American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019 - 131

ConventionSection: Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association
When PHMSA commenced its review
of rural gathering in 2016, Cross relates,
it initially proposed to regulate lines 12.75
inches in diameter or larger. IPAA's
Pipeline Safety Task Force, of which
Cross is a member, urged PHMSA to increase the size of lines under its purview
to 16.0 inches, collect additional information relating to all gathering lines
through abbreviated annual reports, and
reconfirm the use of American Petroleum
Institute Recommended Practice 80's
definition of gathering.
"We felt that would ensure any new
regulation would focus on large-diameter,
high-pressure gathering lines for which
PHMSA had expressed concern," he says.
But the GPAC recommendation likely
will push the agency the other direction.
"I guess PHMSA conceivably could say,
'No, we are going back to our original
12.75 inches,' but I think Congress would
question that," Cross rues.
He says federal regulations now cover
about 18,000 miles of gathering pipelines:
generally high-pressure lines in populated
areas. An additional 439,000 miles are
classified as rural gathering and are not

regulated. "PHMSA estimates about
45,000 miles of pipe are between 8.0
and 12.0 inches wide," he reports.
The better news, Cross continues, is that
GPAC did not vote to recommend PHMSA
abandon RP 80. He says PHMSA has been
concerned that RP 80 lacks clarity with respect to incidental gathering line designations.
Consequently, he reports, IPAA's Pipeline
Safety Task Force has created a survey to
gauge thresholds for incidental gathering
and develop a better understanding of incidental gathering applications.
KIOGA Annual Meeting
Cross says updated information on all
the various issues being tracked by the
association likely will be available at the
KIOGA Board of Directors and general
membership meeting, commencing at 2
p.m. on the opening day of the association's convention, Sunday, Aug. 11.
Looking ahead to Monday's convention
offerings, Cross suggests breakfast and
lunch keynoters Mark Mathis and Greg
Wrightstone should be especially timely,
considering the Democratic presidential
hopefuls' focus on climate.

Mathis, president of the Clear Energy
Alliance, will discuss how climate
alarmists manipulate the facts about energy
consumption and climate science for political, economic and ideological reasons.
Wrightstone, a geologist and author
of Inconvenient Facts: The Science that
Al Gore Doesn't Want You to Know, will
review the faulty assumptions on which
the Green New Deal is based as well as
the costs and restrictions it would place
on U.S. citizens and businesses.
"I also think there is going to be a lot
of interest in our seminar on association
health insurance, and hopefully, our other
seminars, too," Cross continues.
The insurance seminar is to commence
at 3 p.m. Monday, concurrently with a
panel discussion on managing risk through
proper land work. KIOGA's two morning
break-out sessions are a discussion of
national energy policy by U.S. Senator
Pat Roberts, R-Ks., and Kansas' 1st District congressman, Republican Roger
Marshall; and a tutorial on time-saving
ways to manipulate data in Microsoft
Excel by Dawn Monroe, owner of Dawn
Monroe Training.
❒

Term As KIOGA Chairman Takes
Ken White On Roller Coaster Ride
WICHITA, KS.-Ken White describes
his two-year term as chairman of the
Kansas Independent Oil & Gas Association
as "a bit of a roller coaster."
White, president of White Exploration
Inc. in Wichita, became KIOGA chairman
at the group's 2017 annual convention,
held Aug. 13-15 in Wichita. He will pass
the gavel at this year's annual meeting,
Aug. 11-13 at the Century II Convention
Center in Wichita, to David Bleakley,
executive vice president of Colt Energy
Inc. in Mission, Ks.
"The posted price for Kansas crude
oil in August 2017 was $38.44 a barrel,"
White recalls. "It looks like I will end
my term with oil in the $48-$50 range,
but we have been as high as $61 and as
low as $39 during my two years, so it
has been a very big roller coaster as far
as product prices.
"Also, unfortunately," he adds, "we
have seen a dramatic decline in the state's
natural gas production, coinciding with
severely depressed gas prices."
The roller coaster analogy extends

also to KIOGA's work with state lawmakers in Topeka, White suggests. The
"high" has been that KIOGA has enjoyed
considerable success the past two legislative sessions, but nearly all of it has
been on the defensive side of the field.
While KIOGA was able this year to
successfully push legislation that will enable it to create a group health insurance
plan for members and lawmakers also
approved a study that eventually may
lead to more competitive electric rates in
the state, "The overwhelming thing that
has been there every day of my chairmanship has been the desire of certain
people to completely stop oil and gas
production in the state," White says.
This keep-it-in-the-ground mentality
has been focused primarily on attempts
to curtail or completely stop the disposal
of produced water, he notes.
This year, KIOGA fought off one bill
that would have imposed a one-time fee
on all Class II injection well operators
and subjected them to oversight by a citizens injection board, and successfully

MANUFACTURERS-DISTRIBUTORS

New & Used
GAS PRODUCTION EQUIPMENT
FIBERGLASS & STEEL
OILFIELD TANKS
SOUR GAS SWEETENERS
Specialists In Moving
Oilfield Production
Equipment
KCC Authority #114707

Lance Walters
Great Bend, Ks 67530

620-793-3555
Working Together
Supporting Our Customers!
AUGUST 2019 131

American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of American Oil and Gas Reporter - August 2019