American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017 - 88

ConventionCoverage: New Mexico Oil & Gas Association
has exported more than 200 million barrels
of oil since then. Last month, we were at
an all-time high,' Pearce applauded. "The
world is hungry for what we can do with
technology in our industry. They want
the predictability of supply, and they
want the tremendous quality we are producing in New Mexico. That oil export
bill may be the most important bill Congress has done in 40 years."
Important Values
The qualities that helped the U.S.
Olympic hockey team capture a gold
medal in 1980 are identical to those
needed to operate a successful business,
assessed Mike Eruzione, captain of that
team. The keynote luncheon speaker, he
emphasized the importance of values and
working hard in both sports and business,
saying people are successful because they
believe in old-fashioned values, including
heart, pride, respect and commitment.

"There are lots of important values in
life, and the most important one is respect.
My high school football coach told us if
you didn't respect yourself, you wouldn't
be successful. If you don't respect your
teammates or the people you associate
with, you won't be successful. And if you
don't respect the competition, you won't
be successful," Eruzione told NMOGA,
He said there would be times when
companies would struggle, noting that
was especially true in the oil and gas industry, but Eruzione recommended negative events were not an occasion for a
negative mindset. Instead, he offered,
"Find something positive and build off
of that, because if you think negative
things, nothing but negative thoughts will
stay with you."
Looking back at his Olympic experience, he recalled how the U.S. hockey
team overcame a 2-1 deficit at the end of
two periods and scored three times in the

final period of its gold-medal game against
Finland. Eruzione asserted that, like in
business, the true test of a team was how
it responded when it was losing.
"Each of us in our lives gets an opportunity. It is what you do with that opportunity that counts," he exhorted. "I
was given an opportunity to be part of
this team. Everybody in this room has
the opportunity to be part of great companies. When you look at successful
people and teams, it still boils down to
the values we were taught at a young
age: If you believe in something, and
you are willing to work hard for it, you
can accomplish it."
During the luncheon, NMOGA honored Ocean Munds-Dry, past chairwoman
of its Regulatory Practices Committee,
with the Jason Kellahin Award, and Amy
Luedders, regional director of the southwest region of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife
Service, with the Pete Porter Award. r

Industry Needs More Data Innovations
SANTA FE, N.M.-The current price
environment requires the oil and gas industry to leverage technology to increase
company efficiencies, and allow operators
to find more resources, produce them
safely and at lower costs, assessed Lee
Tillman in his presentation at the New
Mexico Oil & Gas Association's annual
convention, held Oct. 2-3 in Santa Fe.
"We must take advantage of the linkage
between innovation and operational excellence," urged Tillman, chief executive
officer of Marathon Oil Corp. "The two
are intertwined. I am talking about the
drive to find creative solutions that really
can make a step change in the business.

Innovation has been a part and a force in
the oil and gas industry for the past 150
years. But, we are at a crossroads now,
and the industry's traditional incremental
approach to innovation simply is not
enough."
He said his company was bullish on the
northern Delaware and Permian basins,
and optimistic about how the industry would
continue to develop technologies, increase
profitability and grow production.
Marathon Oil's two acquisitions in the
Delaware Basin in 2017 satisfied the company's condition for deals, Tillman said:
quality, scale, value and tremendous upside
potential. The play has more than 5,000

Lee Tillman (right), chief
executive officer of
Marathon Oil Corp,
speaks with Cliff Brunson, chairman of the
New Mexico Oil & Gas
Association, before his
remarks at NMOGA's
annual meeting, held
Oct. 2-3.

88 THE AMERICAN OIL & GAS REPORTER

feet of oil-saturated stacked pay, outstanding productivity from world-class horizons
in the Wolfcamp and Bone Spring, and
well results that are improving at an amazing rate, he praised. The company deployed
three rigs, and brought two Eddy County
wells to sales, with plans to bring another
15-20 wells to sales in the second half of
the year, he added.
Using Data
Tillman told NMOGA the oil and gas
industry had greatly improved its seismic
capabilities-including 2-D, 3-D, 4-D, and
microseismic-providing new ways for
geologists to interpret what was below
the surface. He added the improved techniques also aided in higher intensity completion designs.
"That is all very necessary, but we
also have to think about innovation in
the digital space, in concert with our traditional subsurface focus. It is about creatively leveraging the large datasets we
all have to solve new, as well as old,
problems. It is common to use data for
historical purposes, to answer questions
such as what was our production or what
were the economics of a well. We also
should use this data for making reliable
predictions, asking what is the best place
to drill, what is the best spacing of these
wells, and what will be the ultimate re-

American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - November 2017