First Oil

Imagine our surprise last month, when a press release came floating into our email from the Railroad Commission of Texas (RRC), after 4:00 pm, stating that RRC Chairman Wayne Christian had introduced a resolution to the annual meeting of the Interstate Oil & Gas Compact Commission (IOGCC). Furthermore, that resolution—urging the federal government to investigate excessive dumping of crude oil by Saudi Arabia and Russia and take appropriate action—had been approved by the IOGCC.

We found this remarkable, given that back in March, April and May, efforts to get the Trump administration to levy an oil import tariff had fallen on deaf ears. Not to mention that Mr. Christian and the RRC in early May had voted against instituting prorationing. So, we contacted the chairman’s office for an explanation.

“Chairman Christian is generally concerned with America remaining the global leader in oil and gas production,” said his chief-of-staff, Travis McCormick. “He has been a part of ongoing discussions to prioritize North America first in the oil trade we do as a nation, to get the proper mix for our refineries.” But then came a revelation: “A few independent producers in West Texas reached out to Wayne a couple weeks before the IOGCC meeting,” continued McCormick, “to see if he would be willing to offer up a resolution urging the Trump administration to investigate ‘excessive dumping’ of crude oil by Saudi Arabia and Russia. Wayne liked the idea and agreed to author the resolution.” 

Thus, the resolution is actually rooted in this producers group, which has now formed a coalition, with the following website: https://thepermianfuelsamerica.com/. But will the resolution gain any traction in Washington, D.C.? “We haven’t gotten any response yet from the administration,” said McCormick. “But [the chairman] had lengthy discussions about it with staff from both of our (Texas) U.S. Senators [during the week of July 27].” We will keep watch on this situation, to see if anything comes of it. We should note that our request to the IOGCC for comment was redirected to Chairman Christian’s office.

Editorial advisor addition. We are pleased to announce that Dr. Ashraf M. Al-Tahini, the CEO of Saudi Aramco Upstream Technology and manager of their EXPEC Advanced Research Center, has joined World Oil’s Editorial Advisory Board. Dr. Tahini brings considerable experience and technical expertise, and we look forward to his contributions to our board. In his 23-year career at Saudi Aramco, he has held positions of increasing responsibility. He is the holder of several U.S. patents and has received several prestigious industry awards. So, a hearty welcome to Dr. Tahini as our newest editorial advisor! 

Electric military vehicles, take 2. Last month, we discussed whether the military in the U.S. or other countries should utilize electric vehicles. We received interesting, varied opinions from five of our editorial advisors. This month, we feature additional comments from another advisor. 

“The concept is interesting, and certainly doable—up to a point, with a couple of caveats,” he remarked. “Certain activities are fixed-base in the U.S., where short-radius distance functions could make the use of battery-driven applications more or less feasible. The U.S. military is such a sprawling animal, that [deciding] to begin a transition (even limited) to short-range vehicular usage would be incredibly costly.”

He continued, “Starting a project like this would also be a lobbyist/consultant/provider’s dream. The people developing the project would cash in on the golden goose.” 

Our advisor also noted, “As a veteran, I would never drive or fly anything in an operation or combat that didn’t utilize fossil fuel. But does the battery have a place in military applications? Probably ‘yes’—but only after very careful consideration of every possible….failure. Murphy’s Law comes to mind: If it can go wrong, it will, at the worst place, at the worst time, with the worst results.”

About the Authors

Kurt Abraham

World Oil

Kurt Abraham kurt.abraham@worldoil.com