Kicking off Feb. 22 with a reception, the Permian Basin Water in Energy Conference is returning this year and organizers expect it to be one of the best attended editions.
The conference sessions will be Feb. 23 and 24 at the Midland County Horseshoe Arena & Pavilion, 2514 Arena Trail. The event is now part of University of Texas Permian Basin.
Dean of the College of Business Steve Beach said registrations tend to come in often times toward the end.
“I think we just have a very compelling list of speakers this time on many really pressing topics for the industry and we expect it to be the highest attended of them all — maybe 400-500 attendees,” Beach said.
Many aspects of water will be covered, including the recent seismic activity, which some think might be connected to deep saltwater disposal sites.
“There is a session called Gaining a Better Understanding of Earthquakes in the Permian Basin, so one of the important topics that we’ll be discussing will be the seismic activity out here,” Beach said.
Another new session this year focuses on environmental, social and governance issues.
“… We have a panel of speakers that I get to moderate and really to help make sure that we are talking about these important topics here that impact the industry,” Beach said.
One of the primary things that is going to impact people and companies here is access to investment funds and the cost of capital.
“I think we’re going to have a really good panel to help give some insight on what the future may have for people in the industry,” Beach added.
Beach said the conference puts a spotlight on UTPB and the Permian Basin.
“It is really important for this university to play its part in the community and this is just an example of that. It really gives us this venue to be engaged with the industry out here, talking about important issues that affect the whole Permian Basin and also provide our expertise through this opportunity,” Beach said.
Along with experts and business people in the oil and gas field, students and faculty will be able to attend for free.
“… We have programs on campus — geology, petroleum engineering, energy land management. We certainly have students in those programs that find it very beneficial to attend and participate in the conference,” Beach added.
It also provides great networking opportunities.
“… We have a research poster competition that is sponsored by Steve Pruett of Elevation Resources, so we have $3,000 for undergraduate students in the poster competition on research and another $3,000 for graduate students for the research poster competition. We look to get some high quality submissions for that from the students and like to reward them and show them that their work in these energy topics and water in energy is important and that we support it with these awards,” Beach said.
The conference was sidelined last year due to COVID-19. “… There’s a lot of pent up interest and demand for this. People really do find this to be the premier conference on water in energy and so there are people that really were saddened that we weren’t able to have the event last year,” Beach said. “They’re ready to come back out and participate and be a part of this great conference.”
Conference founder Jim Woodcock said the event has existed for five years, but this will be the fourth edition because of COVID.
“When I first started it the first year, I had nothing to go on so I actually called the university. I’d been to a chamber of commerce meeting and some of the major players, oil and gas producers, were talking about (how) they were going to drill 25,000 wells in the next five years. This was in, I guess, 2017, and the wells use a lot of water and I thought most of the water as you know goes into saltwater disposal wells and I thought gosh that’s a lot of water to use at one time so I thought I’ll start a conference and bring some of these companies together and see if, working collaboratively, … we can come up with some ideas to maximize the usage of that water and being able to use it more than once,” Woodcock said.
He spoke to then UTPB President David Watts about the idea of partnering with the university. Woodcock said he told Watts it wouldn’t cost them anything and they wouldn’t have to do anything, plus any money that was made would go to the university.
Woodcock said he paid for the Horseshoe the first year and got a return on his investment eventually.
“I had to pay for all these venues up front and so I brought in some volunteers. The first year was all done with volunteers. People were really interested in it. I budgeted for 150 people and I hoped we’d have 100. So we put together a really good website, put it on the internet. (In) two weeks, we had 450 people sign up and I turned away probably close to 200 because I couldn’t handle them,” Woodcock said.
People from Japan, Venezuela and other countries and from across the U.S. attended.
“… The enthusiasm was really interesting. I had no idea,” Woodcock said.
The second conference attracted 500-600 people.
“… Each year they were getting more people and more sponsors. I was told it was the premier water conference in the nation. This is the epicenter of the oil and gas industry, right here in Midland-Odessa and I felt like this is where we needed to have it, so it’s continued to grow,” he said.
After a chamber of commerce meeting he attended he thought about all the freshwater being pulled from the aquifers and how much water it takes for each well.
“… They’re put in saltwater disposal wells, so I thought if my grandchildren decide to stay in Midland, Texas, I’d like for them to be able to brush their teeth.”
Woodcock said any money made from the conference goes to UTPB.
“We’re excited about this year’s conference. The registration is starting to really pick up. We’re still looking for sponsors …,” he said.
Schedule
Feb. 22
Welcome Reception
- The Petroleum Museum
- 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Feb. 23
Conference Sessions
- Midland County Horseshoe
- 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Lunch with Keynote Speaker
- Senator Charles Perry, Texas Senate District 28
- Midland County Horseshoe
- Noon – 1 p.m.
Dinner with Keynote Speaker
- Commissioner Christi Craddick, Texas Railroad Commission
- The Petroleum Club
- 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
Feb. 24
Conference Sessions
- Midland County Horseshoe
- 8:30 a.m. – 4:30 p.m.
Lunch with Keynote Speaker
- Ben Shepperd, Permian Basin Petroleum Association President
- Midland County Horseshoe
- Noon – 1 p.m.
Session speakers
- Austin Beam, ConocoPhillips Permian Water Integration Manager
- Kelly Bennett, B3 Insight Co-Founder & CEO
- Tracee Bentley, Permian Strategic Partnership CEO
- Richard Brantley, University Lands Senior VP Operations
- Amanda Brock, Aris Water President & CEO
- Heather DeShon, SMU Department of Earth Sciences Chair
- Debra Dixon, New Mexico Produced Water Research Consortium Fellow
- Kirk Edwards, Latigo Petroleum President & CEO
- Natasha Martin, Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody Law Firm Shareholder
- Steve Melzer, Melzer Consulting Owner
- Joe Niederhofer, Diamondback Energy Senior VP of Midstream Operations
- David Ross, EPA Office of Water former Assistant Administrator
- Dr. James Rosenblum, Colorado School of Mines Water Technology Hub Director
- Matthias Sayer, NGL Energy Partners Senior VP of Legal & Regulatory Affairs
- Todd Staples, Texas Oil & Gas Association President
- Dr. Ray Perryman, Perryman Group President & CEO
- Doug White, NGL Energy Partners Executive Vice President
