the 98,000 signatures required to
put them before voters. Even if the effort
behind a ballot initiative on something
such as local regulation, minimum setbacks
or hydraulic fracturing bans submits signatures by the deadline, a couple scenarios
remain possible.
"Either they will have turned in a ton
of signatures and we can assume they
are going to be on the ballot, or they will
be only a few thousand above what they
need, and could still be in the signature
validation process at the time of the conference," Sandberg explains. "Either way,
the message does not change regarding
the necessity for the industry to engage
with communities and discuss what it is
doing, be transparent, and to have pride
and confidence in ourselves."
She goes on to note that the keynote
luncheon, at which Continental Resources
Chairman and CEO Harold Hamm will
speak, will follow the morning sessions.
That afternoon includes the first technical session, titled "The Future of Wellbore Efficiencies." Panelists on the agenda
are Liberty Oilfield Services and Liberty
Resources CEO Chris Wright, Baker
Hughes Vice President of Integrated Technology Hans-Christian Freitag, and GE
Oil & Gas Pressure Control President
Phil Mason. Anadarko Petroleum Corporation General Manager Lloyd Stutz
will moderate.
The fact the convention is adding tech-

114 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

nical subjects does not mean it is subtracting from its typical focus, Sandberg
assures. "We are really excited to include
the technical panels and add more value
for our audience, but we are not diverging
from our core policy and the big-picture
focus on what is happening in Colorado,"
she promises. "Those topics continue to
make headlines daily and send ripples
into the rest of the country."
The day's final panel, which considers
natural gas markets, will feature S&P
Global Platts' Oil & Gas Consulting Services Director Rick Allen and Anadarko
Worldwide Marketing Vice President
Scott Moore.
The Chambers Grant Salon at Denver's
Ellie Caulkins Opera House will host the
opening night party, which begins at 5
p.m., Sandberg reports
Day Three
According to Sandberg, the first presentation on Wednesday, Aug. 24, is an
executive forum that begins at 8:30 a.m.
Addressing the topic of "Human Capital,
Industry's Best Asset," will be DCP Midstream Chairman, President and CEO
Wouter van Kempen and Russell Reynolds
Associates Global Energy/Natural Resources Practice Lead Steve Morse.
The morning's second session, "Rethinking Electric Utilities-New Deal
Structures of the Modern Era," starts at
9:45 and features Colorado State University Center for the New Energy Economy Director and former Colorado Governor Bill Ritter, and Black Hills Energy
Vice President of Colorado Electric Operations Christopher Burke, Sandberg details.
The keynote luncheon, starting at 11:30
a.m., includes remarks from The Green
and the Black author and Lime Rock
Partners Managing Director Gary Sernovitz. The luncheon also will provide
the occasion for the COGCC's Outstanding
Operations awards and the presentation
of COGA's Lifetime Achievement Award.
COGA will bestow another honor, its
Emerging Leader Award, during the following session, which will feature remarks
from U.S. Senator Michael Bennet, DCo., Sandberg mentions.
She adds that the next session, dealing
with crude oil markets, will be moderated
by Janys Analytics Senior Adviser Chris
Hansen and will include Columbia Center
for Global Energy Policy fellow Jamie
Webster. The day's sessions will close
with remarks from Joe Ellis, president,
chairman and CEO of the Super Bowl

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2016

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