American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2021 - 35

IssuesUpdate: Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners
TIPRO Celebrates 75 Years
Amid Industry Recovery
By Del Torkelson
AUSTIN, TX.-After three-quarters
of a century, the Texas Independent Producers
& Royalty Owners Association
continues to fulfill its charter for " the
purpose of uniting individual producers
and royalty owners under one banner to
protect themselves against legislative or
regulatory threats. "
" We go to great lengths to protect that
mission, " says TIPRO President Ed Longanecker.
" It is not always easy, because
we represent a diverse array of companies
in an industry where companies' needs
and motives can sometimes vary. "
But independents' diversity has not
kept them from banding together to meet
the challenges that confront their industry.
In 2021, the threats in Austin have included
some state lawmakers' policy prescriptions
following February's Winter Storm Uri,
while ones from Washington center around
a new occupant in the White House whose
early moves have buoyed and emboldened
fossil fuel opponents.
TIPRO Chairman Brent Hopkins emphasizes
the central role of affordable
and dependable energy to a modern standard
of living. " With all the negative
stuff coming out of Texas and Washington,
it is very important to make sure
our voices are heard, " he says. " We can't
let them kill the goose that laid the
golden egg. "
Come Together
TIPRO has a long history of gathering
independents to fight for their interests,
Longanecker says, noting the group formed
in March 1946 to stop the U.S. Senate
from ratifying the Anglo-American Oil
Treaty. Signed in London in 1945, the
treaty would have set oil and gas production
quotas for North and South American
countries. Although some U.S. oil companies
and trade associations had been
willing to get on board with the proposal,
he recounts, it angered the independents
who founded TIPRO.
" They organized to resist what they
perceived as an effort at international
control of Texas production, " Longanecker
" From my office in Corpus Christi, I can see
all kinds of downstream infrastructure being
built. There are multiyear, multibillion dollar
projects coming together to use the
hydrocarbons we produce. They will need
feedstock, which we provide. "
-Brent Hopkins
TIPRO Chairman
describes. " The successful intervention
helped kill the treaty's ratification and
led to TIPRO's perpetuation as an organization
dedicated to the protection and
rights of independent producers. "
Led by Glenn McCarthy and Jack
Porter, TIPRO originally consisted of 39
Texas wildcatters, and quickly demonstrated
its clout would endure well beyond
the issue for which the group was formed,
Longanecker relates. " Another early success
involved helping pass legislation to
standardize measurement of natural gas
which precipitated a national standard, "
he recalls. " That is only one example of
TIPRO's influence over the decades. "
Hopkins, president and chief executive
officer of Suemaur Exploration & Production
LLC in Corpus Christi, Tx., notes
that TIPRO formed to give independents
a united voice in policy discussions previously
driven by majors. " In the intervening
years, majors, independents and
royalty owners often have lived happily
together on the same page, " he says.
" However, as majors embrace the carbon
tax or say they are going to be zero emission
companies, I wonder if, after 75
years, the situation is closer to when
TIPRO started. "
Despite some of the historical disagreements,
Hopkins says TIPRO has
counted major companies among its members
for a long time and always aims for
industrywide consensus where possible.
Longanecker concurs, but observes that
even large companies often differ among
themselves about the best way forward.
For example, Occidental Petroleum CEO
Vicki Hollub told TIPRO's virtual annual
meeting in April that her company opposed
a carbon tax, a position that diverged
from the American Petroleum Institute's.
Longanecker adds that environmental,
social and governance considerations also
bring diverse viewpoints within the industry.
" We
see a lot of activity on the environmental
front, " he notes. " Some of
that reflects publicly traded companies
embracing and effectively responding
to ESG concerns and pressure from
shareholders. Many small, privately held
producers are not subject to those same
requirements or pressures, so there is a
potential divide. "
But companies of all sizes are committed
to slashing emissions and minimizing
their environmental footprints
through cooperative efforts such as the
Texas Methane and Flaring Coalition, of
which TIPRO is a supporting member.
" Our industry has achieved quantifiable,
measurable success through voluntary
actions, investment, collaboration and innovation, "
Longanecker praises. " That
progress will continue and we see a lot
of prominent Texas operators leading on
those efforts. We want the industry to
solve its own problems without increasing
regulatory requirements and oversight.
" We encourage companies to share
best practices, learn from one another
and continue to improve environmental
JUNE 2021 35
American Oil and Gas Reporter - June 2021

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