American Oil and Gas Reporter - September 2024 - 35

ConventionSec tion: New Mexico Oil & Gas Association
Industry's Extensive Role
Worth Proclaiming
By Danny Boyd
SANTA FE, N.M.-Despite strong
headwinds from federal and state governments
and detractors determined to
hobble the industry's economic and educational
contributions, Alex Campbell,
chairman of the New Mexico Oil & Gas
Association is proud to point to the availability
and fortitude of the state's industrious
workforce. NMOGA is approaching
its 96th annual meeting, Oct. 6-7 at the
El Dorado Hotel and Spa in Santa Fe.
" We as an industry, and NMOGA as
an organization, do great things, " comments
Campbell, a partner in Enduring
Resources San Juan LLC, operating 1,400
wells on 560,000 net acres in the San
Juan Basin. " I personally love this industry
and have not retired because every day I
get to work with the best in all disciplines
the industry has. We have great people
working to deliver oil and gas safely, efficiently
and in a way that is environmentally
responsible. "
Through its Basin Strong program,
NMOGA continues to educate the public
and policymakers on the contributions
of oil and gas, says association President
and Chief Executive Officer Missi Currier.
The program encourages companies,
employees and supporters normally
averse to self-promotion to instead share
their experiences and contributions with
NMOGA. In turn, the association disseminates
those experiences to the public
and policymakers.
" We are excited to tell their stories
to the rest of the state and beyond to
help folks know that, not only are the
two basins in New Mexico economic
drivers for the state, but industry employees
are salt-of-the-earth people who
work hard and believe in what they are
doing, " she says.
Member Contributions
NMOGA members are well represented
among the energy companies responsible
for more than 130,000 direct New Mexico
jobs and the lion's share of state revenue,
Campbell details. " We account for a little
" We are consistently applying new
technology to be more energy efficient and to
comply with new environmental standards,
but more than that, there are a lot of
hardworking, good people who want to do the
best job they can. "
-Alex Campbell
NMOGA President
more than 50% of the revenue stream in
New Mexico government and, in 2023
alone, contributed almost $8 billion to
the general fund and another $7 billion
was paid to the nongeneral fund, " he
says. " We continue to increase production
in the Permian and the San Juan basins
across the board. "
New Mexico ranks second in the country
in oil production and NMOGA members
continue to demonstrate a commitment
to the state, he reports. Those companies
have helped the industry meet and
exceed a state mandate from two years
ago to reduce methane emissions. " We
are consistently applying new technology
to be more energy efficient and to comply
with new environmental standards, but
more than that, there are a lot of hardworking,
good people who want to do
the best job they can, " Campbell says.
Although citizens in New Mexico's
chief population corridor generally understand
the industry's economic contribution
to the state, they tend to be far
less aware of the industry's contribution
to technology and scientific advancement,
Currier suggests.
" We as an association, as well as our
individual member companies, work very
hard to share with our larger, urban population
centers that-not only does this
industry drive their state-but it touches
their lives on a daily basis, " she comments.
" It's so much more than only the gas
pump. It is about the clothes they wear,
the cell phones on which they talk, the
cars they drive and even the wind turbines
and the solar panels that are built to
provide renewable energy. "
NMOGA members have persisted in
the face of increasing regulations during
the past three years that have complicated
the approval processes for oil and gas
operations on federal lands in both basins,
Campbell describes. They continually
navigate federal processes at the Bureau
of Land Management, the Bureau of
Indian Affairs, the Environmental Protection
Agency, the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service and the U.S. Forest Service,
among several others.
Various state regulatory agencies mirror
those, forcing members to spend countless
hours and resources complying with requirements
from different tiers of authority,
Campbell says.
State Issues
Although BLM has agreed to start
conducting lease sales in the third quarter
of 2025, the New Mexico State Land
Office continues to slow its lease sales
program, Campbell reports. During the
2024 New Mexico Legislature, Land
Commissioner Stephanie Garcia Richard
failed to persuade lawmakers to pass
HB 48 to boost the highest oil and gas
royalty rate on hydrocarbon production
from state lands from 20% to 25%.
Since then, the SLO has withheld the
SEPTEMBER 2024 35
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