Paula Dittrick Editor
The development of markets for Utica gas is a priority for recently appointed Ohio Oil and Gas Association’s Executive Vice-President Shawn Bennett.
The OOGA Board of Trustees in late 2014 promoted Bennett to succeed long-term OOGA Executive Vice-Pres. Thomas Stewart, who retired although he still advises OOGA. Bennett joined OOGA in August 2014 as senior vice-president.
"Oil and gas has always been part of my life," Bennett said. "I was born and raised in Cambridge, Ohio, where we had two Clinton wells on the family farm."
During his career, he worked as government affairs manager for the Ohio Coal Association for 7 years where he learned what he calls "the art of advocating issues at the Ohio statehouse."
He came to the oil and gas industry through a job with the Independent Petroleum Association of America by taking a job with IPAA’s Energy in Depth program in eastern Ohio.
Later, he became regional team lead over the Energy In Depth program for the eastern US. His duties during that time included advising coalbed methane producers in Australia.
"I never knew how passionate I could feel about an industry until I got involved in the oil and gas industry," Bennett said during a February interview in his OOGA office in Columbus, Ohio. "The people, technology, and excitement built into this industry are unparalleled."
Utica oil window
Producers still have "a lot to be learned" in Ohio’s Utica shale, Bennett said, adding that companies are testing the oil window. "Every well is a data point…the excitement continues to grow as horizontal drilling brings new technology" into the state, which has had conventional drilling since the 1950s.
The Marcellus shale reaches into Ohio, but southwest Pennsylvania has the bulk of the Marcellus shale, he noted.
Bennett said his message to all OOGA members--both conventional and unconventional producers--along with other gas industry stakeholders is: "We’re all in this together. We have to look at getting this gas out of Appalachia. We need to get those pipeline deals put together. It’s about finding markets for affordable, reliable energy coming out of Ohio."
Large users of gas are essential to the full development of the Utica reserves, he said. "We are happy if a cracker gets built."
Bennett said his job is to communicate, educate, and advocate on behalf of industry at both the state and federal levels.
"There are many battles on our horizon," Bennett said. "If it isn’t taxes, regulations, or falling commodity prices, then it is activists hell bent on the demise of our industry. There are people who just refuse to allow new pipelines to move forward.
"These people don’t understand where natural gas comes from or that who they are really hurting are their fellow citizens. They don’t understand they are creating hardships for their neighbors."
As of February, one big concern was the possible migration of anti-fracturing activists into Ohio because New York state officials have decided to impose a ban on high-impact fracturing there.
"They won in New York so where are they going to go next?" Bennett asked. "They will try Ohio, West Virginia, and Maryland."
But Bennett believes that Ohio residents, who are familiar with oil and gas, will resist the anti-fracturing movement. "You can’t get away with that in eastern Ohio," he forecast. Still, Bennett notes that OOGA keenly realizes the importance of community outreach.
"Our industry is so focused on drilling wells that we sometimes lose opportunities to go out and interact with communities," Bennett said.
Attracting industrial users
Another priority for Bennett is encouraging large gas users such as ethane crackers, petrochemical companies, or plastics manufacturing plants to locate in Ohio.
"The creation of a lot of feedstocks could kick start the economy," Bennett said. "People unfairly characterize the industry, but oil and gas creates the springboard for a healthy economy…. Industry’s supply chain is huge."
OOGA also plans to work with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources to refine unitization language and streamline timetables to issue or deny a unitization order, Bennett said. Companies use unitization as a last resort to obtain drilling rights when property owners object.
Property owners willing to allow a drilling project run the risk of being deprived of that right if unwilling landowners refuse to join a proposed drilling unit. Although unitization became law in Ohio in 1965 in response to vertical drilling in Morrow County, it had only been invoked twice by 2011.
A horizontal well requires at least 640 acres of surface land. Owners of 65% of the land within the drilling unit must have signed leases for the unitization proposal to be considered by the ODNR.
Recently, Ohio lawmakers debated the logistics of disclosing the chemicals used in fracturing fluids to first responders in case of an incident.
That discussion came as an amendment to legislation covering various issues that died in the previous session but it is likely to be brought up again.
Bennett said OOGA supports disclosure of information to first responders, adding that Ohio was one of the first states to provide that information electronically. "We want to make sure first responders are safe," he said.
OOGA also is monitoring Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s state budget proposals, especially what Bennett called "broad tax proposals" that might hinder investment in the state’s oil and gas assets.
